5A No. 5 Concord Rolls Over WawaseeSYRACUSE — Wawasee coach Jon Reutebuch was still espousing the ideal of “Warrior Grit” after seeing his outmanned team lose 43-7 in Northern Lakes Conference football to Class 5A No. 5-ranked Concord (4-0, 3-0).
“We knew they were talented,” said Reutebuch of the Minutemen. “We were going to try to come out and limit the damage early. We did that. We pinned them deep and played a pretty good first quarter.
“Then it seemed like one of the wheels came off and (then) they all came off. We made numerous mistakes. Against a team like that, you can’t do that.”
Because of injury, Wawasee (1-3, 0-2) was also playing without five two-way starters.
“I’m not trying to make any excuses,” said Reutebuch. “(Concord) is a great team. We would’ve had our hands full no matter what.”
On a night that saw the Minutemen lead 36-0 at halftime, putting the new running clock rule into motion in the second half. Concord quarterback Ethan Cain completed 24-of-28 passes for 214 yards and four touchdowns then did not play in the final two quarters.
“You can (Cain) all day to throw and you give him a short field; that’s a recipe for disaster,” said Reutebuch. “We’ve got to keep working hard. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us because we have injuries, guys are sick and we have young guys playing and all that.
“We’re trying to change the culture here so we’ll keep playing. It’s next down, next play and whatever it takes.”
The Warriors took the zero off the scoreboard with a big play in the third quarter. Parker Young threw to LaShaun Morris for a 64-yard touchdown pass and Caleb Clevenger booted to extra point to make it 36-7 with 4:26 to go in the period.
On the night, Young completed 5-of-15 passes for 78 yards, including three for 5 yards to Ethan Garza.
With Concord defenders throwing Young for several losses and bottling tailback Levi Brown up for a second-quarter safety, Wawasee had six yards of total offense at halftime (16 passing and minus 10 running) and 11 for the game. Ray Lenoir three carries for 15 yards paced the home team in rushing.
Concord had 96 ground yards and 257 passing yards (including 43 in the second half by Hunter Dutton). Robert Schmucker recovered a fumble for the Warriors in the second half.
Wawasee wore Indiana Army National Guard uniforms (gold helmets, olive green shirts with black letters and black numbers trimmed in gold and white pants).
The Warriors go to Nappanee to face NorthWood in for a NLC game Friday night. The Panthers (2-2, 1-1 NLC) were a 55-7 winner over Goshen Friday night in conference play.
CONCORD 43, WAWASEE 7
C 7 29 7 0 - 43
W 0 0 7 0 - 7
C — Amarion Moore 5 pass from Ethan Cain (Ariel De La Paz kick
C — Jamyris Rice 39 run (De La Paz kick)
C — Wawasee’s Levi Brown tackled in the end zone for a safety
C — Carter Neveraski 10 pass from Cain (De La Paz kick)
C — Jack D’Arcy 9 pass from Cain (kick failed)
C — Moore 16 pass from Cain (De La Paz)
W — LaShaun Morris 64 pass from Parker Young (Caleb Clevenger kick)
C — Dante Reed 38 pass from Hunter Dutton (De La Paz kick)
