Dragons come up short
Meadville holds on for 14-7 victory
Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren's Parker Kiser scores the Dragons' lone touchdown during Friday's Region 5 loss to Meadville at War Memorial Field.
Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren's Giovanni Larson tackles Meadville's Hudson Palmiero during Friday's Region 5 game at War Memorial Field.
Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren's Parker Kiser scores the Dragons' lone touchdown during Friday's Region 5 loss to Meadville at War Memorial Field.
Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren's Giovanni Larson tackles Meadville's Hudson Palmiero during Friday's Region 5 game at War Memorial Field.
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WARREN -- It was yet another beautiful evening at War Memorial Field as the Warren Dragons hosted the Meadville Bulldogs on Friday evening.
Prior to the game, the legendary 1976 Warren Dragons football team was recognized for the 50th anniversary of their 11-0 undefeated season.
The Bulldogs got out to a fast start as they ran 73 yards up the field on their first possession to take the early 7-0 lead.
The Dragons were forced to punt on their drive and the Bulldogs would score yet again to go up 14-0.
With their backs against the wall, the Dragons found themselves trying to prevent the game from getting out of hand. With 1:35 remaining in the first quarter, Warren senior Garrett Winship recovered a fumble to take back possession.
With the second quarter starting up, quarterback Parker Kiser had a nice 20-yard run up the middle to get within striking distance. A few nice runs from Aiden Eger got the Dragons down to the Bulldogs' 8-yard line. Kiser would keep the ball again to find the end zone for the touchdown. Charlie Blum converted the extra point to put the score at 14-7.
No more scoring action would occur in the first half.
The third quarter saw a series of defensive stops from both teams. Warren was able to take advantage of a failed Meadville fake fourth-down punt to regain possession heading into the final quarter.
With the ball at the Bulldogs' 27-yard line, Warren got as far as 8 yards from the end zone before the Dragons' fourth-down effort was halted.
With Meadville controlling its destiny, a crucial holding penalty was called against the Bulldogs with just 6:49 left in the game. Facing a tough third-and-22, Meadville would immediately erase that with a 37-yard pass completion to get into Dragons territory.
At the 4:04 mark, the Dragons forced and successfully recovered a Bulldogs fumble to take back possession. A quick horse collar advanced the home team 15 yards to their own 37-yard line. A successful 16-yard pass completion from Kiser to Chris Orth would put Warren into Bulldogs territory with three minutes remaining. But an untimely Kiser interception at the 1:48 mark would eventually allow the Bulldogs to run a few plays and finish out the 14-7 victory.
Warren will regroup and prepare for next Friday as it hosts the North East Grape Pickers at 7 p.m. at War Memorial Field.