Syracuse - Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams paired up in 1978 to record "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late."

The song easily could have been the theme for Friday night's Northern Lakes Conference football game between the Goshen Redskins and the Wawasee Warriors.

Goshen used "too much" offense early for Wawasee. Wawasee got "too little" offense in the second half and scored "too late" in falling to the Redskins 28-20.

The Redskins raced to a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter and never looked back in handing Wawasee its fifth conference loss against just one victory against Northridge.

Goshen scored on their first three possessions.

The Redskins took the opening kickoff and marched 70 yards culminated by running back Jay Parker's lone carry of the first half from six yards out, giving Goshen a 6-0 lead as the extra point was blocked.

"We mixed our plays well," said Goshen coach Brad Park. "We didn't execute our passing game as well as we would have liked because we missed some open receivers."

Nonetheless, Goshen saw its lead increase at the 2:53 mark of the second quarter as Redskins quarterback Thom Bernheisel hit senior running back Brandon Schrock on a successful screen pass that netted 56 yards and a touchdown. Bernheisel's two-point conversion pass to tight end Dan Sword made it 14-0 Goshen.

Once again, the special teams gods reared their ugly heads against Wawasee as the snap from center sailed over the head of Warrior punter Guy Simmons and was recovered by Goshen at the Warrior 23-yard line.

This marked the fifth time for such a mishap.

Redskin running back Tom Mikel scored from 11 yards out three plays later, giving Goshen a comfortable 21-0 lead.

"Too much" early offense for Wawasee.

The Warriors managed to draw closer, 21-12, by halftime, thanks to junior standout quarterback Brent Doty's fine passing. Doty found wide receiver Josh Roa from seven yards out and reserve wide out Nick Edgington from 12 yards to close the gap heading to intermission.

"Doty made some great reads," said Warrior coach Joe Rietveld. "We were able to miss the run and pass well, and our receivers made some great adjustments to the ball."

Doty completed 28 of 39 passes for 217 yards.

Enter "too little" Warrior offense.

Wawasee managed only a single first down until the waning minutes of the contest. Stifled by a stingy Redskin defense, Doty found himself throwing to his short receivers for modest-at-best gains. Wawasee went three downs and out its first possession, intercepted on its second and gained only 20 yards on their third. Wawasee gained only 28 yards of offense the entire third quarter.

Goshen proceeded to put the game out of reach thanks to speedster Parker. Parker gained 68 second-half yards on 11 carries and another touchdown, this time from three yards out giving the Redskins a 28-12 lead.

"Parker gave us a good change up (from Mikel)," said Park. "He had a fresh pair of legs. We felt we could run the ball. We played very good for 18 minutes of the game."

Wawasee awoke "too late" to derail Goshen. Another Doty touchdown pass, this time to wide out Travis Klenke cut the lead to 28-20 with 34 seconds left in the fourth. The ensuing onside kick was recovered by Goshen.

The Warriors close out the season at 3-6 and 1-5 in NLC play. Wawasee's sectional opener is at South Bend Washington at Clay Field on Oct. 21.

GOSHEN 28, WAWASEE 20

Goshen 14 7 0 7 - 28

Wawasee 0 12 0 8 - 20

G W

First downs 15 14

Rushes/yards 40-200 21-45

Passing yards 123 217

Comp.-Att.-Int. 6-13-0 28-39-1

Total offense 323 262

Fumbles/lost 1-1 0-0

Punt/ave. 3-28.0 4-28.5

Penalties/yards 6-45 7-35

First Quarter

G -ÊParker 6 run (kick fialed), 8:33, 6-0 G

G -ÊSchrock 56 pass from Bernheisel (Sword pass from Bernheisel), 2:53, 14-0 G

Second Quarter

G -ÊMikel 4 rin (Yates kick), 9:33, 21-0 G

W -ÊRoa 7 pass from Doty (kick blocked), 4:56, 21-6 G

W -ÊEdgington 12 pass from Doty (run failed), 1:52, 21-12 G

Fourth Quarter

G - Parker 3 run (Yates kick), 2:52, 28-12 G

W - Klenke 7 pass from Doty (Doty run), 0:34, 28-20 G

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - G: Schrock 5-31, Mikel 17-100, Parker 12-73, Bernheisel 5-(-3); W:ÊMeyer 16-60, Doty 3-(-8), Simmons 1-(-8), Klenke 1-1

Passing - G: Bernheisel 6-13-123 yards, 0 int.; W: Doty 28-39-217 yards, 1 int

Receiving - G: Lewallen 1-14, Schrock 3-90, Bushong 1-10, Laughlin 1-9; W: Likens 12-106, Packer 4-19, Klenke 6-62, Roa 1-7, Chang 1-5, Meyer 3-5, Adkins 1-5, Edgington 1-12. [[In-content Ad]]