The Patriots fought all night and came on top against the Warren Township Blue Devils on Thursday night. The consistent defense and confident offense led the Patriots to a 16-7 victory, extending their record to 6-1 on the season thus far.
The defense was making play after play, including an interception, two forced fumbles, and a blocked field goal attempt. Cornerback David Akinbosoye ’25 had an interception, and on the offensive side, running-back Christopher Thorndyke ’25 had a 43 yard rushing touchdown, securing the Patriots lead.
The show started slow for the Patriots, as with 3:15 left in the first quarter, Warren running-back Aaron Stewart ran into the endzone to begin the contest. With Warren up 7-0, the Patriots knew they had to strike soon.
The defense piled onto the Warren offense, not allowing another touchdown. After a long catch by Zachary Becker ’26, the 20 yard field goal was set up for kicker Caden An ’26 to cut the score to 7-3.
Finally, with 42 seconds left in the first half, Thorndyke broke free and dashed to the end zone from 43 yards away, putting the Patriots up 10-7. Then, with just under 10 seconds left in the half, Caden Schultz ’26 blocked a potential game tying field goal. As they headed into halftime, the energy was all for the Patriots.
“You got to show up when the plays are made,” Becker said. “You got to make the plays in the big time places.”
Starting off the second half, Akinbosoye picked off a pass from the Warren quarterback to get the Patriots down to Warren’s 8 yard line. The interception led to An’s second field goal of the night, extending the Patriot lead 13-7.
In the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, An kicked his third and final field goal, going 3 for 3 on field goals and capping the Patriots lead at 16-7. With only 38 seconds left on the clock, Luke Nelson ’25 forced a fumble, sealing the deal on the night, as the Patriots took a knee on their final play.
“We just had really tough practices, with a lot of time in the film room leading up to this game,” Abai Atabekov ’26 said.
This game was the first time Stevenson had beaten Warren since 2016. The Patriots will play again next Friday against Zion Benton, in an away conference matchup. The win brings the Patriots closer another trip to the playoffs and a chance against the ZeeBees to secure back-to-back home playoff games.
“A lot of hours are put into this game,” Luca Siamashvili ’25 said. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears on this field for this purpose.”
Thursday night also happened to be special on the media front as the game was broadcasted on the Marquee Sports Network, the local broadcasting network for the Chicago Cubs, with an estimated 1.5 million subscribers. Atabekov knows that being in the limelight won’t distract the team from their goal.
“Didn’t matter, we only had one goal,” Atabekov said. “We [have] to take care of business. No matter what their record is, [we have] to treat every team the same.”