PLYMOUTH - Phil Jensen was looking for an answer. And unfortunately, he got it.

After back-to-back wins and two 30-plus point offensive outputs to open the season, Jensen was curious how good the 1998 edition of the Tigers really were.

The answer was loud and clear in a resounding 30-8 loss to Northern Lakes Conference foe Plymouth Friday.

"I didn't know how tough we were," Jensen said. "The NLC is one tough, physical conference. And we didn't play tough and physical football tonight. Until we learn or are willing to do that, we are going to have problems."

Warsaw had problems all night long with the Plymouth defense, which held Warsaw's leading rusher Jose Esquivel to 40 yards and forced five turnovers. Warsaw ended up with 223 yards of total offense, but a lot of that came with the game out of reach.

"They are a bunch of hard-nosed football players," Jensen said of Plymouth. "They handled the line of scrimmage, and they handled the outside. They are much more physical than we are. The question is why. That is what our coaching staff has to answer, but more importantly, that is what our kids have to answer. They are not that much bigger or stronger than we are, but they just outplayed us physically."

Esquivel was coming off 118- and 227-yard performances in his first two games of the year, but the Rockies squeezed the middle and had the speed to contain the slippery Tiger back on the outside.

The lack of a running game forced Warsaw to go to the air. Junior quarterback Greg Seiss threw 26 times, completing 13 for 159 yards. Seiss was picked off twice in the early going, but rebounded to finish strong.

"We had to (throw the football)," Jensen said. "Jose got 15 carries, he got the football. We just couldn't get him to the second level, because they were manhandling us upfront. It goes back to the fact that they play football the way it is meant to be played, and we didn't."

On the fifth play from scrimmage to open the game, Plymouth quarterback Nick Chaney made his way through some shoddy Warsaw tackling for a 57-yard scoring run and a 7-0 Plymouth lead. Later in the first quarter, Eddie Rodriguez picked off a Seiss pass and ran back 70 yards for an apparent score. But Plymouth was called for clipping.

It didn't matter. Seven plays later, Chaney found Joel Grindle wide open in the end zone, and the Rockies had a 14-0 advantage.

After a Seiss' fumble gave Plymouth the ball at midfield, Chaney went up top again and found Bobby Salinas a few plays later in the flat for a 10-yard scoring strike and a 21-0 halftime lead.

John Pettibone's 22-yard field goal made it 24-0 in the third quarter when Warsaw drove down the field to the Plymouth 24. On the next play, Seiss found Ross Kesler for a 15-yard pass down to the Rockie 9-yard line. But Kesler fumbled the ball, and Plymouth recovered.

Even the lone Warsaw score didn't come easy.

Early in the fourth quarter, eight straight passes from Seiss helped put the ball at the Plymouth 1-yard line. Mike Moore dove in from a yard out. But the flags were thrown, and at first, the call was Warsaw illegal procedure and no touchdown. But a few minutes later, the flag was waved off, and Warsaw got the score.

The touchdown ended a 11-1/2 quarter scoreless streak for Plymouth opponents this year. The Rockies had shut out Bremen and LaVille to open the season.

"I thought coming in that we really matched up with them," Jensen said. "We did not come ready to play. I don't know how much we were really in it. Like last week, you don't take the score of us 31 and Valley 17, the game was a lot closer. This game was a lot further apart than 30-8 indicates."

Warsaw (2-1, 0-1) is at the RCA Dome Saturday to face South Bend St. Joe at 7:30 p.m.

PLYMOUTH 30 WARSAW 8

Warsaw 0 0 0 8 - 8

Plymouth 7 14 3 6 - 30

War Ply

First Downs 13 12

Rushes-yards 31-64 39-168

Passing yards 159 71

Comp-Att-Int 14-29-3 6-9-0

Total offense 223 239

Fumbles-lost 3-2 0-0

Punts-avg. 3-27.5 4-32

Penalties-yards 5-40 7-60

First Quarter

P - Nick Chaney 57 run (John Pettibone kick), 9:58

Second Quarter

P - Joel Grindle 17 pass from Chaney (Pettibone kick), 10:51

P - Bobby Salinas 10 pass from Chaney (Pettibone kick), :59

Third Quarter

P - Pettibone 22 field goal, 3:02

Fourth Quarter

W - Mike Moore 1 run (Ross Kesler from Greg Seiss), 6:00

P - Salinas 4 run (run failed), 2:40

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing - Warsaw, Jose Esquivel 15-40, Mike Moore 7-19. Plymouth, Eddie Rodriguez 16-53, Nick Chaney 12-52, Bobby Salinas 7-32, Rob Riewoldt 3-30

Passing - Warsaw, Greg Seiss 13-26-153-2, Jerad Shaw 1-3-6-1. Plymouth, Chaney 6-9-71-0

Receiving - Warsaw, Ross Kesler 5-59, Jason Barrett 4-50. Plymouth, Joel Grindle 4-56 [[In-content Ad]]