KENDALLVILLE – Football is often a game of momentum, and once the East Noble Knights got it, they rolled with it to a 28-7 non-conference win over the visiting Warsaw Tigers Friday night.
Warsaw looked to milk the clock from the start, in part to keep East Noble senior quarterback Andrew McCormick, an Indiana State recruit, off the field. Through the first quarter and a half or so, it worked well.
What will bother Tiger head coach Phil Jensen is the lost opportunities Warsaw had to make things difficult for the Knights.
Warsaw’s opening drive used five minutes of clock, but stalled at the East Noble 44. A pooch punt by Harrison Mevis gave the Knights the ball at their 4-yard line.
East Noble made one first down, but then turned the ball over on downs (the Knights punted just once in the game) at its 29-yard line. Three plays later the Tigers lost a fumble and its first opportunity.
In the second quarter, McCormick ran the ball in from nine yards out to give the Knights a 7-0 lead. Warsaw answered with a six-play, 65-yard drive capped by Tristan Larsh’s 25-yard touchdown pass to Trevor York on fourth down with 1:45 left in the frame.
That’s when things went seriously downhill for the Tigers.
McCormick needed less than 70 seconds to move the ball down the field and regain the lead, hitting Hayden Jones for a 12-yard scoring strike and the halftime lead.
“We get a big score to make it 7-7, and McCormick does what he does. He works it down the field, works their system and gets them a big touchdown,” Jensen said.
The dagger came with the opening drive of the second half. Mevis kicked the ball out of the end zone, and consecutive holding penalties penned the Knights at their 8-yard line, needing 23 yards in two downs to move the chains.
McCormick ran for 10 yards and hit Jones for a 14-yard pass.
A third holding penalty left East Noble with third-and-16 at the Warsaw 35. McCormick fond Jon-Matthew Spaw for 24 yards and the first down.
Mccormick capped the 20-play, seven-minute drive with a 3-yard pass to Chevy Wright and a 21-7 lead.
“You can’t give up second-and-22 when you have them back up against the 5-yard line, and third-and 16 against that kind of football team,” Jensen said. “Those are opportunities to change the field position, get the ball back, score to tie the game.
“That was a killer, because now we’re down two scores, and that’s a danger point for us because our offense is not built to score fast and in big chunks.”
Indeed, the Tigers never changed their offense, and never got closer than the East Noble 33 on a drive that ended with an interception. Warsaw also lost two fumbles.
“We’re a control football team; we need to take care of it and we didn’t do that tonight, either. You can’t turn the ball over three times against an East Noble football team,” Jensen said.
Larsh had 54 yards passing and 87 yards rushing, including three runs of 15 yards or more. After sitting out the first quarter, Will McGarvey had 51 yards on the ground. He needs 89 yards rushing to get to 2,000 in his career.
McCormick finished with 17 completions for 21 yards and three touchdowns, and another 84 yards rushing. Kaiden Harshberger had 10 catches for 99 yards.
Jensen lauded the Knights, but said his team could have been more competitive in Kendallville.
“They’re a very good football team, and they beat us. But we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds that helped them do what they did,” he said.
Warsaw (1-1) opens Northern Lakes conference play Friday night when it hosts 2-0 Plymouth. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
EAST NOBLE 28, WARSAW 7
W 0 7 0 0 – 7
EN 0 14 7 7 – 28
W EN
1st downs 10 19
Rushing yds 148 200
Passing yds 54 219
Comp-Att-Int 6-9-1 17-25-0
Total yds 202 419
Fumbles/lost 3-2 0-0
Penalties/yds 3-22 9-70
Punts/avg. 7-27 1-28
Second Quarter
EN – Andrew McCormick 9 run (Joe Painter kick) 4:03 7-0
W – Trevor York 25 pass from Tristan Larsh (Harrison Mevis kick) 1:45 7-7
EN – Hayden Jones 12 pass from McCormick (Painter kick) 0:37.8 14-7
Third Quarter
EN – Chevy Wright 3 pass from McCormick (Painter kick) 5:05 21-7
Fourth Quarter
EN – Kaiden Harshberger 32 pass from McCormick (Painter kick) 3:38 28-7
