WARRENTON聽鈥 Brandon Johnson is digging this quarterbacking thing.
The Warrenton High senior has been a standout at safety the past two seasons and is still patrolling the Warrior defense this fall, but he added QB duties after the graduation of two-year starter Charlie Blondin.
Johnson had four total touchdowns聽鈥 three through the air聽鈥 to lead Warrenton to a 40-35 win over visiting Liberty in a non-conference football matchup Friday night at David Huff Memorial Field.
鈥淭he first week, I was definitely a little nervous,鈥 he said. 鈥淏ut last week, I got a little confidence and we鈥檙e rolling now.鈥
Johnson compiled a solid 326 total yards and two touchdowns through the first two weeks of the season before tripling his TD total Friday night.
鈥淓very week, he looks better,鈥 Warriors coach Jason Koper said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 one of those guys where I had some of the guys that were captains the last couple years come up to me and say he鈥檚 got to be a captain. He鈥檚 done a great job.鈥
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Warriors unbeaten again
Warrenton — the No. 6 team in the small-schools rankings — started last season 11-0 for the first time before falling in postseason play.
The Warriors are right back to their winning ways this year with a 3-0 start that includes outscoring their first three opponents by a combined score of 89-45.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great to start 3-0. It hasn鈥檛 happened a whole lot in our program鈥檚 history,鈥 Koper said. 鈥淚 love the way we play. We鈥檙e physical, we鈥檙e aggressive, we鈥檙e hard-hitting. I just love our team鈥檚 mentality and couldn鈥檛 be more proud of the guys.鈥
Eagles suffer first setback
Liberty (2-1), which won its first two games of the season for the third time in program history and first since the 2019 team that won nine games and advanced to the Class 4 quarterfinals, had a four-game winning streak over the Warriors snapped.
鈥淲e were just searching for something to get going,鈥 Eagles coach Ryan McMillen said. 鈥淲arrenton鈥檚 defense is really good, really physical and they kind of had our number there in the middle of the game. But I鈥檓 proud of how we kept battling at the end, put some more points on the board and made it a game.鈥
Johnson still racking up INTs
Just because Johnson has also moved to the offensive side of the ball doesn鈥檛 mean he isn鈥檛 still wreaking havoc on defense.
He intercepted a pass from Liberty quarterback Cody McMullen midway through the fourth quarter to set up a short Austin Haas touchdown run that made it a seemingly comfortable 40-21 lead at the time.
The pick was the 11th of Johnson鈥檚 high school career breaking the school鈥檚 all-time career interception record previously held by current Warrenton assistant coach Brandon Molinari.
鈥淚t feels great,鈥 Johnson said. 鈥淗e was a little mad, but he鈥檒l get over it.鈥
Liberty starts fast
The Eagles got a pair of TD runs from Jaylen Mack less than three minutes apart in the first quarter to take a 13-0 lead before the game was nine minutes old.
鈥淚t felt good because we haven鈥檛 started off with the lead in a couple weeks,鈥 McMillen said. 鈥淚t slowly went away, but it was nice to start off with that lead.鈥
Warrenton has the answer
The Warriors finally got going on a 65-yard Mason Thompson catch and run off a Johnson pass just 21 seconds after Mack鈥檚 second score and later added rushing TDs from Haas in the second quarter and Johnson in the third to lead 20-13 after three quarters.
Haas鈥 go-ahead 4-yard score in the second capped a quick, three-play, 90-yard drive that also included a 49-yard run by Haas and a 37-yard catch by Deadrick Forrest.
鈥淲e needed that momentum boost,鈥 Koper said. 鈥淎ustin Haas has been a big playmaker for us for four years now. On the sideline, we said we needed him to break one and sure enough he did.鈥
Wild fourth quarter
After a total of 33 points were scored in the first three quarters, the teams combined for 42 points in the final quarter.
Liberty鈥檚 initial offensive burst was met with a scoreless drought of 30:12 from last few minutes of the first quarter to the first few of the fourth that included the Warriors picking McMullen off three times in a span of four series in the third and fourth quarters.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e a very prolific offense. Even better on the field than what they looked on film,鈥 Koper said. 鈥淕etting those turnovers was huge and it was ultimately the difference maker in the game.鈥
The Eagles finally showed some late signs of life with three TDs in the fourth, including two in the final 3:28 when the backups were in the game.
鈥淚t was great that our second-string quarterback (Sullivan Thornton) and our second-string running back (James Alexander) kind of got us back in the game," McMillen said.
Up next
Warrenton will play its first GAC North contest of the season when it hosts Winfield (1-2) next Friday night.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just 1-0 every week,鈥 Johnson said. 鈥淲e snuck this one by. We鈥檝e got to move on to next week, watch film, prepare and focus on beating Winfield. That鈥檚 it.鈥
Liberty will also see its first conference action when it hosts crosstown rival North Point (3-0) next Friday. The Eagles have won both previous matchups against their newest GAC Central foe, albeit by a combined total of six points.
鈥淲e knew with this week and next week we had maybe our toughest two weeks of the season coming up,鈥 McMillen said. 鈥淣orth Point鈥檚 a very good team. They鈥檝e been good since this group was sophomores and now this senior class is pretty special.鈥