Northridge Ends Losing Skid Against Warsaw
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
MIDDLEBURY -ÊWarsaw football coach Troy Akers believes "when it's good, it's good, and when it's bad, it's really bad."
Right now it's really bad.
The Tigers lost 28-0 to Northern Lakes Conference foe Northridge Friday night, marking the first time in 15 years the Raiders topped Warsaw.
Warsaw was anemic on offense and its defense, which bent but didn't break against a dangerous Raider offensive for most of the game, allowed 19 points in less than a minute-and-a-half late in the fourth quarter to seal the Tigers' fate.
The two squads, who both entered Friday night's contest with 1-3 records overall and 0-2 conference records, struggled to cap off drives and entered halftime knotted in a scoreless tie.
Warsaw got off to a shaky second half start as it was whistled for a holding penalty on the opening kickoff return and was backed up further on a false start call.
The Tigers were forced to punt deep in their own end which gave Northridge the ball at its own 49-yard line.
The Raiders got to within field goal distance when quarterback Andrew Priem found receiver Tyler Smith for a 32-yard gain.
It wasn't the first, or the last time Priem and Smith would hook up.
After a couple of Joe Gibson rushes, kicker Charlie Babcock split the uprights on a 33-yard field goal to put the first points of the game on the board and give Northridge 3-0 lead.
Warsaw mounted its best drive of the night following Babcock's field goal. The Tigers took the ball at their own 24-yard line and drove down to the Northridge four.
Freshman running back Andy Conrad, in for injured starting tailback Ben Davis III, was stopped for no gain on first down as was Justin Hanson on second down.
Warsaw junior quarterback Ben Higgins, starting for the first time in place of Tyler Akers then overshot freshman tight end Justin Clemens on third down.
Freshman kicker Matt Franco, who was taking the place of an under-the-weather Micah Price, missed a 21-yard field goal attempt wide right to give the ball back to Northridge.
Northridge proceeded to give the ball right back to the Tigers as Priem fumbled the ball on second down and Warsaw's Aaron West recovered.
After another stalled Warsaw drive, Northridge once again coughed the ball up deep in its own end.
With the ball on Northridge's 34-yard line, Warsaw got down to the 15 before being faced with another fourth down.
Akers sent an ailling Price in and attempted a fake field goal. The play was doomed from the start as Akers' son Tyler was stopped for a six-yard loss.
"That was the turning point right there," said coach Akers. "That fake field goal hurt us. It seemed like only one person knew we were faking the field goal."
Northridge quickly pounced on Warsaw's mistake. After a short run by Gibson, Priem aired out a pass to Smith at midfield that allowed the 6-foot-1 Smith to outleap the 5-8 Hanson for the ball.
Smith gathered the catch in and breezed untouched into the endzone for a 76-yard touchdown grab to end the third quarter with the Raiders ahead 9-0.
Warsaw continued to struggle on offense in the fourth quarter.
Of the Tigers four possessions in the final period, one ended with a punt, one ended on a Higgins interception and another ended when Hanson fumbled deep in Warsaw's own end.
Northridge's Cody Miller scooped up the loose ball in the endzone to cap the Raiders scoring on the evening.
Warsaw's fourth and final possesion ended as time ran out.
In the span of less than a minute and a half, from the 3:20 mark of the fourth quarter until Miller's fumble recovery, Northridge scored 19 points.
"Our defense was on the field too much," said Akers. "They battled all game and they were just tired at the end."
Northridge's first possesion of the fourth quarter saw the Raiders mount a 14-play, 93-yard drive that was capped by a seven-yard touchdown run by Smith.
While Warsaw was able to contain Northridge's run-and-shoot offense for the most part, turnovers and good field position for the Raiders proved to be too much.
The Tigers had 12 tackles for loss, including four sacks on Priem but the Tiger offense could never develop a flow.
Higgins, a 6-4 pocket passer, was hounded all night by the Raiders defense. When he did get time, Higgins was unable to connect with his receiver leaving balls too short or too high. Many of Higgins' incompletions were due to the fact that he was forced to roll out, many times to his left, because of a collapsing pocket.
Higgins finished his first varsity start with 10 of 28 completions for 129 yards, two interceptions and no touchdwon passes.
"Overall I thought Ben Higgins did O.K. in his first start," said Akers. "Ben deserved his shot. This (loss) in no way is a reflection on Ben."
As poor as Warsaw was through the air, the Tigers were even less productive on the ground. With Davis III out for much of the second half, Warsaw was forced to rely on a freshman with Northridge bringing eight and nine defenders up to the line.
Warsaw rushed 31 times for just 89 yards and compiled just 232 yards of total offense. The Tigers averaged less than four yards per play while Northridge averaged 5.4. That stat is also deceiving considering Northridge started three drives at midfield or better.
Davis III ended the night as Warsaw's leading rusher with 43 yards on 14 carries. Conrad showed some impressive quickness and ended with 29 yards on eight carries.
Friday night's game was the first time Warsaw was shutout since 2004 when NorthWood handed the Tigers a 29-0 loss.
With the shutout, Warsaw is averaging 9.4 points per game and have been outscored 120-47.
"I'm a believer that when it's good it's real good," said Akers. "And when it's bad it's really bad. I told our guys we have to grow up really quick or it's going to be a long four or five weeks."
The Tigers, 1-4 overall and 0-3 in the NLC, travel to NorthWood Friday for a 7 p.m. kickokff.
The Panthers fell 40-29 to Wawasee Friday night.
NORTHRIDGE 28, WARSAW 0
Warsaw 0 0 0 0 - 0
Northridge 0 0 9 19 - 28
W N
First downs 7 13
Rushing yards 89 157
Passing yards 143 160
Comp.-Att.-Int. 10-29-2 7-16-0
Total offense 232 317
Fumbles/lost 0-0 3-2
Punts/avg. 4-35.3 4-32.5
Penalties/yards 5-43 3-30
Third Quarter
N - Charlie Babcock 33 field goal 3-0, 8:01
N -ÊAndrew Priem 76 pass to Tyler Smith (kick failed) 9-0, 0:00
Fourth Quarter
N -ÊSmith 7 run (run failed) 15-0, 3:20
N -ÊJoe Gibson 20 run (kick failed) 21-0, 2:07
N -ÊCody Miller 5 fumble recovery ( Babcock kick) 28-0, 1:53
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - Northridge, Joe Gibson 23-105, Brandon Yoder 6-33, Scott Carte 2-11, Randy Cripe 2-8, Tyler Smith 1-7; Warsaw, Ben Davis III 14-43, Andy Conrad 8-29, Andrew Grimm 5-16, Justin Hanson 3-7.
Passing - Northridge, Andrew Priem 7-16-160, 1 TD, 0 INT, Warsaw, Ben Higgins 10-28-129, 0 TD, 2 INT, Justin Clemens 1-1-14, 0 TD, 0 INT.
Receiving - Northridge, Smith 3-130, Cripe 1-19, Loren Stokes 1-6, Yoder 1-5; Warsaw, Blaine Allen 4-85, Chas Simpson 4-36, Hanson 1-14, Davis III 1-8. [[In-content Ad]]
MIDDLEBURY -ÊWarsaw football coach Troy Akers believes "when it's good, it's good, and when it's bad, it's really bad."
Right now it's really bad.
The Tigers lost 28-0 to Northern Lakes Conference foe Northridge Friday night, marking the first time in 15 years the Raiders topped Warsaw.
Warsaw was anemic on offense and its defense, which bent but didn't break against a dangerous Raider offensive for most of the game, allowed 19 points in less than a minute-and-a-half late in the fourth quarter to seal the Tigers' fate.
The two squads, who both entered Friday night's contest with 1-3 records overall and 0-2 conference records, struggled to cap off drives and entered halftime knotted in a scoreless tie.
Warsaw got off to a shaky second half start as it was whistled for a holding penalty on the opening kickoff return and was backed up further on a false start call.
The Tigers were forced to punt deep in their own end which gave Northridge the ball at its own 49-yard line.
The Raiders got to within field goal distance when quarterback Andrew Priem found receiver Tyler Smith for a 32-yard gain.
It wasn't the first, or the last time Priem and Smith would hook up.
After a couple of Joe Gibson rushes, kicker Charlie Babcock split the uprights on a 33-yard field goal to put the first points of the game on the board and give Northridge 3-0 lead.
Warsaw mounted its best drive of the night following Babcock's field goal. The Tigers took the ball at their own 24-yard line and drove down to the Northridge four.
Freshman running back Andy Conrad, in for injured starting tailback Ben Davis III, was stopped for no gain on first down as was Justin Hanson on second down.
Warsaw junior quarterback Ben Higgins, starting for the first time in place of Tyler Akers then overshot freshman tight end Justin Clemens on third down.
Freshman kicker Matt Franco, who was taking the place of an under-the-weather Micah Price, missed a 21-yard field goal attempt wide right to give the ball back to Northridge.
Northridge proceeded to give the ball right back to the Tigers as Priem fumbled the ball on second down and Warsaw's Aaron West recovered.
After another stalled Warsaw drive, Northridge once again coughed the ball up deep in its own end.
With the ball on Northridge's 34-yard line, Warsaw got down to the 15 before being faced with another fourth down.
Akers sent an ailling Price in and attempted a fake field goal. The play was doomed from the start as Akers' son Tyler was stopped for a six-yard loss.
"That was the turning point right there," said coach Akers. "That fake field goal hurt us. It seemed like only one person knew we were faking the field goal."
Northridge quickly pounced on Warsaw's mistake. After a short run by Gibson, Priem aired out a pass to Smith at midfield that allowed the 6-foot-1 Smith to outleap the 5-8 Hanson for the ball.
Smith gathered the catch in and breezed untouched into the endzone for a 76-yard touchdown grab to end the third quarter with the Raiders ahead 9-0.
Warsaw continued to struggle on offense in the fourth quarter.
Of the Tigers four possessions in the final period, one ended with a punt, one ended on a Higgins interception and another ended when Hanson fumbled deep in Warsaw's own end.
Northridge's Cody Miller scooped up the loose ball in the endzone to cap the Raiders scoring on the evening.
Warsaw's fourth and final possesion ended as time ran out.
In the span of less than a minute and a half, from the 3:20 mark of the fourth quarter until Miller's fumble recovery, Northridge scored 19 points.
"Our defense was on the field too much," said Akers. "They battled all game and they were just tired at the end."
Northridge's first possesion of the fourth quarter saw the Raiders mount a 14-play, 93-yard drive that was capped by a seven-yard touchdown run by Smith.
While Warsaw was able to contain Northridge's run-and-shoot offense for the most part, turnovers and good field position for the Raiders proved to be too much.
The Tigers had 12 tackles for loss, including four sacks on Priem but the Tiger offense could never develop a flow.
Higgins, a 6-4 pocket passer, was hounded all night by the Raiders defense. When he did get time, Higgins was unable to connect with his receiver leaving balls too short or too high. Many of Higgins' incompletions were due to the fact that he was forced to roll out, many times to his left, because of a collapsing pocket.
Higgins finished his first varsity start with 10 of 28 completions for 129 yards, two interceptions and no touchdwon passes.
"Overall I thought Ben Higgins did O.K. in his first start," said Akers. "Ben deserved his shot. This (loss) in no way is a reflection on Ben."
As poor as Warsaw was through the air, the Tigers were even less productive on the ground. With Davis III out for much of the second half, Warsaw was forced to rely on a freshman with Northridge bringing eight and nine defenders up to the line.
Warsaw rushed 31 times for just 89 yards and compiled just 232 yards of total offense. The Tigers averaged less than four yards per play while Northridge averaged 5.4. That stat is also deceiving considering Northridge started three drives at midfield or better.
Davis III ended the night as Warsaw's leading rusher with 43 yards on 14 carries. Conrad showed some impressive quickness and ended with 29 yards on eight carries.
Friday night's game was the first time Warsaw was shutout since 2004 when NorthWood handed the Tigers a 29-0 loss.
With the shutout, Warsaw is averaging 9.4 points per game and have been outscored 120-47.
"I'm a believer that when it's good it's real good," said Akers. "And when it's bad it's really bad. I told our guys we have to grow up really quick or it's going to be a long four or five weeks."
The Tigers, 1-4 overall and 0-3 in the NLC, travel to NorthWood Friday for a 7 p.m. kickokff.
The Panthers fell 40-29 to Wawasee Friday night.
NORTHRIDGE 28, WARSAW 0
Warsaw 0 0 0 0 - 0
Northridge 0 0 9 19 - 28
W N
First downs 7 13
Rushing yards 89 157
Passing yards 143 160
Comp.-Att.-Int. 10-29-2 7-16-0
Total offense 232 317
Fumbles/lost 0-0 3-2
Punts/avg. 4-35.3 4-32.5
Penalties/yards 5-43 3-30
Third Quarter
N - Charlie Babcock 33 field goal 3-0, 8:01
N -ÊAndrew Priem 76 pass to Tyler Smith (kick failed) 9-0, 0:00
Fourth Quarter
N -ÊSmith 7 run (run failed) 15-0, 3:20
N -ÊJoe Gibson 20 run (kick failed) 21-0, 2:07
N -ÊCody Miller 5 fumble recovery ( Babcock kick) 28-0, 1:53
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - Northridge, Joe Gibson 23-105, Brandon Yoder 6-33, Scott Carte 2-11, Randy Cripe 2-8, Tyler Smith 1-7; Warsaw, Ben Davis III 14-43, Andy Conrad 8-29, Andrew Grimm 5-16, Justin Hanson 3-7.
Passing - Northridge, Andrew Priem 7-16-160, 1 TD, 0 INT, Warsaw, Ben Higgins 10-28-129, 0 TD, 2 INT, Justin Clemens 1-1-14, 0 TD, 0 INT.
Receiving - Northridge, Smith 3-130, Cripe 1-19, Loren Stokes 1-6, Yoder 1-5; Warsaw, Blaine Allen 4-85, Chas Simpson 4-36, Hanson 1-14, Davis III 1-8. [[In-content Ad]]