Final

Warren makes it six straight: Lumberjacks beat Monticello 17–7

Could the Billies end it? Not this year. Warren won 17–7 on Friday night and made it six in a row.

Warren has now beaten Monticello six years running. The Lumberjacks won 17–7 Friday night, Oct. 2, in Warren, and the Billies’ wait for a win goes on.

It is a league game and a trophy game. The Union Bank & Trust Saline River Shootout Traveling Trophy goes to the winner, who keeps it on display until the next meeting [5]. Warren now leads the series 20–2. Monticello’s two wins came in 2009 and 2020, and the Billies have never won two in a row [1].

Final (Oct. 2, 2026): Warren 17, Monticello 7, at Warren. Sources: Arkansas Prep Football; Saline River News game story. Game-week details, including the pregame tailgate, are in our game story.

Six straight, and the margin grew back

Warren has won every meeting since 2020. The six games [1]:

Margin is Warren’s points minus Monticello’s. Scores: Arkansas Prep Football [1]; 2024 also in the Eagle Democrat [3]; 2025 also in Saline River News [4].

The margin shrank every year from 35 points in 2021 to 4 in 2025, then grew to 10 on Friday night. Monticello scored 6, 0, 21, 21, 23 and 7.

Over a longer stretch the numbers lean the same way. The Lumberjacks have won nine of the last 10 meetings. They have blanked Monticello five times: 2005, 2013, 2017, 2019 and 2022. Monticello has never shut Warren out [1].

Twice the Billies won

Monticello has beaten Warren two times in the 22 logged meetings [1].

2009: Monticello 62, Warren 32. It is the most points either team has scored in the series [1]. The Billies finished that season 12–0 and won the Class 5A state title, beating Camden Fairview 38–7 in the championship game [9] [10]. Warren won the next year, 42–27 [1].

2020: Monticello 18, Warren 12. Saline River News’ 2024 preview called it the Billies’ only win of the trophy era [2]. Warren won the next year, 41–6 [1].

Both Monticello wins stood alone, and the Billies have never won back-to-back games in the series.

Last year: 1:28 left in Monticello

The previous meeting was Oct. 3, 2025, at Monticello. The Billies led by 10 in the fourth quarter [4].

Warren converted a fourth down with a pass to Josiah Steen. Then Jackson Denton hit Bleyze Fellows on a touchdown of more than 60 yards with 1:28 left [4]. Warren 27, Monticello 23 [1].

It was not over yet. Steen intercepted a pass in the last minute [4].

Other games that shaped it

• 2004 Warren won 38–37, the closest finish in the logged series: a single point [1].
• 2005–06 Warren beat Monticello 36–0 and 44–18 [1] during a stretch in which the Lumberjacks went 30–0 in the regular seasons of 2005, 2006 and 2007 and reached the 2006 championship game [11].
• 2011 The first game with the Union Bank trophy on the line. Saline River News calls it a 6–6 tie, with the trophy shared [2], and its Oct. 3, 2026 game story counts the trophy-era record as 14–1–1. The online series database has a 33–21 Warren win [1]. Sources disagree; see the note under the game-by-game table.
• 2013 Warren 42, Monticello 0, the biggest margin in the series at 42 points. [1] [2] Warren went on to the 2013 Class 4A title game [6].
• 2014 and 2016 Warren won 54–22 and 28–14 in the two fall seasons when it also won Class 4A state championships [1] [6].
• 2024 Warren 30, Monticello 21. The Lumberjacks pulled ahead late and sealed it with an interception in the final minute, according to the Eagle Democrat [3].

Two towns, 16 miles apart

Warren is the Bradley County seat. It sits on high ground about two miles west of the Saline River, and its economy was long built around timber and lumber yards [8]. The high school’s teams are the Lumberjacks, in black and orange [6].

Monticello is the Drew County seat and the home of the University of Arkansas at Monticello [7]. The high school’s teams are the Billies, named for the billy goat, with blue and white as the school colors [7].

U.S. 278 links the two, about 16 miles of road [8]. Union Bank & Trust of Monticello and Warren created the trophy in 2011 [5], and Saline River News calls it the biggest high school rivalry trophy in Arkansas [2]. Since 2012 the game has counted in 8-4A play, so it moves the standings [2] [3].

At the game-week coaches’ dinner, Union Bank mentioned the players, coaches, students and fans from both towns who have been part of the game over the years [5].

What was at stake

Warren was playing for a sixth win in a row, and got it. Its longest run in the series is still eight straight, 2012 through 2019, in both sources [1] [2].

Monticello was playing to stop the streak. A win would have been the Billies’ third in the logged series and their first since 2020 [1].

Friday night

Warren 17, Monticello 7. Warren led 14–7 at halftime, kicked a 37-yard field goal late in the third quarter, and held the Billies scoreless over the last two and a half quarters, according to the Saline River News game story. Warren now leads the series 20–2 over 22 logged meetings and has won nine of the last 10. Monticello has won twice, and never twice in a row.

The records

Counts are from the game-by-game results below [1] [2].

Monticello won in 2009, 62–32, and in 2020, 18–12. Sources: Arkansas Prep Football and USA Prep Football (same data) [1]; the Saline River News column is its trophy-era list from a 2024 preview [2]. Where they disagree, both are shown. No meeting is listed before 2004 or in 2007, though the rivalry is older. Have older results? Send them in.

Famous alumni

Players and public figures who went to the two schools. Each name has at least one source below. Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and show the player later in his career.

Warren Lumberjacks

Monticello Billies

Fewer Monticello names are documented, and none reached the NFL. Know a Billies alumnus who belongs here? Send us a source.

Tailgate and game-week links

More from iSEARK: Game story: Warren hosts Monticello, tailgate at 5:30 · Warren opens 8-4A play at DeWitt · All Warren news · All Monticello news · Sports desk

Have old programs, clippings, score books or photos from past Warren–Monticello games? Send them to us and we will credit you.