Inability to get Warriors’ offense off field leads to district championship loss for Pirates

WARRENTON, Mo. — Fourth-down conversions can be momentum boosters or momentum zappers.

Unfortunately for the Hannibal football team, the Pirates were on the wrong end of too many of those momentum-shifting plays Friday night. Warrenton tilted the scales in their favor with five fourth-down conversions that led to 21 points in its 42-28 victory in the Class 4 District 5 championship game at Warrenton High School.

“We missed some opportunities there,” Hannibal coach Jeff Gschwender said. “A couple of those fourth downs, we had them in the backfield and let them get away. Those younger guys are going to take that, and I’m telling you right now, they’re going to be ready to roll next year. I can promise you that.”

Having already converted a fourth down four plays earlier, the Warriors faced fourth and 1 on the Hannibal 24-yard line with five minutes left in the first half. It turned into fourth and 6 after a false start penalty.

Warrenton coach Jason Koper never swayed from his decision to go for it, and the football gods — if they do exist — rewarded his decision. Warriors quarterback Brandon Johnson dropped back to pass and was swarmed by multiple Pirates defenders. Johnson escaped and broke multiple arm-tackle attempts to scramble for 19 yards and a first down, setting up an Austin Haas 10-yard touchdown run on the next play.

“(Johnson) has done that a lot for us this year,” Koper said. “He’s good at escaping the pocket. He has good vision. He’s got surprising strength with arm tackles. He doesn’t look very big, but an arm tackle doesn’t usually bring him down.”

Gschwender said that fourth-and-6 play turned the game on its ear.

“In games like this, it happens like that,” Gschwender said. “There are probably going to be one or two plays that totally turn the outcome of the game. When you get to this point in the season, that’s just the way it is. They took advantage of those deals and we didn’t.”

The Pirates recovered a muffed punt and eventually scored on a 3-yard touchdown run by Darrion Washington with 10 seconds left in the first half to cut the deficit to 20-14 heading into the locker room.

On the opening possession of the second half, Johnson once again dashed the Pirates’ hopes of a tide-turning fourth-down stop. Johnson completed a 5-yard pass to Austin White on fourth and 3 from the Hannibal 32-yard line. Like deja vu, Haas ran in another touchdown on the next play, and the two-point conversion extended the Warriors’ lead to 28-14.

Hannibal punched back once more. Washington turned a fourth-and-2 play into a 40-yard touchdown run two minutes later to get the Pirates within seven points just shy of midway through the third quarter.

The game of punch-counterpunch was not over. Neither was Koper’s aggressiveness on fourth down, and the next call to go for it proved to be the gutsiest — and most pivotal — of them all.

After the first three plays of the Warriors’ next drive netted 9 yards, they found themselves facing fourth and 1 at their own 32-yard line. Haas powered and lunged his way to get not much more than the nose of the football to the sticks and keep the drive alive. Two plays later, Haas sprung free behind the Pirates defense, hauled in a pass from Johnson and took it 64 yards for the touchdown to double the Warriors’ lead to 35-21.

“When you get to these games and you miss opportunities, the other team makes you pay, and that’s what happened,” Gschwender said.

Following a Pirates three-and-out, the Warriors chewed up 5 minutes, 41 seconds of clock in marching 75 yards for another score — Haas’ third rushing touchdown — to seemingly put the game out of reach.

Washington had other ideas. He ran the ensuing kickoff back 85 yards for a touchdown to put some wind back in the Pirates’ sails.

“I saw the hole, and it was just speed from there,” Washington said. “I think the kicker might have just barely touched me, but I gave him a little stiff arm and just kept running.”

The Pirates (8-4) really felt the wind at their backs after Hannibal junior linebacker/tight end James Wetton recovered Waylon Anders’ onside kick with 6:45 left and the Pirates down two scores.

“I was jumping up and down,” Washington said of his reaction to Wetton’s onside kick recovery. “I was ready to go.”

Anders quarterbacked the Pirates down to the Warriors 9-yard line in the next 2 minutes, 30 seconds. As Anders scrambled to pick up a yard on third and 7, he took a hit as he neared the Warriors sideline, leaving him hobbled. Anders made it about three-quarters of the way across the field to get the play call from Gschwender as the play clock approached single digits. The Pirates sprinted to the line and were a split second late getting the play off, resulting in a 5-yard delay of game penalty.

On fourth and 11, Anders tried to connect with wide receiver Karter Reed on a corner route near the left pylon, but his pass was off target. This gave the ball back to the Warriors with 3:51 left and two first downs away from putting the game on ice.

“We just couldn’t put it together,” Gschwender said of the Pirates’ final drive. “We had a hairline delay of game, and it put us back a little bit, but really we didn’t change the call. It’s just one of those things. You try to call the best plays that you think are going to work, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It didn’t work for us more than it did tonight.”

A 12-yard Haas run resulted in a first down on the second play of the Warriors’ possession. Then, in rather fitting fashion, the Warriors converted their fifth fourth down on a Johnson quarterback sneak three plays later to put the game on ice.

“We don’t punt very often. We don’t like to,” Koper said. “We try to go for it, and it worked out well for us tonight. We got lucky a couple times where we should have been stopped and just happened to make plays. That was probably the difference in the game.”

Haas rushed for 267 yards on 30 carries and added 88 receiving yards to give him 355 yards from scrimmage to go along with five total touchdowns — three rushing and two receiving.

“At 5-7, 170 pounds, (Haas) plays like he’s 6-foot, 220,” Koper said. “He’s surprisingly strong for as small as he is. Unbelievable heart, great speed, great vision, and a great young man, too. I’m glad we have him on our team. I love being able to hand the ball off to 7.”

The Warriors (11-0) advance to the quarterfinals to clash with West Plains next Saturday. Gschwender likes Warrenton’s chances in that game and beyond.

“I truly think they’re going to go to the championship,” Gschwender said. “The stuff they do causes a lot of problems in a lot of different areas — running, throwing, and they have a running quarterback. You put those things together, they’re hard to deal with.”