Devils open 2012 with comeback win over Panthers

Warren County brought a perfect 16-0 record into Friday night's contest against the Glascock County Panthers.  It was a game that most people thought that the Screaming Devils should win easily.  Taking a closer look however, lead many close to the program to think otherwise.  Several key starters for Warren County were unavailable to play, leaving a team that lost much to graduation last year struggling to find leaders among a very young and inexperienced team of players.

Warren County's inability to get anything going offensively gave the Panthers excellent field position for most of the first half.  The Panthers capitalized early with a 17 yard run by Levi Key for the first score of the game with 2:38 to go in the first quarter.  A Warren County turnover allowed Glascock to extend their lead when Joe Brown scored on a four yard run to give the Panthers a 12-0 lead.  The lead marked the largest lead ever for Glascock over the Screaming Devils.

With Warren County down 12-0 and his offense struggling, quarterback Damien Clark literally put his team on his back and carried them down the field.  That drive included a 44 yard run setting up a touchdown run by Richard Wilburn.  It looked as though the second quarter would end with the Panthers holding a 12 point lead until Anquavious Hill returned a kickoff 74 yards to narrow the score to 20-14 with 1:48 to go in the half.

Warren County caught another break just 65 seconds later when when defensive end, Jeremy Norris, stripped the ball loose from a Panther running back and recovered the fumble on the Warren County 38 yard line. That began a 62 yard Warren County drive that included a 38 yard pass completion to freshman Jermaine Berry with only 7.4 seconds left to go in the half.  After a Warren County time-out, Richard Wilburn ran the ball into the end zone to tie the game 20-20 at the end of the first half.

The second half was a defensive battle for both teams.  Neither offense was able to move the ball effectively for much of the second half.  Warren County finally took the lead for the first time in the game when Wilburn connected with Antron Gilbert for a 51 yard touchdown pass 2:49 to go in the 4th quarter.  A depleted Warren County defense held on for the win in one of the closest battles between the two teams since 1974.

Damien Clark led the rushing attack for the Devils with 94 yards with one TD on 15 carries.  Richard Wilburn carried the ball 9 times for a total of 41 yards and one TD.  Wilburn also went 3-8 in the passing department, accumulating 107 yards through the air.  Wilburn connected with Jermaine Berry for 38 yards, Antron Gilbert for 51 yards, and Devocee Lott for 19 yards.

Warren County will have two weeks to rest their team and to hopefully return to full strength before taking on the Tigers of Washington-Wilkes.