The 4A-2 District Championship was on the line on Friday night at South Warren as the undefeated Spartans played host to the Warren Central Dragons. Neither team could find much on offense early on as the punting units were busy, and in the case of South Warren, a few questionable handles from the quarterback and running back led to a few near misses and one turnover deep in Spartan territory. Once South Warren finally got its sea legs underneath it, however, Brandon Smith’s team began to roll. Kayron Namvong ran in the game’s first touchdown from 23 yards out, CJ Hayes leapt up and grabbed a 10 yard score in the back of the end zone from Ryder Litten, and Devante Colton took a blocked punt 61 yards down the left sideline for an easy touchdown.
WCHS played solid defense early, getting good penetration against the South Warren offensive line, but the Dragon offense, outside of a few scrambles from Chance Shanklin, found the same brick wall waiting for them defensively that every Spartan opponent has this season. At the half, South Warren had a yardage advantage of 119-20, which was not at all unusual.
South Warren received the second half kickoff and CJ Hayes went CJ Hayes again, fighting off a touchdown called back on a holding penalty to…score again as a receiver in nearly the exact same spot, this time toe tapping in the back corner. Warren Central would add a safety after the Dragons snapped it over the head of the punter into the end zone, and Namvong would find his way into the paint one more time to make it 38-0. WCHS scored on the reserves on a 53 yard pass from Shanklin to Chauncey Greer, but that would be it as the final score was South Warren 38, Warren Central 6.
The Spartans move to 9-0 and will host Pope John Paul II out of Hendersonville, Tennessee next Friday on Senior Night. CJ Hayes was named Bluegrass Cellular Player of the Game. Warren Central falls to 3-6 on the season.
