Shorthanded Warriors Blanked At Northridge
September 4, 2021 at 4:36 a.m.
Shorthanded Warriors Blanked At Northridge
By Steve Krah-
The Raiders came in ranked No. 8 in Class 4A by Associated Press and had won the first two games of 2021.
The Warriors came to town at 0-2 and 0-0 and shorthanded because of injuries and COVID-19 issues.
“We came here with 28 kids,” said Wawasee coach Jon Reutebuch. “We had six or seven starters out. We had six or seven sophomores on the field. We were playing mostly (junior varsity). We knew that coming in. We weren’t going to use that as an excuse.”
There were long delays when Lucas Ringler and Chance Flannery went down for the Warriors.
Northridge led 35-0 at halftime on the way to a 42-0 win. There was a running clock in the second half.
“We don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring,” said Reutebuch. “We might have games canceled down the road. I’d hate for us to take this game off and not play it.”
Because of low numbers, the junior varsity game scheduled against Northridge Saturday will not be played.
“We just don’t have enough kids right now because of injury, sickness and quarantine,” said Reutebuch. “We knew it was going to be rough, but we weren’t going to shy away from it.
“Each experience makes you better. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? We’re going to keep pushing forward and getting better each day.”
The Warriors used Jaxon Brown at quarterback Friday. He completed 7-of-18 passes for 57 yards with three catches by Nathan Larson for 40 yards leading the receiving corps.
Cameron Zimmerman ran for 28 of his team’s 29 net rushing yards.
Wawasee wound up with four first downs — two rushing and two passing. The Warriors had two of their seven punts blocked.
Northridge beat the Warriors or the fifth straight time — the first with Wawasee graduate Chad Eppley as Raiders head coach.
“They’re shorthanded,” said Eppley of the Warriors. “It happens, especially nowadays with COVID and things like that. It’s hard to understand.
“But like I’ve said every week our defense is the backbone of our team. We put a lot of pressure on (the defensive unit) and we expect a lot out of them. They did their job thought which is good.”
On offense, Northidge got 123 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Tagg Gott, 77 ground yards and two TDs from Kain Holderread and a the brother act of quarterback Micah Hochstetler and receiver Jethro Hochstetler connected on a scoring pass.
Next up are NLC games on Friday, Sept. 10 for Wawasee (at home against Concord) and Northridge (at Plymouth).
W - 0 0 0 0 - 0
N - 21 14 7 0 - 42
N – Tagg Gott 6 run (Dylan Ritchie kick) Q1 – 6:08
N – Peyton Shook 1 run (Ritchie kick) Q1 – 3:41
N – Gott 7 run (Ritchie kick) Q1 – :30.9
N – Kain Holderread 8 run (Ritchie kick) Q2 – 9:38
N – Jethro Hochstetler 33 pass from Micah Hochstetler (Ritchie kick) Q2 – 4:45
N – Holderread 6 run (Ritchie kick) Q3 – 3:16
The Raiders came in ranked No. 8 in Class 4A by Associated Press and had won the first two games of 2021.
The Warriors came to town at 0-2 and 0-0 and shorthanded because of injuries and COVID-19 issues.
“We came here with 28 kids,” said Wawasee coach Jon Reutebuch. “We had six or seven starters out. We had six or seven sophomores on the field. We were playing mostly (junior varsity). We knew that coming in. We weren’t going to use that as an excuse.”
There were long delays when Lucas Ringler and Chance Flannery went down for the Warriors.
Northridge led 35-0 at halftime on the way to a 42-0 win. There was a running clock in the second half.
“We don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring,” said Reutebuch. “We might have games canceled down the road. I’d hate for us to take this game off and not play it.”
Because of low numbers, the junior varsity game scheduled against Northridge Saturday will not be played.
“We just don’t have enough kids right now because of injury, sickness and quarantine,” said Reutebuch. “We knew it was going to be rough, but we weren’t going to shy away from it.
“Each experience makes you better. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right? We’re going to keep pushing forward and getting better each day.”
The Warriors used Jaxon Brown at quarterback Friday. He completed 7-of-18 passes for 57 yards with three catches by Nathan Larson for 40 yards leading the receiving corps.
Cameron Zimmerman ran for 28 of his team’s 29 net rushing yards.
Wawasee wound up with four first downs — two rushing and two passing. The Warriors had two of their seven punts blocked.
Northridge beat the Warriors or the fifth straight time — the first with Wawasee graduate Chad Eppley as Raiders head coach.
“They’re shorthanded,” said Eppley of the Warriors. “It happens, especially nowadays with COVID and things like that. It’s hard to understand.
“But like I’ve said every week our defense is the backbone of our team. We put a lot of pressure on (the defensive unit) and we expect a lot out of them. They did their job thought which is good.”
On offense, Northidge got 123 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Tagg Gott, 77 ground yards and two TDs from Kain Holderread and a the brother act of quarterback Micah Hochstetler and receiver Jethro Hochstetler connected on a scoring pass.
Next up are NLC games on Friday, Sept. 10 for Wawasee (at home against Concord) and Northridge (at Plymouth).
W - 0 0 0 0 - 0
N - 21 14 7 0 - 42
N – Tagg Gott 6 run (Dylan Ritchie kick) Q1 – 6:08
N – Peyton Shook 1 run (Ritchie kick) Q1 – 3:41
N – Gott 7 run (Ritchie kick) Q1 – :30.9
N – Kain Holderread 8 run (Ritchie kick) Q2 – 9:38
N – Jethro Hochstetler 33 pass from Micah Hochstetler (Ritchie kick) Q2 – 4:45
N – Holderread 6 run (Ritchie kick) Q3 – 3:16
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