Devils fall 34-22 in Daniel's Return to Sidelines

Devarius Davis reaches to bring down the ball carrier.



Warren County entered the contest against Wilkinson County needing to win their last two games to make the playoffs.  A win by either team Friday night meant that the other team's chances at the post season were greatly diminished.  The meaning of the night's game was not lost on Warren County head coach, David Daniel.  After being unable to be on the sidelines for last week's loss to Washington-Wilkes, Coach Daniel returned to his post to lead the Devils once again.

Wilson tries to spin away from
Wilkinson's Raheem Dupree.

Whether due to the added importance of the game or the presence of Coach Daniel, the Screaming Devils seemed to rise to the occasion in the early going of the contest.  Warren County put up their best first half offensive performance in weeks as both teams traded the early lead back and forth.

The Warriors struck first on 10 yard run for a touchdown by Wilkinson County quarterback, David Whipple.  The extra point gave the Warriors a 7-0 lead with 8:12 to go in the first quarter.

Warren County would answer on their very next possession.  Damien Clark connected to Ed'Ricus Williams with a 23 yard pass for a touchdown.  The extra point by williams was good to tie the score at 7-7 with 6:15 left in the first quarter.

Wilkinson County would waste no time reclaiming the lead however.  On the first play from scrimmage after the kick off, Whipple connected downfield with a Wilkinson receiver for a 50 yard strike to the 6 yard line.  Tyler Franklin took the ball to the end zone for the Warriors to once again put Wilkinson County on top.  The extra point was no good and Wilkinson County led 13-7.

Anquavius Battle and Devarius Davis
lead the way for Wilson.

The offense slowed for both teams as neither was able to add points to the board until late in the second quarter.  With less than 3 minutes to go in the half, Damien Clark rifiled a pass across the middle intended for Warren County tight end Deondre Battle.  Battle tipped the ball into the air for what looked to be an incomplete pass until Devarius Davis reached out to gather the ball in and carry the ball to the Warrior 15 yard line.  After Dextrell Norris got the Devils inside the 5, Davis pounded it the rest of the way to tie the game once again.  Williams extra point gave Warren County the lead 14-13 with 2:18 to go in the first half.

Warren County's lead would not last long.  Wilkinson County quickly moved the ball down the field to set up one last score before the half.  Whipple ran the quarterback keeper from inside the 10 yard line to put the Warriors back on top.  The two point conversion gave Wilkinson a 21-14 lead at the half.

Torrez Wentz pursues Wilkinson's
David Whipple.

The third quarter was all Wilkinson County as they added two more scores with runs by Whipple.  The Devils were unable to match with scores of their own and found themselves trailing by a score of 34-14 at the end of the period.

Neither team would score in the fourth quarter until Jabari Wilson took it into the end zone on a short run with 48 seconds to go.  Dextrell Norris ran the two point conversion in for the Devils making the final score 34-22.

Jabari Wilson led all rushers in the game with 116 yards with 1 touchdown on 18 carries.  Dextrell Norris had 79 yards on 9 carries and Devarius Davis carried the ball 7 times for 18 yards and 1 touchdown.  Davis also had 2 completions for 31 yards.  Ed'Ricus had 1 completion for 23 yards and Norris added 1 completion for 11 yards.

Dextrell Norris looks for running room
for Warren County.

The loss means that Warren County will now need a win against Aquinas Friday night coupled with a loss by Washington-Wilkes to Twiggs County in order to make the playoffs.  Twiggs County enters the week winless for the 2011 season.  Warren County will host Aquinas at Albert J. Massey Field for the last game of the regular season.