Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Warren shows it’s no one-man show
WARREN 42, SOUTHSIDE BATESVILLE 26
Warren didn’t need Treylon Burks to perform on offense Saturday afternoon.
Instead, the 2017 Class 4A state runner-up and 8-4A Conference champion Lumberjacks picked up their first victory of the season by turning to the ground game.
Junior Vincent Steppes rushed for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns on 14 carries to lead Warren (1-0) past Southside Batesville (0-1) 4226 at North Little Rock High School.
Senior quarterback J’malachi Kinnard passed for 136 yards, 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. He also had 91 rushing yards.
Burks, a senior who has orally committed to the University of Arkansas, recorded 8.5 tackles, 1 sack, 1 forced fumble and 1 pass breakup at linebacker. He had one pass thrown to him, losing 11 yards on the 2nd-and-9 play from the Warren 37 in the third quarter.
Warren Coach Bo Hembree wanted to look at players other than Burks. He doesn’t want to put too much on Burks, who accounted for 46 touchdowns a year ago, including 14 receiving touchdowns.
“We’re going to be able to play without Treylon, especially for the nonconference,” Hembree said. “They were keying on him and putting two guys on him.
“It’s a great thing about him. He doesn’t care if he doesn’t play too much on offense. He helped us on defense. We’re going to have weapons on offense.”
Kinnard intercepted Southerners senior quarterback Koby Rich at the Warren 10, then Steppes ran 90 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:19 left in the first quarter.
Warren trailed 10-7 with 6:52 remaining in the first half.
Steppes’ 25-yard touchdown run with 4:41 left in the second quarter gave the Lumberjacks a 14-10 lead. Kinnard added to Warren’s lead with a 20-yard touchdown pass to sophomore Davante Smith to make it 21-10 with 56 seconds left in the second quarter.
Southside Batesville, which was a three-way champion of the 2-3A Conference in 2017, had two opportunities to score within the Warren 20 in the third quarter.
Burks broke up a pass intended for senior wingback Caden Huskey on fourth and goal on the first possession, and the Southerners settled for a 34-yard field from senior Alex Branscum on their next drive to cut the lead to 21-13.
“Against Warren, you have to take advantage of any opportunity. Any mistake is magnified,” Southside Batesville Coach Kenny Simpson said. “We had our chances down there to make the game maybe 21-18 or 21-21. They did a good job of stopping us.”
Kinnard scored from 48 yards out on the Lumberjacks’ first play after the Southerners’ field goal, which made it 28-13 with 3:46 left in the third quarter.
Kinnard threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Cade Reep with 1:26 left in the third quarter for a 35-13 advantage.
Steppes tacked on a 1-yard touchdown run on his final carry of the game with 9:34 left.
Rich passed for 77 yards and 1 touchdown, a 40-yard completion to senior Will Sitkowski in the first quarter. Sitkowski finished with 4 catches for 69 yards and 1 touchdown.
In addition to his third-quarter 34-yard field goal, Branscum also converted from 27 yards.