Syracuse -ÊThe Wawasee Warriors came into Friday's football game with state- ranked Plymouth short-handed.

The Warriors were missing their leading rusher, Logan Lees, who had rushed 85 times for 367 yards this season. His presence was sorely missed as the Rockies stuffed the run and silenced the Wawasee crowd on senior night with a 48-19 drubbing of the home team.

The action started early when Plymouth kick returner and running back Andy Barker returned the opening kickoff to the Wawasee 45-yard line, but the Rockies were then pushed back to their own 15 when they were called on a clipping penalty.

Unnerved by the penalty, Plymouth marched down field.

On a first and 10 from their own 31-yard line, Barker mimicked his kick return and barrelled 32 yards before being corralled by the Warrior secondary.

Three plays later, Rockies' quarterback Jon Slein rolled on a naked bootleg, finding junior tight end Jeff Stettler for a 25-yard gain. This left Plymouth with a first and goal deep in Wawasee territory.

On second down, Slein once again ran the bootleg, this time finding fullback Matt Arvesen for a 6-yard touchdown. Kyle Davis made good on the extra-point attempt to give the Rockies an early 7-0 lead.

Wawasee's first possession was unproductive. In three plays the Warriors lost 12 yards and were forced to punt.

After forcing Plymouth into a three and out of its own, the Warriors were back on the offensive. A good kick return left Wawasee at its own 41-yard line. The Warriors took advantage as they used the combination of Brent Doty and Adam Brown to drive down field.

The two rotated in the quarterback slot on the first three plays of the drive. Doty then hit Brown, who had moved to wide receiver, with a 35-yard pass to bring Wawasee within a point. Wawasee missed its extra point and was left with the one-point defecit.

The Rockies wasted no time in answering back. Barker took the kickoff and ran 85 yards right into the end zone. This time there would be no clipping penalty. Another Davis kick increased Plymouth's lead to 14-6.

That's as close as the game would be. The second quarter proved to be the Warriors downfall as Plymouth scored 15 unanswered points in the stanza to push their lead to 29-6.

The Rockies got the scoring started in the quarter as senior tackle Zach Martin bowled his way through the Warrior offensive line and sacked Doty for a safety. Plymouth then received the ensuing free kick from Wawasee and put together a nine-play, 65-yard drive that ended with Slein rolling into the end zone from a yard out.

Plymouth then recovered a fumble on Wawasee's next possesion. True to form, the Rockies capitalized as Slein hit Stettler from seven yards out.

It was more of the same in the third quarter. A Barker run from four yards out and a Slein run from 10 out pushed the Rockies lead to 42-6 with only one quarter left to play.

While the Warriors were unable to make it competitive, they did for some excitement. Junior fullback Jimmy Meyer was brought into the game late in the third quarter and gave Wawasee a running attack they were really missing.

Meyer began the fourth quarter running the ball in from two yards out to give the Warriors their first score since the first quarter. Then the Warriors capped off senior night when Todd Lovellette recovered a Plymouth fumble and rumbled 96 yards into paydirt. That and a Chad Wooten kick brought the score to 48-19, and that's were it would stay.

The Warriors now 2-4 travel to Fisher Field to take on the undefeated Warsaw Tigers Friday.

PLYMOUTH 48, WAWASEE 19

Plymouth 14 15 13 6 - 48

Wawasee 6 0 0 13 - 19

P W

First downs 14 7

Rushing yards 40-235 20-57

Passing yards 80 127

Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-11-0 10-18-1

Total offense 315 184

Fumbles lost 2-1 4-2

Punts/avg. 6-34.5 4-30

Penalties/yards 7-40 1-15

irst Quarter

P - Jon Slein 7 pass to Matt Arvesen (Kyle Davis kick)

W - Brent Doty 35 pass Adam Brown (kick failed)

P - Andy Barker 85 kick return (Davis kick)

Second Quarter

P -ÊZach Martin sacked Doty for Safety

P - Slein 1 run (kick failed)

P - Slein 7 pass to Jeff Stettler (Davis kick)

Third Quarter

P - Barker 4 run (kick failed)

P - Slein 10 run (Davis kicked)

Fourth Quarter

W - Jimmy Meyer 2 run (conversion failed)

P -ÊCharley Craig 11 run (kick failed)

W - Todd Lovellette 96 fumble recovery (Chad Wooten kick)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing - Plymouth: Slein 11-95, Barker 10-79, Craig 7-31, Arvesen 6-19, Mark Biezska 3-3, Art Lawrence 2-5, Ryan Clinton 1-3. Wawasee: Meyer 7-36, Matt Binns 7- -4, Doty 3-14, Frank Perales 1-9, Brown 1-2, Toby Witmer 1-0.

Passing -ÊPlymouth: Slein 6-10-0 80, Clinton 0-1 0. Wawasee: Doty 9-17-1 116, Brown 1-1-0 11.

Receiving -ÊPlymouth: Jeff Stettler 3-40, Mike Scott 1-22, Jason Lewis 1-12, Arvesen 1-6. Wawasee: Paul Gilliam 3-30, Brown 2-45, Travis Klenke 2-22, Peter Chang 2-11. [[In-content Ad]]