Tigers Can't Take Charge Out Of Carroll
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
Racking up 448 yards of total offense, the Chargers' (7-3) defense also stepped up, holding the Tigers (4-6) to 143 yards and five first downs in a 27-0 opening-round win Class 5A Sectional 2 action in Huntertown.
"All season long, our defense has played very tenaciously," Carroll coach Dan Dinan said. "They've played physical. Without question, that's been the trademark of our team — our defense. They've done a great job."
That defense began the game by forcing and recovering a fumble at the Carroll 30-yard line, handing the reins over to the offense, which marched 70 yards in eight plays and two-and-a-half minutes, taking a 7-0 lead when Carroll senior quarterback Grant Wilson found senior Matthew Kowalsky for a 10-yard score.
"It's been the story all year — when we take care of the ball, we're a pretty decent football team," Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said. "When we make mistakes, and fumble, we don't respond very well. We put our defense in a tough spot. Our defense played hard, played well and had some good stops. But you can't continue to put your defense in a bad position. You have to get some offensive production, and we could not do that."
The Tigers' defense was on the field quite a bit, as Carroll ran 43 offensive plays in the first half, while Warsaw had just 18.
Despite the discrepancy in the number of plays, as well as yards with Carroll putting up 255 to Warsaw's 68, the Chargers led just 13-0 at halftime.
"I didn't feel secure at any point, because Warsaw's a very good football team," Dinan said. "Coach Jensen is a tremendous coach and they've got a lot of weapons. Their running back (senior Zach Rooney) is very fast, and I was waiting for him to break one at any time. So, never did we feel secure."
Running for 63 yards on 18 carries, the only time Rooney got loose was for a 29-yard run in the fourth quarter.
The Chargers did a good job of containing Warsaw's top offensive weapon, but the same couldn't be said for the Tigers handling Carroll's.
On the night, Wilson completed 17 of 28 pass attempts to 269 yards and two touchdowns, as senior receiver John Hester was a big reason for those big numbers.
Hauling in 11 passes, Hester amassed 224 receiving yards, capped by a 71-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter, which led to the final 27-0 score.
"John's a very good receiver," Dinan said of Hester, who had seven receptions on third down, with the first six going for first downs and the last being the score. "He's one of our seniors and it's going to take senior leadership for us to be successful in the postseason. They did a good job today."
The long touchdown pass to Hester was the back-breaker, but three fumbles and an interception had done the Tigers in long before that.
"They outcoached us and they outplayed us," Jensen said. "They made plays when they had to and we did not make plays when we needed to."
By making those plays, Carroll advances to play Goshen Friday night back in Huntertown in second-round action, while Warsaw looks ahead to 2012.
"I'm awful proud of them," Jensen said of his team. "We've come a long way from last year when we were 1-9, then started out 0-3 this year. They didn't quit. They came to work everyday. We got better, but we just didn't get to where we needed to be from a strength perspective and from a commitment perspective."[[In-content Ad]]
Racking up 448 yards of total offense, the Chargers' (7-3) defense also stepped up, holding the Tigers (4-6) to 143 yards and five first downs in a 27-0 opening-round win Class 5A Sectional 2 action in Huntertown.
"All season long, our defense has played very tenaciously," Carroll coach Dan Dinan said. "They've played physical. Without question, that's been the trademark of our team — our defense. They've done a great job."
That defense began the game by forcing and recovering a fumble at the Carroll 30-yard line, handing the reins over to the offense, which marched 70 yards in eight plays and two-and-a-half minutes, taking a 7-0 lead when Carroll senior quarterback Grant Wilson found senior Matthew Kowalsky for a 10-yard score.
"It's been the story all year — when we take care of the ball, we're a pretty decent football team," Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said. "When we make mistakes, and fumble, we don't respond very well. We put our defense in a tough spot. Our defense played hard, played well and had some good stops. But you can't continue to put your defense in a bad position. You have to get some offensive production, and we could not do that."
The Tigers' defense was on the field quite a bit, as Carroll ran 43 offensive plays in the first half, while Warsaw had just 18.
Despite the discrepancy in the number of plays, as well as yards with Carroll putting up 255 to Warsaw's 68, the Chargers led just 13-0 at halftime.
"I didn't feel secure at any point, because Warsaw's a very good football team," Dinan said. "Coach Jensen is a tremendous coach and they've got a lot of weapons. Their running back (senior Zach Rooney) is very fast, and I was waiting for him to break one at any time. So, never did we feel secure."
Running for 63 yards on 18 carries, the only time Rooney got loose was for a 29-yard run in the fourth quarter.
The Chargers did a good job of containing Warsaw's top offensive weapon, but the same couldn't be said for the Tigers handling Carroll's.
On the night, Wilson completed 17 of 28 pass attempts to 269 yards and two touchdowns, as senior receiver John Hester was a big reason for those big numbers.
Hauling in 11 passes, Hester amassed 224 receiving yards, capped by a 71-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter, which led to the final 27-0 score.
"John's a very good receiver," Dinan said of Hester, who had seven receptions on third down, with the first six going for first downs and the last being the score. "He's one of our seniors and it's going to take senior leadership for us to be successful in the postseason. They did a good job today."
The long touchdown pass to Hester was the back-breaker, but three fumbles and an interception had done the Tigers in long before that.
"They outcoached us and they outplayed us," Jensen said. "They made plays when they had to and we did not make plays when we needed to."
By making those plays, Carroll advances to play Goshen Friday night back in Huntertown in second-round action, while Warsaw looks ahead to 2012.
"I'm awful proud of them," Jensen said of his team. "We've come a long way from last year when we were 1-9, then started out 0-3 this year. They didn't quit. They came to work everyday. We got better, but we just didn't get to where we needed to be from a strength perspective and from a commitment perspective."[[In-content Ad]]
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