Warsaw Ground Game Runs WildThere probably weren’t many – if any – of Warsaw’s current football players that could walk the last time the Tigers won seven games in the regular season.
They didn’t have any problem running Friday night.
In a 45-3 senior night drubbing of Northern Lakes Conference rival Concord, the Tigers tallied 465 yards on the ground, held the Minutemen to 146 yards of total offense, and won a seventh regular season game for the first time since Brad Seiss and company did so in 2001.
“We found something we liked, and I thought Josh West did a really nice job getting us into the right play,” said first-year Warsaw coach Bart Curtis, whose team improved to 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the NLC standings.
“The line and the backs took it from there.”
They certainly did.
The Tigers’ 465 rushing yards came on 57 carries, as they averaged 8.2 yards per attempt.
Four Warsaw ball carriers tallied at least 81 yards, while Concord had just 92 rushing yards as a team.
Senior Bryce Garner led the Tigers with 13 carries for 136 yards, all of which came in the first half. A 49-yard touchdown run by Garner gave Warsaw a 24-3 lead with 2:16 remaining in the first half.
“Our coaches did a great job preparing us for what we would see,” said Garner, a 5-foot-9, 190-pound senior fullback. “Our O-line played great, did everything they were supposed to.
“I had a few good runs ... I was happy to get in there. I?had a good first half, and then the second half Kane (Dawson) came back in and bounced back from the fumble he had and did great.”
Dawson, who fumbled on the fourth play of the game, a turnover that led to a 3-0 Concord lead when Ariel DeLaPaz kicked a 40-yard field goal, finished with 10 carries for 96 yards.
“He had a great night,” Curtis said of Garner. “Here’s the deal, we play the hot hand. Sometimes No. 9 (Dawson) is hot, sometimes No. 32 (Garner) is hot. I’m not afraid to use either of them.
“Bryce has never said a thing, he’s always been a team-first guy, and he came out tonight and showed you what he’s capable of doing. I’ve got two starters, Kane Dawson and Bryce Garner, 1A and 1B.”
Junior Wyatt Amiss tallied 82 yards on six carries, including a 59-yard run on which he stiff-armed a Concord defender on his way to paydirt.
West, the Tigers’ senior quarterback and trigger man to the team’s triple option attack, finished with 13 carries for 81 yards.
West also caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from Amiss on a halfback pass play that gave the Tigers a 17-3 lead at the time.
On a night that just about everybody had a big play, sophomore Juan Jaramillo added 47 yards on six carries, the last of which was a 19-yard touchdown run.
Sophomore quarterback Aaron Greene and sophomore fullback Jacob Hawn got carries in the fourth quarter, with Hawn scoring the Tigers’ final touchdown on a three-yard drive with 2:07 left.
Defensively, Warsaw dominated the Minutemen, holding them to just eight first downs and their lowest point total in two years.
Junior Blake Marsh got Warsaw’s “orange crush” defense into the scoring act, picking off an Ethan Cain pass and returning it 33 yards for a touchdown.
The Tigers were 4-0 this season at Fisher Field, and in those games gave up just 20 points.
Only one team was able to score more than 16 points against Warsaw – Plymouth in a 32-29 overtime loss for the Tigers in Week 3.
“I’m just really pleased with how we played defensively, but we’ve got to shore some things up because we’ve got a big one coming in two weeks,” Curtis said of his team’s Class 6A sectional game at Penn on Oct. 26.
“They’re flying to the ball and they’re reading their keys. I?think we’re getting better and better each week, particularly defensively.”
A week ago, the Tigers held then-4A No. 2 NorthWood 34 points below their average in a 14-13 loss at Andrews Field in Nappanee.
The Panthers moved up to No. 1 in the polls this week, and Friday night completed an undefeated regular season with a 56-8 win at Plymouth.
NorthWood won the NLC?title outright with a 7-0 record, while Warsaw and Plymouth were 5-2 and Concord 4-3.
WARSAW 45, CONCORD 3
C 3 0 0 0 — 3
W 10 14 7 14 — 45
C W
1st downs 8 14
Rushing yds 92 465
Passing yds 54 62
Comp-Att-Int 7-17-1 2-7-0
Total yds 146 527
Fumbles/lost 2/0 2/2
Penalties/yds 6/55 9/89
Punts/Avg 7/33 1/20
First Quarter
C – Ariel DeLaPaz 40 FG 7:48, 3-0
W – Wyatt Amiss 59 run (Harrison Mevis kick) 5:31, 7-3
W – Mevis 30 FG 1:43, 10-3
Second Quarter
W – Amiss 34 pass to Josh West (Mevis kick) 3:58, 17-3
W – Bryce Garner 49 run (Mevis kick) 2:16, 24-3
Third Quarter
W – Blake Marsh 33 INT return 4:40, 31-3
Fourth Quarter
W – Juan Jaramillo 19 run (Mevis kick) 10:49, 38-3
W – Jacob Hawn 3 run (Colton Wampler kick) 2:07, 45-3
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — Concord, Carter Neveraski 13-80, Roemello Moon 3-21, Jamyris Rice 7-7, Trayvon Sheppard 1-4, Ethan Cain 5-1, Kendrick Jordan 2-(-1), Dante Reed 2-(-20); Warsaw, Garner 13-136, Kane Dawson 10-96, Amiss 6-82, West 13-81, Jaramillo 6-47, Hawn 4-12, Aaron Greene 5-11
