Warren 39, Zion-Benton 7

After losing 39-7 to Lake Zurich last Friday night, Warren's football team was able to enjoy some home cooking.

The Blue Devils blasted Zion-Benton 35-6 in their North Suburban Lake Division home opener Thursday night.

Warren improved to 2-3 overall and 2-1 in the NSC Lake.

On the very first play from scrimmage, Blue Devils sophomore Greg Kennedy took a handoff and ran 79 yards to put his team up 7-0.

Kennedy, who scored 3 touchdowns and rushed for 140 yards on 13 carries, pointed to his offensive line.

"Our line did a great job to open up some holes for me," he said. " I really want to tip my hat to James Poliquin and Nick O'Brien. I just followed them all the way down."

Kennedy added a pair of short-yardage touchdowns in the third quarter.

"Kennedy has good vision and he had some great blocking in front of him," Warren coach Dave Mohapp said. "Our guards, Anthony Yarc and Greg Zech, and our center, Eric Church, really have improved over the past few weeks."

Warren's defense also played an outstanding game, holding Zion-Benton (1-4, 0-3) to only 62 rushing yards and 153 passing yards.

"Zion-Benton is a good offensive team," Mohapp said. "They have a lot of weapons on the field out there and we were able to stop them at the right time."

Mohapp also credited Zee-Bees quarterback Anthony Scott, who rushed for 60 yards and also completed 17 of 30 passes.

"What a great player he is," Mohapp said. "He brings the run, he brings the throwing game in, and (Zion-Benton) is going to get better and better each week."

Warren led 7-0 late in the first quarter when an interception by Jon Agunloye set the Blue Devils up deep in Z-B territory.

Three plays later, running back Marcus Wilson capped a 20-yard drive with a 1-yard dive.

In the third quarter, Kennedy capped a 47-yard drive with a 5-yard run up the middle.

Warren's defense recovered a fumble on the 47-yard line and five plays later, Kennedy scored from a yard out to make it 28-0.

In the fourth, Aaron Dahike capped the Blue Devils' scoring with a 1-yard run.

The Zee-Bees made it to the end zone as Scott threw a 9-yard slant pass to T.J. Trepanier with 1:32 left in the fourth.

"We had our opportunities to get into the red zone, but we just couldn't score," Scott said. "I was just glad that we did score at the end."

"Anthony Scott is a just a dynamic player," Zee-Bees coach Kelly Rice said. "He has great quickness. He ran and threw the ball well."