Warren holds off Stevens with second half push and waits for playoff fate

Nothing has come easy for the Warren Warriors this season.

Friday night was no exception. The Warriors needed a late push to stave off an inspired one-win Stevens team in a 42-28 victory at Gustafson Stadium to close out their regular season.

Warren (6-4 overall, 5-3 District 29-6A) now must play the waiting game to see if it qualifies for the postseason. Warren, which has an open date next weekend, needs one O’Connor loss – either Saturday against Taft or next week against Sotomayor – to ensure a postseason berth. The Warriors can qualify in other ways, but this is the simplest path.

“It’s a funny limbo,” Warren senior receiver Julius Daniel said. “We don’t know what to think about it because either it’s our last game or it’s not our last game. We’re hoping for the best. But for these next two weeks, we are going to keep on preparing and putting in the work and make sure we are prepared for the next game.”

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Senior quarterback Mac Anderson threw for 264 yards and four touchdowns on 20-of-27 passing to lead the Warriors.

“They definitely gave us a good fight, but at the end of the day, it came down to us, and it came down to execution,” Anderson said. “We just have to play our game.”

Although the Falcons had been eliminated from playoff contention, they put up a strong fight. Entering the game, Stevens (1-8, 1-6) had scored 27 points in six district games. They surpassed that on Friday alone.

They also tied the game at 28 midway through the fourth quarter on Treyvonne Betts’ third touchdown on an 8-yard carry.

Isaiah Ngaue-Hafoka got into the end zone on a 6-yard pass from Anderson to take a 35-28 lead with 2:31 left. The Warriors tacked on another score when Julius Daniel went in from 5 yards out in the final minutes to cap it.

Warren carried a 21-14 lead into halftime thanks to a 3-yard touchdown run and a 5-yard scoring catch from Daniel. Each of those scores put the Warriors ahead, 7-0 and 14-7.

Stevens tied the game each time – first when Morgan Sanchez scored on a 52-yard screen pass from BJ Hall with 4:26 left in the first quarter and then when Betts plowed in from 10 yards to knot the game at 14.

Betts’ score with 3:32 remaining in the second quarter capped a 16-play, 75-yard drive that took nearly eight minutes.

Warren answered on the ensuing drive when Hall connected with Kevin Phoenix for a 10-yard score at the 1:40 mark of the second quarter. Deonta Corley helped set it up with a long kickoff return that put the ball on Stevens’ 35.

The Warriors took a 28-14 lead early in the third quarter when Ngaue-Hafoka hauled in a 78-yard catch from Anderson. The Falcons pulled closer on the next drive with Betts’ 34-yard scoring run.

The Warrior are in fourth place, tied in the loss column with O’Connor (3-3) and a half-game behind Sotomayor (5-2). Brennan and Harlan, which are tied for first, have clinched two of the four playoff spots.

“We are always going to be preparing for the best,” Anderson said. “It was amazing to see the hearts of my boys. I’m so proud of them. Everybody on this team has worked so hard, and they’ve really earned it.”

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This article originally published at Warren holds off Stevens with second half push and waits for playoff fate.