Photo courtesy of Allan Branthoover Warren’s Gage Shaffer (15) is in the middle of a tackle of Meadville’s Khalon Simmons on Friday at War Memorial Field.

Meadville punched Warren in the mouth from the start in a 41-0 Region 5 win on Friday at War Memorial Field.

It puts the Bulldogs in the driver’s seat with a 3-0 region record. The Dragons are 3-2 overall and now 3-1 in Region 5.

“They didn’t do anything we didn’t expect,” said Warren coach Mark Morelli. “It’s a 13-0 game at halftime; it’s a two-score game. But the issue is you’ve got to play four quarters, and we didn’t come out in the second half to match their aggressiveness and their physicality. When you play Meadville, you’ve got to get ready to get smashed in the mouth and kicked in the butt and all that good stuff, and we’re still a little bit away from doing that.”

Meadville ran all over Warren. The Bulldogs had three players rush for more than 100 yards, with Griffin Buzzell’s 163, Brady Walker’s 124 and Khalon Simmons’ 105.

The Bulldogs led just 13-0 at halftime, but had 153 yards rushing to the Dragons’ 31 total yards in the first half. It may have been worse, but Warren stopped Meadville near the goal line and the first-half clock ran out.

The second half was more of the same. Warren had just three offensive plays — a three-and-out — in the third quarter, and Meadville dominated time of possession. Simmons hobbled to the Meadville sideline with an apparent knee injury midway through the third, but returned for a 9-yard touchdown run on his first play back.

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Meadville led 19-0 after three quarters, but if the Bulldogs weren’t dominant enough up to that point, they added three more touchdown runs — one each by Buzzell, Simmons, and Walker in the fourth.

Simmons finished with three touchdowns in Meadville’s Wing-T, Walker two, and Buzzell one.

Meadville had 393 yards rushing off of great field position all night, to Warren’s 30 total yards. Warren had just 11 offensive plays in the second half, and leading rusher Tommy Nyquist had just two carries after the break.

“You learn something from this game and you move on,” added Morelli. “Hopefully, maybe we get a shot at a rematch with them in the playoffs. Now we’ve got to take care of business the next two weeks against General McLane and Oil City. Those are two Region 5 games.

“This is going to test our kids today,” said Morelli. “This is going to test their ability to bounce back, their ability to pick it back up again and get back on track next week.”

Meadville 6 7 6 22 — 41

Warren 0 0 0 0 — 0

First quarter

M–Brady Walker 9 run, 1:34 (kick blocked)

Second quarter

M–Khalon Simmons 1 run, 9:23 (Simmons kick)

Third quarter

M–Simmons 9 run, 5:51 (kick fails)

Fourth quarter

M–Griffin Buzzell 2 run, 11:56 (Walker run)

M–Simmons 36 run, 8:43 (Walker run)

M–Walker 6 run, 1:28 (kick fails)

Individual stats

RUSH: M–Walker 21-124, 2TD; Buzzell 20-163, TD; Simmons 18-105, 3TD; Gavin Longstreth 2-1. W–Tommy Nyquist 7-10; Ethan Senz 6-11; Eric Dippold 3-(-15).

PASS: M–Longstreth 0 for 2 for 0 yards. W–Dippold 6 for 13 for 24 yards, INT; Carter Pascuzzi 0 for 1 for 0 yards.

RECEIVE: M–None. W–Ben White 3-9, Cayden Wright 2-8, Senz 1-7.