SOUTH WHITLEY - Tears of sadness filled Bryan Sprunger's eyes as he embraced senior fullback Seth Slater after Friday night's football game at Ryan Huff Field.

The tearful moment came after the West Noble Chargers slipped past the Whitko Wildcats 23-13 in sectional action.

Slater, who tried to carry the Wildcats on his back, performed from every aspect of the game. He played offense, defense and special teams for a considerably large amount of the game.

"Slater played his heart out," Whitko coach Sprunger said tearfully. "He is one of the finest football players I have ever coached."

Seth played like he was the best, too. Slater had 33 carries for 254 yards rushing. He also had one reception for 10 yards.

"Slater is a fine young man who can and will play for any col-lege team he wants," Sprunger said.

Whitko started the game off on a positive note. Doug Hyser recovered Whitko's kickoff after West Noble fumbled the ball. Whitko took over on its 35-yard line but failed to score and turned over the ball on downs.

After both teams exchanged punts, West Noble was able to put a scoring drive together. The drive was capped off by a 13-yard run by Charger running back Chad Howard.

The Wildcats answered quickly with a drive of their own. Slater ran for a 5-yard blast to bring Whitko within one. Julian Theil added the extra point to tie the game.

The Chargers fumbled the ball to Whitko four times. The Wildcats could never take advantage of the field position that was handed to them.

Whitko did score once more in the second quarter when Slater broke through the line for a 1-yard dash. The extra point attempt failed, keeping them at 13 and giving them their first lead of the game.

"It was an extremely well- played game by both teams. Unfortunately, we came out on the losing end," Sprunger said.

Statistically, the game was neck-and-neck. The Wildcats outrushed the Chargers 312 yards to 270 yards. West Noble did pass for 112 yards to only 35 from Whitko. The closest overall statistic was total yardage. The Chargers edged Whitko 382-347.

The Wildcat defense in the fourth quarter consisted of five freshmen, and they held the offense to only six points.

"With five freshmen playing on defense, our team shows a lot of promise," Sprunger said.

Whitko finished the season 2-8 overall and 2-6 in the TRC. West Noble (7-3) will face a strong NorthWood team next week. NorthWood (9-1), ranked No. 5, defeated Elmhurst 67-0 to advance in sectional play.

WEST NOBLE 23, WHITKO 13

West Noble 7 7 3 6 23

Whitko 0 13 0 0 13

WN W

First downs 23 13

Rushing yards 43-270 53-312

Passing yards 112 35

Comp.-Att.-Int. 4-10-0 3-10-0

Total offense 382 347

Fumbles lost 6-4 4-2

Punts/avg. 2-23 2-28

Penalties/yards 7-65 8-48

First Quarter

WN -ÊChad Howard 13 run (Doug McDonald kick good), 7-0, 2:05

Second Quarter

W -ÊSeth Slater 5 run (Julian Thiel kick good), 7-7, 7:01

W - Slater 1 run (pass failed), 7-13, 2:16

WN -ÊToby Steele 1 run (kick good), 14-13, :18

Third Quarter

WN - McDonald 31 field goal, 17-13, 6:46

Fourth Quarter

WN -ÊHoward 34 run (kick failed), 23-13, 4:22

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing - Whitko: Seth Slater 33-254, Jeff Shepherd 5-70. West Noble: Howard 27-183, Steele 10-44.

Passing -ÊWhitko: James Miller 3-10-0 35. West Noble: Steele 4-10-0 110.

Receiving -ÊWhitko: Slater 1-10, Adam Hall 2-25. West Noble: Charley Gabet 2-58, Rick Johnson 1-32. [[In-content Ad]]