SYRACUSE - Goshen's win over No. 1 (4A) DeKalb last Friday surprised a lot of people in the Indiana high school football community, but don't count Redskin coach Brad Park or Wawasee coach Gene Mitz among them.

"We thought Goshen had a very good chance to beat DeKalb," Mitz said. "Goshen is a very good football team. We were not surprised by that."

The two teams will face each other Friday night in the second round of Class 4A, Sectional 11 at Foreman Field in Goshen.

Goshen (6-3) entered the game with the top-ranked Barons as "underdogs" according to most and even were put as 25-point underdogs by a Fort Wayne newspaper, which didn't sit well with the Redskin coaches, players and fans.

"The only people who thought we were underdogs against DeKalb was the media people," Park said. "We didn't feel like we were (the underdogs). We felt like we could play with anybody. That is our approach.

"If we don't play as good as we can play then Wawasee can beat us," Park said. "Our mental approach is no different than it was a week ago. We have to go out and play as hard as we can play."

Wawasee (4-5) as well is coming off an impressive win of its own, albeit against a team far less the caliber of DeKalb. But the Warriors' 35-13 win over East Noble got Wawasee exactly where it wanted to be - in the second round. Something half the teams in the state can't say.

"We thought we had a big win too, over a good East Noble team, even their record (1-7) didn't show it," Mitz said. "We feel good about the victory and advancing into the second round. Now the goal is to advance beyond the second round."

These two Northern Lakes Conference rivals met two weeks ago in the regular season finale with the Redskins literally running away with a 49-14 win as they rushed for a school-record 520 yards.

And that was without senior Brett Sloop, who rushed for over 100 yards against DeKalb after missing a month with an injury. Now with Sloop and Mason Ogle (222 yards against DeKalb), the Redskins have added a tough one-two punch to their running game.

"We are going to have to play good defense," Mitz said. "We are going to have to make Goshen march and earn everything they get, and not allow them to score in two or three plays.

"Obviously on defense, if you break down in one area it will cost you yardage or a touchdown," he said. "That is what happened. We have improved as a football team in the last two weeks."

Goshen played well, four straight wins, without Sloop in the lineup, but with him, the Redskins are just more dangerous and tougher to defend.

"It gives us a two-way street," Park said. "We have Brett Sloop back, who ran well coming back against DeKalb, along with Mason Ogle."

The Warriors also have gotten some players back from injuries that didn't play in the previous Goshen game.

"We have been able to put some people on the field that weren't on the field against Goshen that night due to some minor injuries," Mitz said. "We are a better team personnel-wise than we were that evening. And we are aware of where we broke down, and we aren't going to let that happen again."

It starts up front for Goshen with an offensive and defensive line that is man-for-man bigger than most teams.

"The key is our offensive line," Park said. "They have been very good the last several weeks. They have dominated people and gave them (Ogle, Sloop) a place to run against a very good defense that DeKalb had to offer. We have to try to duplicate what we did before."

"Their strength is in their lines," Mitz said. "They are not only big, but they play well."

Five weeks ago, a win by Goshen over DeKalb would have seemed impossible as the Redskins were sitting at 1-3, but they have gotten steadily better and havewon five straight games.

"He (Sloop) played a fine football game against DeKalb," Mitz said. "He is a fine addition to their team. And yet they haven't changed anything from an offensive or defensive standpoint, they didn't have to. They have become better over the past four or five weeks. Goshen has played some good competition. They have gotten progressively better on both sides of the ball."

According to Park, it hasn't been a miracle cure for Goshen.

"The attitude of believing in each other and ourselves has been key," Park said. "We got started kind of shaky, but we were playing some people that were pretty good early in the season. We were kind of struggling until we found some people to step up to make some plays so we could win some games and not just be competitive."

Despite having already run over the Warriors two weeks ago, Park is still very cautious of the Warriors, especially Wawasee running back Shawn Johnson and his 844 yards rushing this season.

"They have a very good running back in Shawn Johnson," Park said. "He is the type of player that you have to take the ball out of his hands. They are going to do whatever they can to get it into his hands, and our job is to slow him down."

"He ran for almost 300 yards (292), and that is a pretty good night," he said. "And they have the Jeff Beer to Ryan Mikel connection. Mikel is a very good receiver; he is faster than anybody we have got. Somehow we have to find a way to get some pressure on the quarterback, and hopefully we can make a mistake." [[In-content Ad]]