Friday night was homecoming at Warsaw. But soon after the king and queen were announced it quickly turned into a homewrecking as top-ranked in 4A Goshen put up 35 unanswered points in the second half and rolled over the Tigers 60-15.

The first half was a completely different story. After the Redskins jumped out to an early 14-0 lead, Warsaw struck back when Tiger QB Greg Seiss called his own number from 11 yards out.

Unphased, Goshen mounted a drive that brought them to the Tigers 12 yard line. Warsaw's red zone defense was steadfast however. On 4th and goal, Goshen was unable to convert as all-state candidate Mason Ogle was stacked up near the line of scrimmage.

Warsaw took over with 99 yards of field in front of them and were unable to bring the ball out past their own 6 yard line. Then Warsaw coach Phil Jensen decided to play the always pivotal game of field position.

Instead of punting the ball out of his own end zone, Warsaw punter and backup QB Jared Scrafton stepped out of the back of the end zone and gave Goshen the safety. On the free kick that ensued Ogle bobbled the ball and Warsaw's Brad Seiss recovered.

With momentum slowly starting to swing the way of the Tigers, Warsaw needed to put points on the board.

Instead, Warsaw turned the ball over on downs and gave the Redskins the ball on their own 42. With such good field position, Goshen looked to quickly deflate Warsaw's chances of a comeback.

The problem was Warsaw's defense got in the way. Warsaw forced the Redskins into a three and out and looked to mount a drive of their own.

After a Goshen punt of 39 yards, the Tigers offense once again stalled. As Warsaw lined up to punt they had one too many players on the field, which backed Scrafton back into his own end zone once more.

Instead of stepping out of the back of the end zone for the safety, Goshen's defense did the job as it blocked Scrafton's punt and watched it squirt out the back of the end zone, giving the Redskins a 25-7 lead.

Warsaw, refusing to be outdone, had a response of its own. With less than a minute left in the first half, Tiger star running back Jose Esquivel seemed to be stopped as he ran the ball right into the mouth of the Goshen defense. Esquivel quickly squirted to the outside and 75 yards later drew his Tigers to within 12 points at 25-13.

After Greg Seiss connected with junior wide receiver Ross Kesler on the two-point conversion, the deficit was only 10 points going into halftime.

That's when, after the more than 20-minute long intermission for the homecoming festivities, Warsaw came out in the second half looking as if it had lost the momentum the Esquivel run had given it while Goshen came out energized.

"The defense came out in the second half and shut them out of everything they wanted to do," Goshen coach Brad Park said. "We capitalized offensively and put it in the end zone."

Put it in the end zone they did. Besides scoring 35 secondhalf points, the Redskin defense held Esquivel to 16 yards on four carries and Warsaw as a team to three second-half first downs.

After losing by 45 points on homecoming, it might seem a tough task to find bright spots but coach Jensen was able to see some.

"I'm real proud of our kids' preparation for this week," he said. "On a confidence level we were there; we thought we could beat Goshen. We worked hard and had a good plan. We just need to do the little things."

Warsaw (3-3, 1-2) looks to spoil Wawasee's homecoming and retain the W Trophy as it heads to Syracuse Friday.

GOSHEN 60

WARSAW 15

Goshen 14 11 21 14- 60

Warsaw 7 8 0 0- 15

G W

First downs 12 6

Rushes-yards 46-296 28-176

Passing yards 63 36

Comp.-Att.-Int. 5-10-0 5-18-2

Total offense 359 199

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1

Punts-avg. 3-36.3 4-36

Penalties-yds. 4-40 7-50

First Quarter

G-Brian Goss 26 pass from Andy Yoder (Daragh Deegan kick)

G-Dan Yoder 6 run (Deegan kick)

W-Greg Seiss 11 run (Waggoner kick)

Second Quarter

G-Safety (Scrafton steps out of endzone)

G-Safety (Punt blocked out of endzone)

G- Mason Ogle 25 run (Deegan kick)

W-Jose Esquivel 75 run (Ross Kessler pass from Seiss)

Third Quarter

G- Goss 5 run (Deegan kick)

G- Ogle 2 run (Deegan kick)

G- Tom Mikel 18 run (Deegan kick)

Fourth Quarter

G-Yoder 1 run (Eli Asta kick)

G-Erik Wolfe 1 run (Asta kick)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing -Goshen: Ogle 17-119, Goss 11-56, D. Yoder 15-58, A. Yoder 4-12, Wolfe 2-51. Warsaw: Esquivel 10-113, Brad Seiss 3-26, G. Seiss 2-20, Zack Sheetz 4-10, Jon Carr 7-6, Mike Moore 1-3.

Receiving -Goshen: Scott Taylor 2-16, Goss 2-28, Phil Mikel 1-9. Warsaw: Esquivel 2-18, Jason Barrett 1-11, Kessler 1-5, Sheetz 1-2.

Passing - Goshen: A. Yoder 5-10-0 63. Warsaw G. Seiss 4-13-1 25, Jared Scrafton 1-5-1 11. [[In-content Ad]]