All photos by Emmalee Goad.
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| Kinnard keeps the ball. |
For the 14th time in the Bo Hembree era of Lumberjack football, the Warren Lumberjacks have won a conference championship. The Jacks traveled to Hamburg Friday, October 27th and faced off against a big and speedy Lions team that had only one conference loss. A win by Hamburg would put them in a tie with Warren, but more importantly give them the number one seed in the playoffs. The Lumberjacks would have none of that and defeated Hamburg in a sportsmanship shortened game, 49-20. It was a hard fought physical game and the sportsmanship rule was not evoked until the fourth quarter. A couple of outstanding kick off returns by Hamburg and a fumble by Warren, kept the game within reason for a good while.
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| Lumberjack defenders bring down a Lion. |
Hamburg won the toss and elected to defer. Warren took the opening kick off at it's own 26. It was immediately obvious that the Lions would not kick to Treylon Burks or Keemontrae McKnight if they could avoid it. Warren quickly moved down field and with 9:33 remaining in the first quarter, Treylon Burks scored on a 7-yard run. Jesus Tinoco hit the PAT and the Jacks jumped ahead 7-0.
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| Keemontrae McKnifht gives it his all. |
The kick off by Tinoco was into the end zone and Hamburg took over on their twenty. Warren forced a punt and got the ball on Hamburg's 40-yard line. With 7:01 left in the first quarter, J'malachi Kinnard threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Treylon Burks and Tinoco was good on the point after to put Warren ahead 14-0.
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| Hold that line, Jacks! |
The ensuing kick off was returned to the Warren 48 and Hamburg found some success running the ball. They scored on fourth and one with 2:34 remaining in the first quarter and hit the PAT to cut the lead to 14-7.
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| Keemontrae McKnight gets protection from other Jacks as he advances the ball. |
In the second quarter, the Lumberjacks got the ball back at their own 27 and were moving well on the ground when they fumbled at the Hamburg 40. The Lumberjack defense held and got the ball back at the Warren 25. The Jack offense stalled and had to punt. Hamburg got the ball back at the Warren 49 but again the Jack defense stood tall and held on downs and put the offense back on the field. A short time later Kinnard hit Keemontrae McKnight with a 42-yard touchdown pass and Tinoco was successful on the PAT to up the score to 21-7 in Warren"s favor. The 42-yard run by McKnight was a thing of beauty as he broke tackles, flashed speed and ran hard.
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| Vincent Steppes gains yards for the Jacks. |
The kick off left Hamburg at their own 29. The Jacks again held on downs and took over at the Warren 40. Shortly thereafter, Treylon Burks ran in a for a touchdown from the eight yard line. Tinoco, with the snap by Mark Hairston and the the hold by Braden Jones, made the PAT. Warren stretched it's lead to 28-7. That was the halftime score.
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| #66 Wallace Smith, #54 Marcus Miller, #1 J'Malachi Kinnard, #8 Donovan Ross, and #25 Damarcus Gilbert |
Warren tried a short kickoff to begin the second and Hamburg broke the return to the Warren 30. On third down they hit a 29-yard touchdown pass at the 10:15 mark of the third quarter and made the point after to cut the lead to 28-14. The Lumberjacks got the next kick off and promptly marched the ball down field. With 6:36 left in the third quarter, Keemontrae scored on a 15-yard run and with the successful point after by Tinoco, Warren went up 35-14.
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| Vincent Steppes rushes for the Jacks. |
Hamburg returned the kick off to midfield but the Warren defense got tough and forced a punt. a The Jacks got the ball back at their own 48 after a poor punt by Hamburg. With two minutes left in the third quarter, Treylon Burks scored from the three yard line and Tinoco made the score 42-14. With 9 seconds remaining in the third, Donovan Ross intercepted a Hamburg pass and the Lumberjacks got the ball back at the Hamburg 49 yard line.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, with 11:13 remaining in the game, Vincent Stepps, who ran well all night, ripped off a 23-yard touchdown run and with the extra point by Tinoco, Warren was ahead 49-14 and the sportsmanship rule kicked in.
Tinoco kicked off into the end zone and with 5:29 left in the game, against primarily Warren's second team defense, ( which played well at times ) Hamburg broke a 50-yard run for a score and missed the PAT to leave the score 49-20. The Lumberjack second team offense moved the ball well but took a knee to run out the clock.
It was another team win for Warren against a good Hamburg team. A great crowd of Lumberjack fans were on hand on a cold and damp night that saw some very light rain fall in the second half. The Jacks are now 8-1 on the year and 6-0 in conference play. The Lumberjacks will now travel to Dollarway Thursday, November 2nd to face the Cardinals. Warren has the number one seed in conference 84A locked up but will want to complete an undefeated season in the conference prior to beginning the playoffs.
Warren fans are urged to travel the short distance to Dollarway Thursday night for the 7:00 P.M. kick off. This Lumberjack team is fun to watch as they prepare for the challenge to win a state championship against a number of excellent class 4A teams.
Several players could have been named "player of the game" against Hamburg. Luke Gorman and Donovan Ross were chosen because of their defensive efforts.
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