While Warsaw did not get the start that it wanted facing off against Northern Lakes Conference foe NorthWood Friday night, the Tigers certainly got the finish they were looking for. Down 21-0 early in the contest, Warsaw battled back, scoring the last 35 points of the game to pick up a 35-21 win in Nappanee, the school’s first since 2012.
“The kids were able to settle down after a rough start. We were able to play better, faster and stronger as the game went along,” Warsaw head coach Bart Curtis said after the game.
All 21 of NorthWood’s points came in the first eleven minutes of the game, as the Panthers began the contest with a drive that lasted nearly six minutes to begin the game and ended with a 1-yard score. After a Warsaw fumble on the first play of the following possession, the home side was up 14-0 just a minute later. NorthWood then elected to attempt an onside kick afterwards, recovering it and then going on a long drive to make it a three-score game.
Warsaw responded immediately, with Evan Davis reaching the end zone on a 31-yard scamper just 55 seconds after the final Panther score. With a minute left in the first half, Quinton Brock ran it in from two yards out to make it a one-score game. Kicker Mason Smythe then hit a 51-yard field goal to end the first half, but NorthWood was granted a timeout prior to the snap. The icing worked, as he missed his second attempt.
“With the score being 21-14 heading into halftime, I was feeling a whole lot better,” Curtis said. “Once we got going we were able to move the ball at will and I knew we could keep it up.”
Keep it up they did, as six minutes into the third quarter, Brock connected with receiver Ethan Egolf for a 21-yard score to tie things up. With the defense still stifling the NorthWood offense after the initial onslaught, the Tigers finally jumped in front with a minute and a half to go in the third on a 41-yard carry by Tucker Reed, who led the team in yard with 126 on the ground on just five carries.
“They feed off of each other, the offense and the defense. Once one gets going the other one usually follows suit,” Curtis said. “One side doesn’t want to be the one that lets the other one down.”
Warsaw added one more score for good measure in the fourth quarter, a five-yard TD run by Brody Duncan. Duncan also broke the century mark for Warsaw, tallying 110 yards on the ground. The Tigers ran for 386 as a team.
Warsaw (5-3, 4-2 NLC) wrap up the regular season Friday night at Northridge.
“They’re well coached and they’ve been playing much better defensively as of late,” Curtis said. “We’ll have to play an intense, downhill football game. I thought we played hesitant in the first quarter and a half tonight, and that can’t happen next week.”