Warren plays through the grief, rolls Barrington 41-7

GURNEE – This was a tough week at Warren, but the Blue Devils were ready to take care of business when the lights came on Friday.

Less than a week after receiving the tragic news former teammate Christian Eubanks died in a car accident, Warren rolled to a 41-7 nonconference victory over visiting Barrington.

“To be honest, we just had to do it for our boy,” Warren two-way star Jailen Duffie said. “I’ve known him since I was 4 years old, I’ve been playing football with him since Waukegan Bulldogs. We’re deep.”

Eubanks graduated from Warren in the spring and was a freshman football player at Indiana State. The accident happened near campus and involved a couple of teammates.

“It was kind of a shocker for the whole team,” Duffie said. “Everybody just opened their eyes and were like, ‘Dang, we’ve really got to do this for our boy.’ But we did it for his mom also, because she took her time to come out here and watch us play today, so that was very special.”

Warren brought an interesting twist to this season opener. Since Bryan McNulty became head coach, Warren has been known as a defensive-oriented squad with a penchant for running up the middle.

On Friday, the Blue Devils alternated most every play between having quarterback Adam Behrens under center with two running backs in the I-formation to Behrens standing in the shotgun with four wideouts.

Center Kole Weinberg, whose dad is a Warren assistant coach, had the toughest job of the night.

“I’ve had some bad snaps in practice, just got to get it out in practice, make sure I’m dialed in for the game,” said Weinberg, who also had a rare pass reception off a deflection “Take as many snaps as you can. I don’t think I’ve ever looked through my legs [to see where the quarterback is] unless I’m long snapping.”

Behrens is a Division I baseball commit who played football as a sophomore, didn’t play last year, then came back for his senior season. He threw for 203 yards, while senior running back Charley Thompson piled up 180 yards on 23 carries.

Thompson had two touchdowns called back by penalties, including a 75-yarder. The Blue Devils piled up 11 penalties in the first half, but still built a 21-0 lead.

Behrens’ biggest play was a 64-yard bomb to Duffie, who plans to play defense at North Dakota State but can also help stretch the field on offense.

The Devils had three other 30-yard pass plays — to Cassius Callahan, Taylen Curry and Justin Kretz. Behrens ran 19 yards for Warren’s first touchdown.

Barrington headed into the season with just one full-time starter back and had trouble moving the ball against the traditionally tough Blue Devils’ defense. Junior Dillon Fitzpatrick broke loose for a 69-yard touchdown in the third quarter, but finished with 55 yards on 13 carries. The Broncos had 35 yards passing between two quarterbacks.

“It’s one game. We’re going look at it and learn from it,” Barrington coach Joe Sanchez said. “What we found out tonight is, when you have chances to make plays, if you don’t make plays, if you can’t get off the field on third down or convert on third down, you can’t keep giving a team like that opportunities.”

https://football.dailyherald.com/sports/20220826/warren-pays-tribute-to-former-teammate-by-rolling-over-barrington