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Two weeks removed from suffering their first loss of the season to Northridge in the regular-season finale, the Warsaw football team took the field for the first time since on Friday night, hosting Fort Wayne Wayne in the opening round of 5A Sectional 11. The Tigers shook off the loss well, getting right down to business and riding a 21-point first quarter to a 44-0 win to keep the season alive.
“I think they responded pretty darn good tonight. It was a really long two weeks. It felt like we hadn’t played in forever and we were just wallowing in our misery,” Warsaw head coach Bart Curtis said. “But I think we got over it well enough to string together some good practices and play a pretty clean game.”
After getting a quick stop on defense to begin the game, the Warsaw offense took the field for the first time and picked up right where it left off two weeks ago. Coming off a huge night against Northridge in the regular season finale, senior back Michael Schenck got the brunt of the work on the opening drive, and was up to the task. He carried the ball seven times, picking up consistent yardage all the way down into the red zone and the end zone, giving the Tigers a 7-0 lead four and a half minutes into the game.
Apparently, a one-score lead was not enough for the home side, as they caught everybody in the stadium off guard on the ensuing kickoff, as they attempted an onside kick. The Generals were caught completely off guard, and the ball was recovered by Jack Bradford to bring the offense right back out. Warsaw’s second drive of the night looked a lot like the first, as the team methodically marched down the short field and into the end zone on a one-yard carry by quarterback Mark Haynes. Three minutes later, the lead had doubled to 14-0.
“We thought if they were going to give us some space in some areas, we should try to take advantage of that. That, and we really didn’t want to kick it deep to their two returners,” Curtis said.
Things only went from bad to worse for Wayne from there, as on the visitors’ third play from scrimmage on their second drive, quarterback Ryan Smith fumbled the football. After a Tiger recovery and a long run by Wyatt Harman to get back inside the five, Schenck was able to punch in his second touchdown of the first quarter to blow things open at 21-0 just 10 minutes into the game.
Warsaw senior Brody Heady sacks Fort Wayne Wayne's Ashton Martin during Friday night's sectional matchup...Nieter
The trends of the game didn’t change on the next possession, as even though the Generals were able to hold onto the ball for a bit longer thanks to a couple of drive-extending penalties committed by the Warsaw defense. Even still, the orange and black were able to come up with a stop on fourth and short to get the ball back, and less than a minute later they had added onto their lead once more. It was Schenck again for the hat trick, but this run was a little longer than his first two, 54 yards. The senior broke free at the line of scrimmage and went untouched all the way to an end zone as he made it 28-0.
With just over four and a half minutes before halftime, Warsaw scored its fifth touchdown of the first half, this one being scored by Mason Silveus from about seven yards out. Haynes had the hot hand on this drive, running the option perfectly and dragging defenders down field as he churned his legs for extra yardage. With the score now 35-0, the second half would be expedited.
By the time the Tiger offense took the field once more in the final minutes of the first half, a majority of the players on the field were second stringers. The Warsaw backups had little trouble moving the ball themselves, as the home side ended the first half with a 35-yard field goal by John Conley to make it 38-0 at the break.
With Clayton Dias now under center and running the offense, the Tigers got the ball to begin the second half, and with the help of the running clock, took over seven minutes off of the clock as they marched down the field and wound up in the end zone once again, this time on a goal line carry by Keagan Patrick. Already up 44-0, Warsaw elected to take a knee instead of kicking an extra point.
“We made it a point to make sure that the kids that are program builders but might not get as much action on Friday night, got some action tonight,” Curtis said.
The second-string defense also came in and made an impact on the game, forcing a fumble on their first drive of the second half, recovered by Jajuan Cannady at the end of the third quarter. That led into the final Warsaw drive of the night, which lasted almost the entirety of the fourth quarter. It was the only Tiger drive to end without any points, as after possessing the ball for nearly eleven minutes, Wayne came up with a fourth-down stop to end the game on a high note.
Warsaw (9-1) will host Fort Wayne Snider next Friday with a sectional championship on the line.
“Whether there’s hardware on the line or not, you only get so many opportunities to play this game,” Curtis said. “I’m happy our gear is still going to be used on Monday, and we’re going to approach it in a very business-like fashion.”
