Defensive Player Of Week

Ryan Sands, Warsaw

4 Sands came up with the defensive play of the year for Warsaw on Friday night. Trailing by three points with less than 30 seconds to play, Concord had a fourth-and-goal from the two yard line. Quarterback Nick Treadway took the ball himself and headed around end to the left corner of the endzone. As he reached out to break the plane of the goal line with the football, Sands jarred the ball loose and it fell into the hands of Pat Riley as Warsaw staved off the Minutemen.

Offensive Player Of Week

Tim Mason, Whitko

Whitko wingback Tim Mason rushed for 114 yards on six carries and had touchdown runs of 30 and 9 yards in a 28-22 win over Tippecanoe Valley. He also had a 37-yard scamper. Most of his yards came on the same play, a counter play that Valley could never quite stop. Whitko coach Bryan Sprunger has been wanting to get Mason more involved in the offense over the last few weeks, and it seemed to work against Tippecanoe Valley.

One of the most interesting calls by Phil Jensen Friday night in Warsaw's 13-10 win over Concord was the safety call. Usually a team would not take a safety to let a team close to within three points with plenty of time left on the clock, but Jensen called for it anyway. There were multiple reasons for the decision. First, Concord's top kicker was not dressed because of sickness. That took a field goal almost completely out of the question for the Minutemen. Second, Warsaw punter Andy Plank had only 12 yards to punt from because he was pinned in the back of the end zone. Normally, a punter has 15 yards so the blocked punt chance was increased. Third, even if Plank gets off a booming punt, Concord would get the ball in great field position with plenty of time to go for the end zone.

Whitko head coach Bryan Sprunger picked up win No. 99 in his career in the 28-22 victory over Valley on Friday.

The Manchester offense is suddenly on a roll. The Squires racked up 62 points in a variety of ways in their win over Northfield. They scored five touchdowns rushing - two passing, one on an interception and one on a kickoff return. The surprising thing is that Manchester is known as a passing team more than most others in the TRC, but they have eaten up yards on the ground in the last two games, both wins. This week, both David Barrett and Todd Sites rushed for more than 100 yards on the ground and the Squires totaled 315 yards rushing.

Warsaw clinched its first winning season since 1993 when the Tigers went 5-4. The six wins is the most since 1992, when Warsaw won seven games. Of course, the Tigers are trying to break the biggest streak of them all. Their 0-12 record in the playoffs makes them one of only four teams (Gary Roosevelt, Northeastern, Pike Central) with at least 10 postseason losses without a win. Warsaw is the only one of those teams that faces an opponent in the top 10 in the first round.

Andy Plank may have had his worst game of the season for the Tigers offensively. Plank was 0 for 7 passing in the first half and only completed two passes for 25 yards on the game, both coming in the third quarter. Despite the poor passing performance, Plank did not throw an interception and Warsaw still came away with the win.

NorthWood finished the regular season with a more than respectable 7-2 record, but when you go undefeated during the past two regular seasons, it might seem like a downer. But after the game on Friday in which the Panthers beat Plymouth 28-7, the NorthWood assistant coaches were saying that head coach Rich Dodson had earned his money this year, bringing along a young team that has become a typical tough NorthWood squad. And the rest of the Northern Lakes Conference better watch out; the key players on this year's NorthWood teams are mainly underclassmen.

Whitko senior Jimmy Linn switched back and forth from quarterback to halfback in last week's game. After Whitko's Jeff Coble blocked a punt, Linn scored on a 13-yard quarterback sneak to put the Wildcats up 14-6 in the second quarter.

Whitko senior defensive end Jeremiah Laws had tackles for 5-, 8- and 9-yard losses. Two of them were quarterback sacks.

Valley sophomore quarterback Brandon Eaton threw for 255 yards and was still gunning away as the game came to an end. Valley had the ball the final 57 seconds, and Eaton completed passes of 17 and 18 yards as the Vikings moved from their 4-yard line to their 47-yard line, where their drive stopped when time ran out. The Vikings had one less timeout available the last minute because they had to burn one early in the fourth quarter when punter Joey Manns ran on the field late to punt the football.

While the Wildcats may have allowed 255 passing yards, Valley's running game was a nonfactor. The Vikings finished with 11 rushing yards on 23 carries as Whitko lined up 10 players either on or near the line of scrimmage. If Valley was going to beat Whitko, the Wildcats were going to force them do it by passing the ball. [[In-content Ad]]