Tigers Take Lions To The Wire, Win 14-9 Slugfest
October 29, 2022 at 3:53 a.m.
Tigers Take Lions To The Wire, Win 14-9 Slugfest
By Chip Davenport-
The game’s final play was testimony to the Warsaw program’s ability to meet staffing challenges smarting from injuries and exacerbated by healthy players unavailable for other reasons.
Sophomore Ethan Egolf’s deflection of Elkhart quarterback Quin Rost’s pass on fourth down and 10 at the Warsaw 41-yard line with 51 seconds was apropos considering the 6’2” sophomore defensive back’s 2022 season story.
Egolf started out the 2022 football season as an offensive starter on the Warsaw Tigers’ junior varsity football team. His forte was perimeter running and fooling sleepy defensive backs on Saturday mornings by tossing halfback passes behind them for long gains and touchdowns.
Last night at Fisher Field Egolf was assigned to cover an obvious passing situation where the Elkhart receivers were anything but sleepy under Friday night lights. Egolf started at cornerback for the Tiger varsity defense instead because of the team’s needs from the aforementioned adverse circumstances.
“I was a little nervous, but I had confidence,” Egolf said about the drive-killing deflection. “I knew I was gonna’ have safeties behind me to get my coverage… as soon as he (an Elkhart receiver) got there I read it, deflected it, and… Theo (Katris) helped me out, and we got that stop.”
Warsaw sophomore signal caller Drew Sullivan finished the final 51 ticks left taking a knee on two straight snaps to make the win official.
Warsaw head coach Bart Curtis told his athletes three things tonight in the pregame locker room session, and he noted Warsaw’s success among each of those things.
“I told the kids three things, and I wrote them down because I'm getting old: (1) it's never over till we say it's over, and it took every second on the clock to prove that; (2) we gotta do things one play at a time our way. We can't be something we're not, and (3) slow and steady wins the race.”
Curtis also noted the Tigers didn’t execute flawlessly, but he was still pleased with the win.
“There were some dog crap football by us tonight, at times,” Curtis remarked. “I really believe that the good football and the overall effort displayed overcame the bad football. I'm just doggone proud of these guys… to do what they've done under adverse situations, and really day-to-day… you know, you've seen our depth chart.”
The flawed portions of the game consisted of some trouble on execution of option pitches, and some challenges getting around the massive Elkhart offensive line who led small, powerful backs on more than a handful of successful read-option runs from the spread formation.
The Tigers squandered their opening drive – that started out with dominant interior running by German Flores-Ortega (18 carries, 117 yards, 1 touchdown) - following a good defensive stand when they moved to a perimeter running game and muffed a pitch , then in a consequential fourth-and-long situation muffed a punt snap that ultimately led to Elkhart drawing first blood in the first six seconds of the second quarter on Gavin Hauser’s 2-yard scoring run. The extra point kick was wide left, though.
Warsaw responded with a 5-yard score by Flores-Ortega and a Mason Smythe extra point kick to move ahead 7-6 with 5:42 on the first half game clock.
Smythe missed a 39-yard field goal attempt as time ran out in the second frame, and the halftime score remained in Warsaw’s favor 7-6.
The Lions and the Tigers clawed their way through a scoreless third quarter before Elkhart had a burst of physical offensive line play coupled with speed from their two-headed monster in the backfield: Hauser, and Aalias Leonard who combined for 149 yards on 24 carries for the evening.
The Lions added three more points to move ahead 9-7 on Edvin Wasta’s 23-yard field goal (9:43, fourth quarter) on a drive that sputtered at the Warsaw six-yard line. The drive, despite the lead change, was a stop with heart on the part of the Warsaw Tiger defense – one of the team’s better performances when faced with short-field adversity.
Warsaw responded with a promising drive where passing – Sullivan’s tosses to Theo Katris (10 yds), and Dimitri Chandler (11 yards) led them deep into Lion territory before they lost possession on downs.
It should be noted Chandler – part of Warsaw’s hard-hitting safety tandem - hadn’t played any significant offensive minutes since his freshman and sophomore sub-varsity seasons. Recently, however, Tiger gridders have been surprising fans by appearing on both side of the ball due to recent roster woes.
“The (assistant) coaches, they don't get enough credit,” Curtis said about his staff who’ve been making their fair share on-the-spot adjustments. “The job that those guys have done on a weekly basis figuring out who our personnel (will be), putting them in the right spots and putting together a game plan. They have an answer for everything (on) both sides of the ball. They just do such a great job, and they don't get enough credit.”
The Tigers regained the lead when Sullivan redeemed previous perimeter pitching woes by moving past the line of scrimmage and finding Theo Katris with a perfectly timed pitch as Katris sprinted 39 yards to the Elkhart 8-yard line to set up Sullivan’s two-yard QB-keeper for paydirt with 4:56 left in the ballgame.
Sullivan (20 car., 61 yds.) and Katris (3 car., 44 yards) contributed to Warsaw’s overall offensive effort, outgaining the Lions 240 yards to 201 yards.
Warsaw (8-2) will take to the road Friday to face Carroll (10-0) who pummeled Penn 35-7 to advance to next week’s Sectional 2 title game. Kickoff was undetermined at press time.
The game’s final play was testimony to the Warsaw program’s ability to meet staffing challenges smarting from injuries and exacerbated by healthy players unavailable for other reasons.
Sophomore Ethan Egolf’s deflection of Elkhart quarterback Quin Rost’s pass on fourth down and 10 at the Warsaw 41-yard line with 51 seconds was apropos considering the 6’2” sophomore defensive back’s 2022 season story.
Egolf started out the 2022 football season as an offensive starter on the Warsaw Tigers’ junior varsity football team. His forte was perimeter running and fooling sleepy defensive backs on Saturday mornings by tossing halfback passes behind them for long gains and touchdowns.
Last night at Fisher Field Egolf was assigned to cover an obvious passing situation where the Elkhart receivers were anything but sleepy under Friday night lights. Egolf started at cornerback for the Tiger varsity defense instead because of the team’s needs from the aforementioned adverse circumstances.
“I was a little nervous, but I had confidence,” Egolf said about the drive-killing deflection. “I knew I was gonna’ have safeties behind me to get my coverage… as soon as he (an Elkhart receiver) got there I read it, deflected it, and… Theo (Katris) helped me out, and we got that stop.”
Warsaw sophomore signal caller Drew Sullivan finished the final 51 ticks left taking a knee on two straight snaps to make the win official.
Warsaw head coach Bart Curtis told his athletes three things tonight in the pregame locker room session, and he noted Warsaw’s success among each of those things.
“I told the kids three things, and I wrote them down because I'm getting old: (1) it's never over till we say it's over, and it took every second on the clock to prove that; (2) we gotta do things one play at a time our way. We can't be something we're not, and (3) slow and steady wins the race.”
Curtis also noted the Tigers didn’t execute flawlessly, but he was still pleased with the win.
“There were some dog crap football by us tonight, at times,” Curtis remarked. “I really believe that the good football and the overall effort displayed overcame the bad football. I'm just doggone proud of these guys… to do what they've done under adverse situations, and really day-to-day… you know, you've seen our depth chart.”
The flawed portions of the game consisted of some trouble on execution of option pitches, and some challenges getting around the massive Elkhart offensive line who led small, powerful backs on more than a handful of successful read-option runs from the spread formation.
The Tigers squandered their opening drive – that started out with dominant interior running by German Flores-Ortega (18 carries, 117 yards, 1 touchdown) - following a good defensive stand when they moved to a perimeter running game and muffed a pitch , then in a consequential fourth-and-long situation muffed a punt snap that ultimately led to Elkhart drawing first blood in the first six seconds of the second quarter on Gavin Hauser’s 2-yard scoring run. The extra point kick was wide left, though.
Warsaw responded with a 5-yard score by Flores-Ortega and a Mason Smythe extra point kick to move ahead 7-6 with 5:42 on the first half game clock.
Smythe missed a 39-yard field goal attempt as time ran out in the second frame, and the halftime score remained in Warsaw’s favor 7-6.
The Lions and the Tigers clawed their way through a scoreless third quarter before Elkhart had a burst of physical offensive line play coupled with speed from their two-headed monster in the backfield: Hauser, and Aalias Leonard who combined for 149 yards on 24 carries for the evening.
The Lions added three more points to move ahead 9-7 on Edvin Wasta’s 23-yard field goal (9:43, fourth quarter) on a drive that sputtered at the Warsaw six-yard line. The drive, despite the lead change, was a stop with heart on the part of the Warsaw Tiger defense – one of the team’s better performances when faced with short-field adversity.
Warsaw responded with a promising drive where passing – Sullivan’s tosses to Theo Katris (10 yds), and Dimitri Chandler (11 yards) led them deep into Lion territory before they lost possession on downs.
It should be noted Chandler – part of Warsaw’s hard-hitting safety tandem - hadn’t played any significant offensive minutes since his freshman and sophomore sub-varsity seasons. Recently, however, Tiger gridders have been surprising fans by appearing on both side of the ball due to recent roster woes.
“The (assistant) coaches, they don't get enough credit,” Curtis said about his staff who’ve been making their fair share on-the-spot adjustments. “The job that those guys have done on a weekly basis figuring out who our personnel (will be), putting them in the right spots and putting together a game plan. They have an answer for everything (on) both sides of the ball. They just do such a great job, and they don't get enough credit.”
The Tigers regained the lead when Sullivan redeemed previous perimeter pitching woes by moving past the line of scrimmage and finding Theo Katris with a perfectly timed pitch as Katris sprinted 39 yards to the Elkhart 8-yard line to set up Sullivan’s two-yard QB-keeper for paydirt with 4:56 left in the ballgame.
Sullivan (20 car., 61 yds.) and Katris (3 car., 44 yards) contributed to Warsaw’s overall offensive effort, outgaining the Lions 240 yards to 201 yards.
Warsaw (8-2) will take to the road Friday to face Carroll (10-0) who pummeled Penn 35-7 to advance to next week’s Sectional 2 title game. Kickoff was undetermined at press time.
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