It wasn't the typical guys Friday night that gave Warsaw a 19-7 victory over Northridge in a Northern Lakes Conference matchup.

It wasn't Jose Esquivel, Warsaw's leading rusher on the year.

It wasn't Ross Kesler, the team's top receiver.

It wasn't even Greg Seiss, the Tigers' quarterback.

What it was was Jon Hill, a senior wide receiver playing just his second year of football that turned the game around for the Tigers on a running play. What it also was was a stifling defensive line that turned the dangerous Northridge option attack into nothing more than an 11-man punching bag after allowing 31 points to South Bend St. Joe last weekend.

"Our kids defensively really stepped it up tonight," head coach Phil Jensen said. "Coach (Troy) Akers kept telling me all week that they were stepping it up. Our defense did a fantastic job tonight and really won us the ballgame."

Warsaw forced Northridge into nine punts, seven in the second half of a game that was tied 7-7 at the break. The Raiders totaled 47 yards in the second half and had -2 in the fourth quarter. In all, Warsaw held that option offense to just 2.3 yards per carry.

And the offense didn't help out that defense a whole lot. The Tigers turned the ball over four times, giving the Raiders extra opportunities to put the ball in the end zone.

"We couldn't get anything going," Northridge head coach Frank Amato said. "They did a heck of a job controlling the line of scrimmage and blowing us off the ball. They dominated us physically."

With the defense controlling the Raiders offense and keeping them from getting anywhere near the endzone, Warsaw head coach Phil Jensen had the chance to gamble a bit. He chose not to punt on fourth down numerous times from about midfield and also came up with the play that broke open the 7-7 tie in the third quarter.

After the Raiders punted for the second time of the quarter, Jensen snuck Hill into the backfield and gave him the ball. Hill went around end and raced 73 yards for a touchdown to give the Tigers a 13-7 lead.

"I had on my notepad going out to practice Monday to get No. 1 (Hill) the ball," Jensen said. "We said there's one sure way to get it to him and that's to sneak him into the backfield and hand it to him. It was a situation where we were on the wide side of the football field and it set up perfectly for what we wanted to do. We came off the sideline with it, so you don't see No. 1 running out there."

Once Hill was handed the ball, it didn't take long for him to break away from all 11 defensive players.

"He just shot down that sideline," Jensen said. "Those kids from Northridge, you could just see it. It was like, 'Man, we ain't never seen that before.' It was a good play by a good athlete. You know no one's going to catch him."

That gave Warsaw a 13-7 lead and the Tigers tacked on one last touchdown late in the fourth quarter when Zach Scheetz scored from 13 yards out. Warsaw rushed the ball on all 10 plays during the drive that gave the Tigers the 19-7 lead.

Warsaw (3-2, 1-1) will meet defending conference champion Goshen Friday.

WARSAW 19

NORTHRIDGE 7

Northridge 7 0 0 0 - 7

Warsaw 7 0 6 6 - 19

N W

First Downs 7 9

Rushes-Yards 43-101 37-238

Passing Yards 45 74

Comp-Att-Int 4-12-0 8-18-1

Total offense 146 312

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 5-3

Punts-Avg 9-37.4 4-36.3

Penalties-Yards 3-10 3-25

First Quarter

W - Jose Esquivel 23 run (Brad Waggoner kick), 5:59, 7-0 Warsaw

N - Jody Weldy 1 run (Donny Klotz kick), 1:35, 7-7

Third Quarter

W - Jon Hill 73 run (kick failed), 6:30, 13-7 Warsaw

Fourth Quarter

W - Zach Scheetz 13 run (pass failed), 2:00, 19-7 Warsaw

Individual Leaders

Rushing - Warsaw, Esquivel 19-75, Hill 1-73, Greg Seiss 10-62. Northridge, Kyle Havlik 16-43, Weldy 16-22.

Passing - Warsaw, Seiss 8-18-74-1. Northridge, Weldy 4-12-45-0.

Receiving - Warsaw, Ross Kesler 3-37, Jason Barrett 2-15. Northridge, Bobby Raatz 2-22. [[In-content Ad]]