The South Warren football team used a dominating defensive performance to blank Ravenwood (Tenn.) 21-0 Friday at South Warren High School.

South Warren (8-0) held the high-powered Raptors to 64 total yards, getting seven sacks, a turnover and a blocked punt on special teams to avenge last year’s loss at Ravenwood and set up a showdown with district rival Bowling Green in two weeks.

“We haven’t played defense like that in a long, long time – if ever,” South Warren coach Brandon Smith said. “I thought they did an outstanding job defensively. We got in bad situations where we couldn’t flip the field. Our defense kept holding … I thought they did an outstanding job tonight.

“They showed up when they had to and the proud thing as a coach is I don’t think it was just one guy.”

South Warren senior lineman Jacob Lacey said it was a fantastic effort against a team that came in averaging 31 points a night and beat the Spartans 31-17 last season.

“We knew they had a great offense,” Lacey said. “They’ve got speed everywhere and coach put us in good position to make plays. He said he was going to put us there, we just had to make the plays and that’s what we did tonight. Everybody played great.”

It was the South Warren offense that came out firing before both defenses settled in.

South Warren went 49 yards in 10 plays on its opening possession – with a 1-yard direct snap to Clayton Bush for a touchdown capping a nearly six-minute drive. The next drive the Spartans scored quicker, with Cameron Harrison’s 55-yard run giving South Warren a 14-0 advantage with 3:08 left in the first quarter.

Ravenwood’s defense settled in after that, stopping South Warren twice in Raptors territory, but the offense continued to struggle against the Spartans defense. Ravenwood (6-2) had one first down in the first half – getting held to four total yards – with South Warren recording five sacks in the half.

The Raptors kept threatening in the third quarter with three drives into South Warren territory. South Warren’s defense didn’t break, forcing two punts after the drives stalled. On the third drive, Ravenwood got to the South Warren 21 before Brian Garcia faced pressure on a third-and-8 and threw up a jump ball that was intercepted by Bush.

“That was definitely a (turning point),” the Western Kentucky commit said. “We worked all week on the scramble drill. We knew the quarterback could get out of the pocket and throw the ball, so (the defensive line) making him rush around and throw it up a bit helped us get (the interception). That was huge.”

South Warren’s offense also missed some chances in the second and third quarters, but a blocked punt gave the Spartans the ball at the Ravenwood 14 early in the fourth quarter, and Harrison clinched it with his second touchdown run of the night three plays later to make the score 21-0 with 7:41 left.

“They blocked two on us last year, so I was really proud of coach (Jeff Ashby) and the special teams unit to get that one,” Smith said. “That was what sealed it, the blocked punt.”

South Warren outgained Ravenwood 269-64, holding the Raptors to minus 7 yards on the ground.

Harrison ran for 139 yards, while Gavin Spurrier was 13-for-23 for 93 yards.

South Warren will take the week off before hosting district rival Bowling Green at 7 p.m. Oct. 19.

“This is our eighth game in a row,” Smith said. “The days start to get longer and longer. The routine starts to get old. (The bye week) comes at a perfect time where we can get some guys healed up and take a mental break.”

RHS 0 0 0 0 – 0

SWHS 14 0 0 7 – 21

First quarter

SW – Clayton Bush 1 run (Eldar Dervisevic kick), 5:21

SW – Cameron Harrison 55 run (Dervisevic kick), 3:08

Fourth quarter

SW – Harrison 1 run (Dervisevic kick), 7:41{&end}