Raiders earn ‘Statement win’ over Calloway County
Published 2:44 pm Saturday, September 19, 2026
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Raiders’ head coach Jason Foley (left) talks to Warren East’s Brandon McCluskey (12) during a timeout. The Warren East Raiders defeated the visiting Ohio County Eagles Friday, August 21, 2026, at Warren East High School. (Joe Imel/Daily News)
(Joe Imel/Daily News)
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Raiders head coach Jason Foley talks ti is offense. The Warren East Raiders defeated the visiting Ohio County Eagles Saturday, August. 22, 2026 at Warren East High School. (Joe Imel/Daily News)
(Joe Imel/Daily News)
After failing to make the playoffs last season, the Warren East football team sent a message to the rest of its district foes on Friday that this year is going to be different — pulling away late for an impressive 40-14 win over Calloway County.
Warren East (4-1 overall, 1-0 Class 4A, District 1) led wire-to-wire in a game that had to be moved from Warren East to Warren Central after a partial power outage right before kickoff. The distraction was anything but for the Raiders, who delivered perhaps the most complete performance of the season.
“I thought it was a statement win for our guys,” Warren East coach Jason Foley said. “I challenged them before the game. I said, ‘This is a statement game. This is a program building game,’ and I thought our guys really responded. The heat all week — we had to adjust practice times. We had to move stadiums, but our whole theme is relentlessness and being able to adjust. I thought our kids responded and played up to our theme, so I was proud of them.”
Warren East got it going on its first drive with quarterback Brandon McCluskey scrambling and breaking through the line for a 36-yard touchdown run — the first of three rushing touchdowns on the night.
A McCluskey 1-yard keeper made the score 14-0 with five minutes left in the second quarter, but Calloway County (3-2, 0-1) was able to get on the board with a 15-play, 76-yard drive right before halftime. The Lakers extended the drive with four third-down conversions before Matthew Briedwell’s 4-yard keeper trimmed the deficit to 14-7 with 0:11.8 seconds remaining in the first half.
Warren East got another big run from McCluskey to extend the lead back to 21-7 late in the third — a 45-yard sprint down the sidelines. The next drive the Raiders faced fourth-and-5 when McCluskey found Clay Pennington in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown to make the score 27-7 early in the fourth.
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The Raiders defense appeared to add a score when Azzarrious Douglas intercepted the ball in the back of the end zone and took it back for a 108-yard score. The touchdown was ruled a touchback due to an inadvertent whistle, giving the Raiders the ball at their own 20 instead of the pick-6.
“The play before it was a mistake and I gave up a big gain,” Douglas said. “I was talking to my teammates on the sideline and they were like that is not me. The next play after that I had a big play. I slipped and the ref thought I was going to fall, but I didn’t. That would have been a school record.”
Three plays later, Warren East fumbled away the ball on a lateral and Calloway County took advantage with a touchdown pass to trim the deficit to 27-14 with 5:10 remaining. The Lakers tried an onside kick, but it was right to Douglas who got another chance to score. This time he would not be denied, returning it for a 55-yard score that pretty much sealed the victory.
“I just wanted my touchdown for the day,” Douglas said. “I was going to fall down, but I was like this is a good return. I just made a play out of it.”
Warren East would add one more score on a Zae McMillian-Cofer touchdown run with less than two minutes remaining -= capping a 19-point fourth quarter outburst.
“I thought the response was good,” Foley said. “When bad things did happen we responded well. We had a couple of things go against us — a couple of scores brought back — but our kids didn’t give up and kept fighting. I was proud of that.”
The Raiders finished with 388 yards of offense — a balanced attack that included 197 yards rushing and 191 yards passing. McCluskey was 13-for-17 passing for 191 yards, adding 98 yards rushing.
“We lost to this team pretty bad last year,” McCluskey said. “Everybody came in here doubting us. We just have to keep proving (them) wrong. It was what coach Foley told us all week, we need (this win). It puts us first in our district right now. We are ready for everything at this point.”
Defensively, Warren East — which had three shutouts in the first four games — held Calloway County to 288 yards, forcing three turnovers. The Lakers came in averaging nearly 47 points a game through the first four games.
“Our defense has played really, really well all year,” Foley said. “I thought we had another good performance tonight. I thought tonight our offense showed up and played. We had great balance from our rush and pass game. When we put those two phases together I think it is a very good football team. We knew we were close, but for the most part we were able to put four quarters together.”
Warren East will travel to Franklin-Simpson for another district matchup on Sept. 25 at 7 p.m.
CCHS 0 7 0 7 — 14
WEHS 7 7 7 19 — 40
First quarter
WE — Brandon McCluskey 36 run (Merci Floribert kick), 8:12
Second quarter
WE — McCluskey 1 run (Floribert kick), 5:23
CC — Matthew Briedwell 4 run (Riley Hudson kick), 0:11.8
Third quarter
WE — McCluskey 45 run (Floribert kick), 3:20
Fourth quarter
WE — Clay Pennington 24 pass from McCluskey (kick failed), 9:26
CC — Hunter Haugh 31 pass from Briedwell (Hudson kick), 5:10
WE — Azzarrious Douglas 55 kickoff return (run failed), 4:55
WE — Zae McMillian-Cofer 15 run (Floribert kick), 1:54
About Micheal Compton
I am a sports reporter and movie critic for the Bowling Green Daily News.
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