I was so relieved when I found out that Warren was the home team and that meant purple jerseys with white numbers…easy to see!!! Not like the game I worked in Week 0 when they wore the road white jerseys and light grey numbers…very difficult to see the numbers.
Last year, when these teams played, Brandies won 29-28 in OT….in that game Brandeis’s starting quarterback got hurt and Trinton Ynlcan, the running back, took over at the quarterback position and threw the winning 2 point conversion to give them the win.
Consistently, over the past several years, these 2 teams have been the cream of the crop in District 27-5A. They are both extremely well coached, play smart football, are solid on defense, and execute flawlessly on offense. I expected a very similar game last night to the one from last season…a close and competitive nail biting football game!!!
But, unfortunately, that didn’t happen. The Warren Warriors looked confused on offense and they made a lot of stupid personal foul penalties on offense and defense; one player was even ejected for throwing a punch. Brandeis also had there share of personal foul penalties, but there offense or should I say running game couldn’t be contained.
Normally, when we get the list of officials, we know the names! Last night, I didn’t recognize any of the names and nor did a representative of the Northside athletic staff. I kinda partially blame the officials for not taking control of the game after the first few personal foul penalties. If it was our regular crew, this game would’ve been completely different.
It is very possible that our normal officials were officiating another game; possibly college football since the college football officials are the replacement officials for the NFL. Basically, everyone got a temporary promotion till the NFL can resolve there own official issues.
Now you’re probably wondering how many penalties we had last night? I will tell you…36 total penalties for 224 yards!!! The Warren Warriors had more penalty yards than total offense in the first half.
Even though Warren trailed 26-0 at halftime, I knew the Warren Warriors wouldn’t go down without a fight. On the first drive of the second half, Warren scored a touchdown and I was like this is what I expected. Well, that high lasted a few minutes as Warren only scored 1 more touchdown early in the 4th quarter.
The Warren Warriors quarterback, Ryan Larson, was 19 for 42 passing for 190 yards and 2 interceptions. Aron Taylor, the wide receiver that I really am impressed with, only had 3 catches for 32 yards. Brandeis knew he was a play-maker and did an absolute fantastic job of covering him. Somebody else had to step-up for Warren and that was another wide receiver, Ryan Moraniec. He had 6 catches for 101 yards and was the lone bright spot for the Warriors. The 2 touchdowns came from running back, Ronald Jacobs. They had no answer for the Brandeis offense.
The Warren offense ran a total of 69 plays for 233 yards. They also had 4 turnovers and 21 penalties for 136 yards. That is not typical for Warren. I don’t want to be the Jay Mustangs as they are the next opponent for the Warren Warriors.
The Brandeis Broncos running back, Trinton Ynclan, was injured the first 2 games this season so last night was his season debut. And, man, on his first carry of the game, he scored a 75 yard touchdown!!!
When the game ended, Ynclan had 26 carries for 222 yards and all three touchdowns for the Broncos. Brian Chapman and Colbie Price were the quarterbacks and they rotated snaps after each play. For a stat man, that made my job a bit more challenging. Because of this, I used Kusenberger’s starting line-up board and pointed to the quarterback that was in the game to help him out since he was doing play-by-play. The defense shut down a really explosive Warren offense.
Offensively, Brandeis ran a total of 59 plays for 369 yards. They turned the ball over 3 times and had 15 penalties for 87 yards.
Next Friday, Brandeis plays O’Connor and that game will likely determine the District champion.
We are now finished with Week 2 and of all the games I have worked so far, I am really impressed with the Brandeis Broncos, the O’Connor Panthers, and the Steele Knights.
FINAL SCORE
Brandeis 28 (2-1, 1-0)
Warren 13 (2-1, 0-1)
On Thursday, I will be at Farris stadium again (feels like my 2nd home) for another District 27-5A game between the Holmes Huskies and the Marshall Rams.
On Friday, I am at Rutledge stadium as the East Central Hornets take on the Judson Rockets.
And finally on Saturday, I am at the Alamodome as the undefeated UTSA Roadrunners host the Northwestern Oklahoma State Rangers.