PINE BLUFF -- Warren is still Warren.
The defending Class 4A champions piled up 486 yards in a 59-30 rout of Smackover on Monday night at Golden Lion Stadium.
Warren held Smackover to 240 yards , had 4 sacks and forced 2 fumbles, recovering both.
"We played well," Warren Coach Bo Hembree said. "Our kids were relentless. We didn't get tired. We didn't have anybody cramp up."
Junior Hayden Lassiter made his first start at quarterback for the Lumberjacks and made the most of it, completing 11 of 20 passes for 279 yards and 4 touchdowns with 2 interceptions.
"I thought he did good," Hembree said. "He made some good throws in the second half and late in the first half."
Warren (1-0), which lost several key starters from last year's championship team, including running back Kilay Cox and wide receiver Darveon Brown, had no trouble with Smackover, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's preseason No. 1 team in Class 3A.
"It's a normal Warren team," Smackover Coach Brian Strickland said. "I expected us to come out and play well, too. But I guess we aren't as experienced as we thought we were."
Peyton Hargis, a senior who has starred at defensive end the past two seasons for the Lumberjacks, shined on offense Monday, catching 3 passes for 151 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Junior running back Dennis Daniels rushed for 146 yards and 3 touchdowns on 22 carries.
Smackover (0-1), which plays its second game at home against defending Class 2A champion Junction City on Saturday, was without University of Arkansas oral commitment Jordan Jones in the second half. Jones, who caught 1 pass for 8 yards, completed 5 of 8 passes for 96 yards and 1 touchdown and returned an interception 98 yards for another score, was dehydrated at halftime and was told by team doctors not to go back in, Strickland said.
On the first play from scrimmage, senior Franklin Gilmore threw a 58-yard touchdown pass to Hargis to give Warren a 7-0 lead. Gilmore took a pitch from Lassiter and threw to Hargis beat Smackover defensive back Khalil Lowery for the touchdown.
Sergio Yepes tacked on a 26-yard field goal at the 3:38 mark of the first quarter.
Smackover was able to get some momentum midway through the second quarter when Jones intercepted Lassiter and ran 98 yards for a touchdown to cut Warren's lead to 10-7. However, Warren answered with a four-play, 69-yard drive that culminated in Lassiter's 54-yard touchdown pass to Hargis for a 17-7 lead with 6:39 left in the half. The Lumberjacks extended their lead to 24-7 on Daniels' 3-yard run with 3:59 remaining in the half.
The Buckaroos got another big play from Jones, this time from the quarterback position. Jones threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Corbin Lee down the right sideline to cut the lead to 24-14.
But the Lumberjacks responded again, as Daniels scored from 2 yards out and added a two-point conversion to give Warren a 32-14 lead with 1:18 left in the half.
Keiandre Purifoy's 1-yard touchdown run pulled the Buckaroos within 32-22 with 10:43 left in the third quarter, but that was close as Smackover would get. Lassiter threw touchdown passes to Hargis for 39 yards and to Treylon Burks for 56 yards to extend the Lumberjacks' lead to 46-22 going into the fourth quarter.
Lassiter added a 56-yard touchdown pass to Gilmore and Daniels' 3-yard run made it 59-22 with 8:08 left and the Arkansas Activities Association sportsmanship rule was instituted with a running clock for the rest of the game.
Willie Davis scored on a 1-yard run for Smackover with 3:29 left.
Sports on 09/01/2015