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MONTGOMERY - Following its comeback win over Muncy last Friday, Warrior Run brought the momentum it garnered through the second half of that game into the next.
On Friday night at the Montgomery Area Sports Complex, it won at all three levels and dominated the field position battle en route to a 35-7 win over Montgomery. Colby LeBarron punched in three one-yard scores in the first half, James Keifer logged two third-quarter touchdown passes and the defense held Montgomery to one completed pass, as the Defenders improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2019.
"It's huge for our program and it started last week with the confidence gained with beating Muncy," said Warrior Run head coach Derrick Zechman on the team's start to the season. "It started with the leadership that we have and carried over all the kids, ever down to the underclassmen."
Field position played a big role from the opening kick, as Eli Butler received the ball at the 10 and made a few Red Raiders miss on his way to a 36-yard return. The Warrior Run offense would follow that up with a 13-play, 54-yard drive to kick off the game with a 6-0 lead.
Their next five drives would start at their own 44 or better, with two beginning in the red zone. While some of that can attributed to short punts from Montgomery, a lot of it had to do with its defense and continued success in the return game.
After forcing a three-and-out with Montgomery ten yards away from its own endzone, Warrior Run's Cohen Zechman received the punt at the Montgomery 42-yard-line and ran it back 23 yards to help his team start its fourth drive inside the red zone. It took the Defenders just four plays to capitalize, with LeBarron finishing the drive with three rushes for 13 yards and his second touchdown.
Two drives later, Warrior Run would pin Montgomery at its own 2 and force another three-and-out. With Sam Hall receiving the ensuing punt in stride just inside Montgomery's 30, he was able to set the offense up less than ten yards away from paydirt.
"Our defense made them earn everything and gave us field position all night," said Zechman. “The kids feed off our defense.”
Three plays later, LeBarron made it 20-0 with his third touchdown of the night. He'd be forced out early in the third quarter due to injury, but the back left his mark, rushing for 45 yards and 3 touchdowns on 11 attempts.
"He took a knee to the back but he's tougher than nails," said Zechman on LeBarron when asked about his injury.
With him out, Stone Allison, Eli Butler and Lincoln Hulsizer took over, with Allison and Hulsizer combining for 46 yards on eight attempts and Butler taking a screen 78 yards down the right sideline to up the team's lead to four scores with just under five minutes left to go in the third quarter.
"We're very fortunate to have guys that can run and give you a different pace," said Zechman. "We have a number of guys that can run the ball. We have a lot of weapons that we can utilize that make us very dangerous."
Though the final score was lopsided, Montgomery had a decent shot to change that midway through the third.
On the back of multiple first downs gained by Coy Bryson, the Red Raiders found themselves nearing the red zone with a shot to cut their 20-0 deficit down to two scores. But a fourth-down pass from Parker Persing that could've been a touchdown fell off the hands of Lincoln Miller. One play later, Butler took that screen pass the distance and soon after, James Keifer (11-of-15 205 yards, 2 TDs) made it 35-0 with a beautiful 46-yard touchdown pass to Sam Hall.
"That's one of those winning plays we talked about," said Montgomery head coach Cory Tice on the sequence. "When you're not making them, it feels like you're pushing rope up a hill. Everything's difficult."
The Montgomery defense did what it could considering where it was starting on the field, forcing a fumble inside its red zone and a three-and-out inside its territory to keep itself within one score early in the second quarter. Its offense just couldn't get much done against the Warrior Run defense outside of that promising third-quarter drive and a long touchdown run from Lincoln Miller in the fourth.
"I really think the defense played really well outside of 2-3 plays," said Tice. "They kind of held down a really good football team for quite a while until you started to peter out because we couldn't sustain drives offensively. Any time you're playing the majority of your time on defense, it's going to be a struggle."
With the win, Warrior Run keeps its undefeated season alive and heads into next week's matchup against Midd-West with plenty of momentum. With the loss, Montgomery (0-2) hopes to bounce back at Sayre next weekend as it looks to pick up its first win of the season.