Head coach Jason Witten, Argyle Liberty Christian Warriors soundly defeat Grapevine Faith

GRAPEVINE -- Quarterback Cole Welliver tossed five touchdown passes as Argyle Liberty Christian revved up its offense into high gear with a 56-3 rout of Grapevine Faith Christian Friday night in a TAPPS non-district matchup at Ford Field.

“We wanted to attack offensively,” said third year Warriors Head Coach Jason Witten, a former Cowboys legend. “We got into a good rhythm. ... I thought our last game we were a little out of sync offensively, and our guys responded with a big night.”

“Passing game was excellent. Ran the ball well. Our offensive line blocked extremely well. Defense did a great job. And no turnovers,” added Witten.

After a three-and-out defensively by the Warriors to open the game, Welliver wasted no time in cranking up the high-powered offense, connecting on a 66-yard TD wideout screen to Brady Janusek on the team’s first play from scrimmage.

On the Warriors next possession, Welliver, a UConn pledge, engineered a 10-play, 77-yard march that culminated in a 30-yard TD strike to Jaylon Hawkins. Liberty Christian, No. 1 team in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram area private school rankings, led 14-0 after the first stanza.

Then the Warrior offense exploded with 35 second-quarter points.

A Welliver to Quinton Brown 46-yard TD pass two plays in began the onslaught. Junior running back Chase Garnett scored on a 26-yard TD scamper to increase the margin to 28-0.

Back-to-back interceptions defensively -- by Janusek and Blake Werner -- led to a pair of Warrior TDs. Garnett scored on a one-yard leap and then Michael Stump hauled in a 28-yard TD pass from Welliver.

Garnett then capped off the torrid second quarter, scoring his third rushing TD in the period, this one on a 37-yard gallop with 1:22 left before halftime that left the Warriors with a commanding 49-0 advantage.

“On the interception, I missed one earlier I should have gotten, but managed to grab this one,” said Janusek, a junior who recently pledged to Oklahoma to play baseball as an outfielder. “We were able to make the plays offensively. Just a great team effort all the way around.”

The Warriors did not get a third-quarter possession, as the entire second half was played with a running clock. Grapevine Faith recovered an onside kick to begin the second half, which led to their only score in the game, a 34-yard field goal from Josh Holroyd with just over a minute left in the third quarter.

With the running clock, the Warriors did not receive the kickoff until the start of the fourth period. Welliver hurled is fifth TD pass, an 18-yarder to Hawkins with 8:09 left in the game, to close out the scoring.

“We have such great receivers,” said Welliver. “They were open and did a great job. We spread the ball around. The offensive line did a great job in protection and blocking, and we ran the ball well. Just a great overall effort.”

Notable performances

Welliver finished with 11 completions on 18 attempts for 254 yards and five TDs to four different receivers.

Garnett ran for a game-high 162 rushing yards -- including 150 in the first half -- on 12 carries. He had three second-quarter touchdowns.

Janusek corraled four passes for a game-leading 91 yards, while Brown caught three passes for 73 yards. Hawkins’ two catches both went for touchdowns and he totaled 48 yards, while Stump added 42 aerial yards on a pair of receptions.

The Warriors amassed 368 yards total offense in the first half, finishing with 422 yards, and the defense held Grapevine Faith to 137 yards total offense for the game.

Grapevine Faith Christian senior quarterback Clayton Sobecki, who racked up 10 rushing TDs in the Lions two wins before being contained by Episcopal School of Dallas a week ago in a 37-0 loss, led the Lions with 61 rushing yards on 11 attempts. He added 58 yards passing on 10 of 21 passing.

Up next

Argyle Liberty Christian (3-0, 0-0) travels to Bishop Lynch for a 7:30 pm Friday night TAPPS non-district contest, the middle of three consecutive road tests for the Warriors.

Grapevine Faith Christian (2-2, 0-0) visits Fort Worth Christian in a non-district matchup next Friday night with a slated 7 p.m. CT kickoff.