Warrenton senior Dawson Little celebrated a play in Friday’s win over Heppner.

WARRENTON — For the Warrenton Warriors, it was just a little unfinished business from their former days at the Class 2A level.

Avenging a 32-7 loss to the Heppner Mustangs in the 2019 state 2A quarterfinals, the Warriors celebrated the rededication of John Mattila Field by scoring a big win Friday night in their home opener, knocking off those same Mustangs, 27-0.

Make that a completely different Heppner team. Now playing nine-man football, Heppner was playing its only 11-man game of the season — and it showed. The Mustangs looked completely lost against the 11-man Warriors, who dominated Friday’s game from start to finish.

The Mustangs were held to just 59 yards in total offense, and had 10 penalties, including three straight false starts midway through the second half.

Meanwhile, the Warrenton defense contained Heppner quarterback Landon Mitchell, who had 20 yards rushing and was 0-for-7 passing.

“What I love about our defense is that it’s not just one guy — we have two, three or more swarming to the ball,” said Warrenton coach Ian O’Brien, after watching his defense dominate for the second week in a row. “And Cam (Daniels) now has three picks in two weeks. (Defensive coordinator) Mike Larsen’s group is doing a great job.

“What I was not pleased with were the penalties,” he said. “We have some things to work on and clean up, because the penalties can kill drives, or they can keep drives going for the other team.”

The Mustangs and Warriors traded punts (12) and penalties (19) for most of the game, and it took Warrenton three possessions before its first score, a 1-yard run by Max Smith.

Dylon Atwood had a 1-yard TD run in the second quarter, sophomore quarterback Zayden Anderson ran 18 yards for a score on a broken play in the third, and threw a touchdown pass to Michael Ulness in the fourth.

Warrenton racked up 283 yards on total offense (195 rushing), had 13 first downs to Heppner’s five, and defensively had interceptions by Daniels and Dawson Little.

Heppner will still be one of the teams to beat in Class 2A, as the Mustangs entered the game as the No. 1-ranked team in the latest 2A coaches poll.

League play begins this week, and one of the Coastal Range League openers will feature two of the top 3A teams in the state, as Banks will host Warrenton Thursday at 7 p.m.