SYRACUSE - Gene Mitz pumped his hand, hopped, skipped, jumped and broke into a little jaunt on the sidelines.

The big plays kept coming. Finally, they were by his Wawasee Warriors, not against them.

Yes, Wawasee's football coach celebrated often on the sidelines with his team Friday evening. And when his players ran off their home field following their 26-14 win over Carroll, the coach lagged behind his team. A couple of reporters approached, and understandably, Mitz asked, "Could you give me five minutes, guys? I'm exhausted."

He took his break, then talked in the conference room, which is adjacent to Wawasee's locker room. Queen's "We Will Rock You" blared out of a boombox in the locker room. On this night, this was one raucous locker room full of ecstatic Wawasee players.

The Warriors beat only two teams on the field last year. And here they are, 1-1 in 1997.

When Mitz sat down in his chair, the football coach talked of how something happened on the field against Carroll that he had never seen before.

Two 78-yard touchdowns. Two 78-yard touchdowns on back-to-back possessions. Two 78-yard touchdowns on the first play of each of those possessions.

They happened in the third quarter with Carroll ahead 14-0. With just over five minutes to go in the third quarter, Carroll's defense blitzed Wawasee quarterback Jeff Beer.

Bad move. Beer launched a pass to Aaron McFarland, who caught the ball raced down the field for Wawasee's first touchdown.

Less than two minutes later, the Warriors did it again.

Rustin Mikel ran a sweep to the left side of the field. He got around Carroll's linebackers, then outran the defensive backs. His 78-yard run, followed by Jeremy High's second extra point, tied the game at 14.

Mitz pumped his fist, did a little hop-and-skip maneuver.

The big plays kept coming.

McFarland was at it again. He intercepted a pass early in the fourth quarter. Four plays into Wawasee's offensive series following the interception, a Charger defensive back tipped Beer's pass.

No matter. Of course McFarland was there. Of course he dove and snatched the ball up inches before it hit the ground, good for a 43-yard pass reception.

"Aaron was hustling, was where he was supposed to be, and the ball was there," Mitz said. "A good athlete was in position to make the play."

McFarland's play set up Wawasee's other playmaker, Mikel. One play after McFarland's reception, Mikel scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 28-yard run. High's kick was blocked, but the Warriors led 20-14 with 9:20 left.

Mitz danced ran down the sidelines, waving his arms.

Mikel gained 104 rushing yards on five carries.

"Rustin carried the ball well," Mitz said. "He found the holes."

And still the big plays kept coming for Wawasee.

With a little over three minutes left, Wawasee defensive tackle Bryce Schaefer hammered Carroll quarterback David Conner just before he prepared to throw the ball. Fumble. Linebacker Brad Swope snapped up the ball and ran 55 yards for Wawasee's final score.

McFarland's final line: Three catches for 129 yards and one interception.

All he was missing was the cape with the S on it.

"This was the first time Aaron played on the offensive side of the ball this year," Mitz said. "He came into his own tonight."

Two 78-yard plays. That's what it came back to, Mitz said.

"I think they were stunned a little," Mitz said. "I would be if a team scored 78-yard touchdowns on its first two plays. I don't think I ever saw that before."

Wawasee improved to 1-1, while Carroll dropped to 0-2.

"This win was very important," Mitz said. " It was our first home victory, it evens us up at 1-1 going into the NLC, it was a comeback win. Our team's ready to win."

Mitz leaned back in his chair, feeling as rested as you could expect him to feel. A football manager walked in. Mitz gave her the thumb's-up. "Hey," he said. "We beat them." [[In-content Ad]]