Warren’s Nick Cressey (11) hauls in a touchdown pass during Friday’s game against Paintsville. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

VINCENT — The Warren Warriors excelled in every facet of the game Friday night when they welcomed the Paintsville (Ky.) Tigers to Warriors Field.

Warrior senior quarterback Jacob Sealey tossed five first half touchdown passes to lead the way as the Warriors (4-1) rolled to a 56-0 win for their fourth consecutive victory.

The huge contingent of Warrior faithful had barely got sat down in their seats when senior Landon Fairbanks returned the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and the Big Blue was off and running.

“That was a great run and when you get something like that on special teams that’s a freebie,” said Warren third-year head coach Jimmy Peyton. “We work hard on all three facets of the game and it’s great to see it pay off like that.”

Paintsville was unable to get anything going on their opening drive as they lost 10 yards and were forced to punt giving the Warriors excellent field position at the Tiger 36-yard line.

Warren’s Aden Strahler (24) runs with the ball during Friday’s game against Paintsville. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Five plays later Warren struck pay-dirt when Sealey connected with senior Aden Strahler on a 24-yard touchdown pass to give the home team a 13-0 lead with five minutes to play in the first quarter.

The inabilty to hang onto the football would be a huge thorn in the side of the Trevor Hoskins-coached Tigers all game long as they would turn the ball over five times.

The first one came on their next possession when Tiger quarterback Colton Short was unable to handle a poor snap and the Warriors recovered at the Paintsville 28-yard line.

This time it would take just three plays for the Warriors to reach the end zone as Sealey connected with senior Nick Cressey on a 23-yard touchdown pass.

After missing their extra point on the previous touchdown the Warriors elected to go for two and Sealey connected with Tanner Pepper for the two-point conversion to expand the lead to 21-0.

The Warrior defense was outstanding in the opening half as they limited the Tigers to negative yardage in the first 24 minutes of play.

‘We talked about coming out and controlling the line of scrimmage and I thought we did a great job of that,” said Peyton. “This is the third straight week we have not given up much at all defensively.”

The combination of the tenacious Warrior defense and the Tigers putting the ball on the ground gave Warren outstanding field position in the opening half.

As a matter of fact the Warriors ran just one offensive play in their own territory in the first half and that was at their own 48-yard line in the closing minutes of the half.

“When you can keep field position like that it helps you out a lot,” said Peyton. “Were were able to get a few turnovers and I’m really proud of our guys… they’ve been playing hard and are super focused in practice and I couldn’t ask for any more from them.”

Pepper provided the Warriors with their fourth touchdown of the half when he took a reverse and ran it 12-yards for a touchdown early in the second quarter.

The Tigers would turn the ball over yet again when they fumbled deep in their own territory with Warren senior linebacker Owen Thompson recovering the ball at the Paintsville 19-yard line.

That fumble recovery was one for the record books as it was the eight fumble recovery of Thompson’s career tying him with Kaleb White (2007-2009) for the all-time Warrior record.

It would take the Warriors offense no time at all to make Paintsville pay for their miscue as Sealey found Pepper on a 19-yard touchdown and the rout was on in earnest.

Before the half was complete, Sealey would connect again with Cressey on a 10-yard pass and Strahler on an 18-yard toss as the Warriors went to the locker room with a big 49-0 lead.

Peyton allowed a handful of his starters to play the opening drive of the second half as Fairbanks capped the scoring with an 18-yard run before turning things over to his second team.

The Tigers ended up rushing the ball for all of their 143 total yards but many of those yards came late against the Warriors second and third team defenses.

Running back Cedric Stewart led the way for the visitors with 133 yards on 20 carries.

Sealey completed 12-of-15 pass attempts for 195 yards and the five touchdowns without throwing any interceptions.

Warren rushed the ball just 13 times for 76 yards in the game led by Fairbanks six carries for 28 yards.

Sealey spread the ball around nicely as Strahler caught four balls for 79 yards, Cressey caught five for 55 and Pepper hauled in four receptions for 46.

Next up the Warriors will face their toughest challenge of the season when they travel to Athens to take on the undefeated Bulldogs.

“I think they are second in the region right now and have got some great athletes and their coach does a really good job with them,” said Peyton of the Bulldogs. “We’ve got to be able to have a great week of practice and then be ready to come out and execute.”