Fort Wayne -ÊThe fans at Carroll High School got their money's worth Friday evening as the home team Chargers hung on to defeat the Wawasee Warriors 35-28.

"That was a great high school football game," said Wawasee coach Joe Rietveld. "Our kids played hard. ... Unfortunately we came up on the short end."

The Warriors threatened to tie the game late but ran out of time. Trailing 35-28, Wawasee tried a desperation third-down pass which was intercepted by Charger Andy Papagiannis, thus sealing the fate of Wawasee.

The first half see-sawed. Carroll took a quick 7-0 lead as Eric Shippy took a pitch and darted 32 yards for the opening score.

Wawasee knotted the score at seven as running back Logan Lees gathered in a pass from Brent Doty from 11 yards out.

Carroll collected lightning in a bottle just before the end of the first quarter. Standout quarterback Matt Ogle connected from 61 yards out to Papagiannis at the 17-second mark of the first quarter, giving the Chargers a 14-7 lead.

Lees, the Wawasee workhorse, once again tied the score from 10 yards out.

The next few minutes put Wawasee in a deep hole which proved to be the difference between a 2-0 record and the .500 mark.

After Travis Speicher intercepted Ogle, the Warriors marched from their own two to the Carroll 13-yard line but could not move any farther as Doty made a bad read of the defense and was intercepted by Josh Myers inside the 10.

Carroll took every ounce of momentum into half-time by driving 93 yards in just eight plays as Shippy scored up the middle from 19 yards away giving Carroll a 21-14 lead.

Wawasee received the opening kick of the second half but put themselves in a deeper hole. Kent Christman deflected a Doty pass directly into the hands of teammate Marcus Benion with Benion going 30 yards for the score. Ogle later scored from one yard out giving Carroll a 35-14 lead.

Wawasee did not pack it in as in previous seasons.

Doty threw two scoring passes, one 11 yards to Travis Klenke and one 30 yards to Bobby Likens. Likens made a spectacular diving catch on a third-and-23 play. That score cut the large lead into a precarious seven points, but Wawasee got no closer.

"(Wawasee) did a great job," said Carroll coach Mike Cheviron. "We were sloppy but we got plays when we needed them."

Cheviron was speaking of the 10 penalties totaling 111 yards and the two long touchdowns (Ogle's 61 yard pass and the interception return for a touchdown.)

Doty finished the evening completing 22 of 40 for 293 yards and three touchdowns. Lees was the leading ball carrier gaining 65 yards and also scoring twice.

Wawasee returns home Friday to play Northridge in the Northern Lakes Conference opener.

CARROLL 35, WAWASEE 28

Carroll 14 7 14 0 - 35

Wawasee 6 8 7 7 - 28

W C

First downs 16 13

Rushes/yards 25/50 42/270

Passing yards 293 169

Comp.-Att.-Int. 22-40-4 7-14-2

Total offense 343 439

Fumbles/lost 1/0 2/1

Punts/avg. 3/27.3 1/35

Penalties/yards 4/43 10/111

First Quarter

C - Shippy 32 run (Stout kick) 8:15, 7-0 C

W -ÊLees 11 pass from Doty (kick failed) 1:54, 7-6 C

C -ÊPapagiannis 60 pass from Ogle (Stout kick) :17, 14-6

Second Quarter

W -ÊLees 10 run (Lees run) 9:42, 14-14

C -ÊShippy 19 run (Stout kick) 1:32, 21-14 C

Third Quarter

C -ÊBenion 30 interception return (Stout kick)10:54, 28-14 C

C -ÊOgle 1 run (Stout kick) 5:22, 35-14 C

W -ÊKlenke 11 pass from Doty (Wooten kick) 1:15, 35-21

Fourth Quarter

W -ÊLikens 30 pass from Doty (Wooten kick) 9:17, 35-28

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing - Wawasee: Lees 16-65; Carroll: Benion 2-8, Shippy 11-103, Hendricks 14-86, Ogle 7-42

Passing - Wawasee: Doty 22-40-293 4 int.; Carroll: Ogle 7-14-169 2 int., Shippy 0-1-0 0 int.

Receiving - Wawasee: Edgington 2-11, Lees 4-28, Klenke 6-65, Likens 8-160, Adkins 2-40; Carroll: Papagiannis 4-92, Jegerlehner 2-35, Shippy 1-27, Christman 1-16 [[In-content Ad]]