DALTON — In the end, it wasn’t much of a rumble.

Wahconah, who had lost its first two games by an average of 27 points, scored touchdowns the first three times they had the football Friday night, and rolled past Northampton 32-8, in the renewal of the Route 9 Rumble rivalry. It was Wahconah’s first win of 2025.

The win was the third straight for the Warriors in the Rumble, who had only won three of the previous five games against the Blue Devils.

“At the end of the day, my kids kept on fighting,” Northampton coach Rocco Fernandez said.

It was a light up the stat board kind of night for the Warriors. While they only ran off seven more plays than the Blue Devils, Wahconah did outgain Northampton 377 total yards to 95. The Wahconah defense held Northampton to minus-11 yards rushing.

Wahconah coach Gary Campbell Jr. said it was all a tribute to the fact that the Warriors dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage. 

“That was the challenge from the very beginning. We needed to control the line of scrimmage,” Campbell said. “They have some big boys up front. [Gerald Lopez] is a good running back and I think the quarterback [Dion Cadiz] runs the ball well too. I was really worried about that tonight. I challenged the offensive and the defensive lines to control the line of scrimmage. If we could do that, I thought we could give some time for our quarterback to throw some balls and be truly balanced. We did that tonight.”

The quarterback is junior Gio Venable who competed 14 of 20 passes for 193 yards and three touchdown passes. Venable also ran the ball 16 times for 92 yards, a touchdown and a two-point conversion. Anthony Talora chipped in with 67 yards on the ground in only six carries, and he scored the last of Wahconah’s five touchdowns. Trevion Hawkins was the top receiver Friday night, catching six passes for 72 yards.

The Blue Devils won the toss, deferred and got a good kickoff. Wahconah had to start on its 19-yard line.

Wahconah faced an early third-down situation, but Venable gained six yards for a first down, carrying a cadre of defenders on his back before being tackled at the 31.

Four consecutive first downs later, the Warriors were facing first-and-20 on the Northampton 25. Venable dropped back and threw a nifty pass to Trevion Hawkins. Hawkins caught the ball at the goal line, making a nice back shoulder grab, and got inside the pylon for the first touchdown. 

“We try to come out fired up,” Fernandez said. “It’s been a weekly ocurrence. We have to come out better going forward. We practice all week. We’ve had some shorthanded practices this week, which kind of hurt us a little bit.”

Northampton went 3-and-out on its second series, and a 34-yard punt by Lopez put the ball on the Wahconah 27.

Venable hit Rick Rando for an 8-yard pass play on first down. On second down, Lorenzo Lewis got behind the secondary down the right sideline, Venable hit him in stride, and 65 yards later, the Warriors had a second touchdowns. Venable ran in the conversion and it was 14-0.

The Blue Devils had a golden opportunity to get on the board when Alexavier Soum-Marrero intercepted a Venable pass for Dawson Hitchcock, giving Northampton the ball on the Wahconah 38.

Cadiz threw incomplete on first down and then lost 12 yards on a bad snap from center. A third-down incompletion forced another punt. Venable fielded the ball on the 20 and returned it 80 yards for a touchdown. The play was called back when Wahconah was flagged for a block in the back. So instead of a touchdown, the Warriors ended up running out the clock.

The 20-0 halftime lead was tough enough for Northampton to come back from, but after punting on its first possession, Northampton surrendered a touchdown on Wahconah’s opening drive of the third quarter. Telora caught a pass and ran the ball three times for a first down. Then Venable hit Hawkins for 10 yards and Hitchcock for 13 and a back-breaking touchdown.