Tigers Win Triple-Overtime Thriller
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Anthony [email protected]
As Tigers ran jubilantly around the field, Warriors hung their heads with coaches, letting any observer know Wawasee was the team on the short end of the 28-27 score.[[In-content Ad]]"It's a close game, and one that's gonna be talked about in these kids' lives for a lifetime - on both sides," Warsaw coach, and former Wawasee skipper, Troy Akers said. "These 'W' games, you just don't forget them. I've coached in 20 of them now, and I can tell you bits and pieces of each one. But obviously, none will be as special as this triple-overtime win."
When the Tigers and Warriors get together, they battle for the 'W' Trophy, a prize which has resided with the Warriors since 2003. On Friday, the trophy returned to Warsaw, but not without a fight.
"It was a good football game to be a part of," Wawasee coach Tom Wogomon said. "It was unfortunate we weren't on the winning side tonight. You only ask one thing of a player, and I think they left everything they had on the field."
All the Warriors had was 48 minutes of regulation football, compounded with three overtime periods.
In regulation, offense was at a premium for both teams.
Following a second-quarter touchdown by Warsaw quarterback Ben Higgins on a 1-yard sneak, defense owned the night.
During the first half, Wawasee didn't pick up a first down until 2:10 remained. In the second half, it was Warsaw that couldn't pick up 10 yards in three downs, waiting until five minutes remained to pick up its first second-half first down.
"The defense played well all night," Wogomon said. "For as much as we looked rough and bad on offense in the first half, they were keeping us in it."
Making things even tougher for the Warsaw offense was the loss of sophomore running back Andy Conrad.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, Conrad ran the ball inside the tackles, but came up lame with an apparent ankle injury. When the team came back from the half, Conrad was accessorized with crutches. Until his injury, Conrad had compiled 42 yards rushing, while also catching two passes.
"We felt like we could come in and throw the ball more than we did and be successful," Akers said. "Ironically, when Andy went down with the injury, it did hurt us more with our ability to throw the ball."
And as everyone knows, injuries are part of the game, and Wawasee capitalized.
After picking up four first-half first downs, and racking up just 73 total yards in the opening half, the Warriors tallied 154 second-half yards, as well as nine first downs.
With the offense picking it up, Wawasee quarterback Jake Sommers found receiver Brandon Boyer on a 7-yard touchdown pass with only 5:14 left in the game, tying the game at 7-7.
That score would hold up, forcing overtime, where each team receives possession of the ball at their opponent's 10-yard line. From there, the teams just keeping going back and forth until a winner steps forward.
"Getting into overtime, I had a lot of confidence in our kids, because we're big, we're strong, we're physical and we like to play," Akers said. "When you give us the ball at the 10, we like to play that kind of ball. But I gotta credit Wawasee, because they did the same thing."
Through the first two overtime periods, neither team had much trouble scoring touchdowns. In the third OT, Warsaw once again took a seven-point lead following a 17-yard touchdown pass from Higgins to Leonard Wells, accompanied with a Matt Franco extra point.
Down by seven, Wawasee needed only one play for Sommers to find Brandon Geiger for a 10-yard touchdown pass, but instead of going for the tie, Wogomon opted to go for the win.
"We got a little worn down in the third overtime, and we felt we had to go for it," the Wawasee coach said. "On that last play, we were running that play to Geiger, and we said if that thing isn't ridiculously there, then we're gonna call a timeout and kick the extra point. They just absolutley brought the house."
Warsaw did indeed bring pressure on the 2-point conversion attempt.
"We wanted to try to rush the gaps and try to get to the quarterback, then get our hands up," Akers said.
And the plan worked, as the Tigers rushed Sommers, causing a tipped pass.
While the Warsaw defense was all primed for the final play of the game, Warsaw senior linebacker Andrew Spears had been primed all night. Spears spent much of the game in the Wawasee backfield, causing all kinds of havoc.
"The last three weeks, there's no question at all that he is, by far, the very best linebacker playing Northern Lakes Conference football right now," Akers said of Spears. "There's nobody better than him at that position. He's gotta continue to play well to give us a chance to win. He's a tough kid. Anything that moves, he'll hit it."
And Wogomon's not about to argue with that.
"That linebacker was just all over the place," Wogomon said. "He's probably one of the best linebackers I've faced in a long time. I mean, he was just all over. There were openings, where we thought we could run the ball, but he closed it down. One man shut our whole offense down."
So after a hard-fought, defensive game the Warsaw-Wawasee rivalry will undoubtedly continue into next season.
"It's a great rivalry and it's a clean played game," Akers said. "There were kids from both teams that just played their hearts out. We were the fortunate ones tonight."
WARSAW 28, WAWASEE 27 (3 OT)
Wawasee 0 7 0 7 7 7 6 - 27
Warsaw 0 7 0 0 7 7 7 - 28
Waw War
First downs 13 7
Rushing yards 79 144
Passing yards 171 42
Comp.-Att.-Int. 15-35-1 5-13-3
Total offense 250 186
Fumbles/lost 0-0 0-0
Punts/avg. 8-45 5-51
Penalties/yards 4-30 3-30
Second Quarter
War - Ben Higgins 1 run (Matt Franco kick) 0-7, 6:43
Fourth Quarter
Waw - Jake Sommers 7 pass to Brandon Boyer (Chas Amadeo kick) 7-7, 5:14
First Overtime
War - Ben Davis 2 run (Franco kick) 7-14
Waw - Sommers 3 pass to Brandon Geiger (Amadeo kick) 14-14
Second Overtime
Waw - Sommers 10 pass to Boyer (Amadeo kick) 21-14
War - Davis 10 run (Franco kick) 21-21
Third Overtime
War - Higgins 17 pass to Leonard Wells (Franco kick) 21-28
Waw - Sommers 10 pass to Geiger (2 pt. conversion failed) 27-28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - Wawasee, Tom Schwartz 15-49, Eric Brown 18-36, Jake Sommers 6-(-6); Warsaw, Ben Davis 13-79, Andy Conrad 13-42, Cody Kindle 7-39, Ben Higgins 4-(-16).
Passing - Wawasee, Jake Sommers 15-35-171 4 TDs, INT; Warsaw, Ben Higgins 5-13-42 TD, 3 INTs.
Receiving - Wawasee, Dan Dingeldein 5-77, Brandon Geiger 4-32, Eric Brown 2-32, Brandon Boyer 3-24, Tom Schwartz 1-6; Warsaw, Leonard Wells 1-17, Tom Daniels 1-15, Andy Conrad 2-6, Cody Kindle 1-4.
As Tigers ran jubilantly around the field, Warriors hung their heads with coaches, letting any observer know Wawasee was the team on the short end of the 28-27 score.[[In-content Ad]]"It's a close game, and one that's gonna be talked about in these kids' lives for a lifetime - on both sides," Warsaw coach, and former Wawasee skipper, Troy Akers said. "These 'W' games, you just don't forget them. I've coached in 20 of them now, and I can tell you bits and pieces of each one. But obviously, none will be as special as this triple-overtime win."
When the Tigers and Warriors get together, they battle for the 'W' Trophy, a prize which has resided with the Warriors since 2003. On Friday, the trophy returned to Warsaw, but not without a fight.
"It was a good football game to be a part of," Wawasee coach Tom Wogomon said. "It was unfortunate we weren't on the winning side tonight. You only ask one thing of a player, and I think they left everything they had on the field."
All the Warriors had was 48 minutes of regulation football, compounded with three overtime periods.
In regulation, offense was at a premium for both teams.
Following a second-quarter touchdown by Warsaw quarterback Ben Higgins on a 1-yard sneak, defense owned the night.
During the first half, Wawasee didn't pick up a first down until 2:10 remained. In the second half, it was Warsaw that couldn't pick up 10 yards in three downs, waiting until five minutes remained to pick up its first second-half first down.
"The defense played well all night," Wogomon said. "For as much as we looked rough and bad on offense in the first half, they were keeping us in it."
Making things even tougher for the Warsaw offense was the loss of sophomore running back Andy Conrad.
With five minutes remaining in the first half, Conrad ran the ball inside the tackles, but came up lame with an apparent ankle injury. When the team came back from the half, Conrad was accessorized with crutches. Until his injury, Conrad had compiled 42 yards rushing, while also catching two passes.
"We felt like we could come in and throw the ball more than we did and be successful," Akers said. "Ironically, when Andy went down with the injury, it did hurt us more with our ability to throw the ball."
And as everyone knows, injuries are part of the game, and Wawasee capitalized.
After picking up four first-half first downs, and racking up just 73 total yards in the opening half, the Warriors tallied 154 second-half yards, as well as nine first downs.
With the offense picking it up, Wawasee quarterback Jake Sommers found receiver Brandon Boyer on a 7-yard touchdown pass with only 5:14 left in the game, tying the game at 7-7.
That score would hold up, forcing overtime, where each team receives possession of the ball at their opponent's 10-yard line. From there, the teams just keeping going back and forth until a winner steps forward.
"Getting into overtime, I had a lot of confidence in our kids, because we're big, we're strong, we're physical and we like to play," Akers said. "When you give us the ball at the 10, we like to play that kind of ball. But I gotta credit Wawasee, because they did the same thing."
Through the first two overtime periods, neither team had much trouble scoring touchdowns. In the third OT, Warsaw once again took a seven-point lead following a 17-yard touchdown pass from Higgins to Leonard Wells, accompanied with a Matt Franco extra point.
Down by seven, Wawasee needed only one play for Sommers to find Brandon Geiger for a 10-yard touchdown pass, but instead of going for the tie, Wogomon opted to go for the win.
"We got a little worn down in the third overtime, and we felt we had to go for it," the Wawasee coach said. "On that last play, we were running that play to Geiger, and we said if that thing isn't ridiculously there, then we're gonna call a timeout and kick the extra point. They just absolutley brought the house."
Warsaw did indeed bring pressure on the 2-point conversion attempt.
"We wanted to try to rush the gaps and try to get to the quarterback, then get our hands up," Akers said.
And the plan worked, as the Tigers rushed Sommers, causing a tipped pass.
While the Warsaw defense was all primed for the final play of the game, Warsaw senior linebacker Andrew Spears had been primed all night. Spears spent much of the game in the Wawasee backfield, causing all kinds of havoc.
"The last three weeks, there's no question at all that he is, by far, the very best linebacker playing Northern Lakes Conference football right now," Akers said of Spears. "There's nobody better than him at that position. He's gotta continue to play well to give us a chance to win. He's a tough kid. Anything that moves, he'll hit it."
And Wogomon's not about to argue with that.
"That linebacker was just all over the place," Wogomon said. "He's probably one of the best linebackers I've faced in a long time. I mean, he was just all over. There were openings, where we thought we could run the ball, but he closed it down. One man shut our whole offense down."
So after a hard-fought, defensive game the Warsaw-Wawasee rivalry will undoubtedly continue into next season.
"It's a great rivalry and it's a clean played game," Akers said. "There were kids from both teams that just played their hearts out. We were the fortunate ones tonight."
WARSAW 28, WAWASEE 27 (3 OT)
Wawasee 0 7 0 7 7 7 6 - 27
Warsaw 0 7 0 0 7 7 7 - 28
Waw War
First downs 13 7
Rushing yards 79 144
Passing yards 171 42
Comp.-Att.-Int. 15-35-1 5-13-3
Total offense 250 186
Fumbles/lost 0-0 0-0
Punts/avg. 8-45 5-51
Penalties/yards 4-30 3-30
Second Quarter
War - Ben Higgins 1 run (Matt Franco kick) 0-7, 6:43
Fourth Quarter
Waw - Jake Sommers 7 pass to Brandon Boyer (Chas Amadeo kick) 7-7, 5:14
First Overtime
War - Ben Davis 2 run (Franco kick) 7-14
Waw - Sommers 3 pass to Brandon Geiger (Amadeo kick) 14-14
Second Overtime
Waw - Sommers 10 pass to Boyer (Amadeo kick) 21-14
War - Davis 10 run (Franco kick) 21-21
Third Overtime
War - Higgins 17 pass to Leonard Wells (Franco kick) 21-28
Waw - Sommers 10 pass to Geiger (2 pt. conversion failed) 27-28
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - Wawasee, Tom Schwartz 15-49, Eric Brown 18-36, Jake Sommers 6-(-6); Warsaw, Ben Davis 13-79, Andy Conrad 13-42, Cody Kindle 7-39, Ben Higgins 4-(-16).
Passing - Wawasee, Jake Sommers 15-35-171 4 TDs, INT; Warsaw, Ben Higgins 5-13-42 TD, 3 INTs.
Receiving - Wawasee, Dan Dingeldein 5-77, Brandon Geiger 4-32, Eric Brown 2-32, Brandon Boyer 3-24, Tom Schwartz 1-6; Warsaw, Leonard Wells 1-17, Tom Daniels 1-15, Andy Conrad 2-6, Cody Kindle 1-4.
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