Warriors Overcome Sloppy Field, Play
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SYRACUSE- It was definitely the season opener for both the Wawasee and Whitko football teams Friday night at Warrior Field at Wawasee High School. The Warriors overcame a sporadic offense, penalties galore and field conditions that worsened as the game drew on to secure a 33-7 win over the Wildcats from South Whitley.
The night began by honoring senior football players, managers, cheerleaders and band members. For many of the football players, it was said their best memory was beating Warsaw 42-28 at Fisher Field on Warsaw's homecoming.
While the Warriors will have to wait to try and repeat history they, got off to a passable start against Whitko.
Senior running back Jordan Swain picked up where he left off last year, rushing 20 times for 165 yards. Eight of those yards came with 3:27 left in the first quarter as Swain barreled across the goal line to put Wawasee up 20-0
The Warriors got on the board early when, on their first possession, Rob McKibben ran in from seven yards to make the score 6-0. Ben Champoux's PAT was errant and left the score at 6-0.
Champoux was 1-4 on the night on PATs.
But kicking wasn't the only eyebrow-raiser on an otherwise talented team.
The Warriors committed 11 penalties for 100 yards on the evening. Whitko was caused the airing of some yellow laundry with 11 penalties of its own for 70 yards.
More costly than the penalties for Whitko were two costly turnovers deep in the Wildcats own end.
Swain's touchdown came two plays after the Wildcats turned the ball over on a fumble at their own 23-yard line.
Then in the third quarter with Whitko trailing 20-7, a fumble by the Wildcats' John Carroll and recovered by Wawasee set up a 20-yard touchdown scamper by senior quarterback Kory Lantz.
Penalties and turnovers are a sure-fire way to lose to a team like Wawasee and nobody knows that more than long-time Whitko coach Bryan Sprunger.
"We've got to come ready to play. We can't dig a hole. If you take away the first quarter and we gave some of those 20 points away, we played them pretty tough. You can't dig a 20-0 lead against a quality team and expect to climb out of it."
On the other side of the field Wawasee head coach Joe Rietveld was happy with the win but knows the intensity will need to increase as the season goes on.
"We had a great first quarter, capitalized on a turnover and, to be honest, after that I think we shut down. It's nice to be able to do that and still come out OK but we've got to learn from that. "
After a combined 27-point first half, both teams allowed mental miscues and weather to play a factor. As the temperature dropped, a fog began to form at field level, limiting vision at certain parts of the field. It mattered little, though, as Whitko was unable to pose a real offensive threat in the third quarter and both teams mainly played their second team and JV players in the fourth quarter.
Wawasee, 1-0, travels to Fairfield next Friday. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Whitko, 0-1, opens up its home schedule when it hosts county rival,Columbia City at 7 p.m.
WAWASEE 33, WHITKO 7
Whitko 0 7 0 0 - 7
Wawasee 20 0 13 0 - 33
Whi Waw
First downs 11 13
Rushing yards 167 235
Passing yards 14 115
Comp.-Att.-Int. 2-8-0 11-19-1
Total offense 181 350
Fumbles/lost 5/3 0-0
Punts/avg. 4-38.5 4-28.2
Penalties/yards 11-70 11-100
First Quarter
Waw - Rob McKibben 7 run (kick failed) 6-0, 12:00
Waw - Kory Lantz 1 run (Andrew Mock run) 14-0, 5:02
Waw - Jordan Swain 8 run (kick failed) 20-0, 3:27
Second Quarter
Whi - Jared Eberly 2 run (Doru Aldea kick) 20-7, 8:02
Third Quarter
Waw - Lantz 20 run (kick failed) 26-7, 4:59
Waw -ÊLantz 16 pass to Ben Champoux (Champoux kick) 33-7, 0:32
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - Wawasee, Swain 20-165, Lantz, 9-46 Rob McKibben 2-12, Lukas Winegarden 3-8, Sam Bohnke 2-4, Joe Leach 1-(-2); Whitko, Tyler Wilkinson 19-87, Eberly 13-34, Travis Christman 6-39, John Carroll 3-22, Brian Lardino 1-4, Nate Hart 6-(-19)
Passing - Wawasee, Lantz 11-19-115-1, 1 TD; Whitko, Hart 2-8-13-0, 0 TD
Receiving - Wawasee, Champoux 4-58, Ryan Kauchak 2-35, Mock 2-12, Swain 2-2, Ryan Christner 1-8; Whitko, Christman 1-13, Wilkinson 1-1 [[In-content Ad]]
SYRACUSE- It was definitely the season opener for both the Wawasee and Whitko football teams Friday night at Warrior Field at Wawasee High School. The Warriors overcame a sporadic offense, penalties galore and field conditions that worsened as the game drew on to secure a 33-7 win over the Wildcats from South Whitley.
The night began by honoring senior football players, managers, cheerleaders and band members. For many of the football players, it was said their best memory was beating Warsaw 42-28 at Fisher Field on Warsaw's homecoming.
While the Warriors will have to wait to try and repeat history they, got off to a passable start against Whitko.
Senior running back Jordan Swain picked up where he left off last year, rushing 20 times for 165 yards. Eight of those yards came with 3:27 left in the first quarter as Swain barreled across the goal line to put Wawasee up 20-0
The Warriors got on the board early when, on their first possession, Rob McKibben ran in from seven yards to make the score 6-0. Ben Champoux's PAT was errant and left the score at 6-0.
Champoux was 1-4 on the night on PATs.
But kicking wasn't the only eyebrow-raiser on an otherwise talented team.
The Warriors committed 11 penalties for 100 yards on the evening. Whitko was caused the airing of some yellow laundry with 11 penalties of its own for 70 yards.
More costly than the penalties for Whitko were two costly turnovers deep in the Wildcats own end.
Swain's touchdown came two plays after the Wildcats turned the ball over on a fumble at their own 23-yard line.
Then in the third quarter with Whitko trailing 20-7, a fumble by the Wildcats' John Carroll and recovered by Wawasee set up a 20-yard touchdown scamper by senior quarterback Kory Lantz.
Penalties and turnovers are a sure-fire way to lose to a team like Wawasee and nobody knows that more than long-time Whitko coach Bryan Sprunger.
"We've got to come ready to play. We can't dig a hole. If you take away the first quarter and we gave some of those 20 points away, we played them pretty tough. You can't dig a 20-0 lead against a quality team and expect to climb out of it."
On the other side of the field Wawasee head coach Joe Rietveld was happy with the win but knows the intensity will need to increase as the season goes on.
"We had a great first quarter, capitalized on a turnover and, to be honest, after that I think we shut down. It's nice to be able to do that and still come out OK but we've got to learn from that. "
After a combined 27-point first half, both teams allowed mental miscues and weather to play a factor. As the temperature dropped, a fog began to form at field level, limiting vision at certain parts of the field. It mattered little, though, as Whitko was unable to pose a real offensive threat in the third quarter and both teams mainly played their second team and JV players in the fourth quarter.
Wawasee, 1-0, travels to Fairfield next Friday. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. Whitko, 0-1, opens up its home schedule when it hosts county rival,Columbia City at 7 p.m.
WAWASEE 33, WHITKO 7
Whitko 0 7 0 0 - 7
Wawasee 20 0 13 0 - 33
Whi Waw
First downs 11 13
Rushing yards 167 235
Passing yards 14 115
Comp.-Att.-Int. 2-8-0 11-19-1
Total offense 181 350
Fumbles/lost 5/3 0-0
Punts/avg. 4-38.5 4-28.2
Penalties/yards 11-70 11-100
First Quarter
Waw - Rob McKibben 7 run (kick failed) 6-0, 12:00
Waw - Kory Lantz 1 run (Andrew Mock run) 14-0, 5:02
Waw - Jordan Swain 8 run (kick failed) 20-0, 3:27
Second Quarter
Whi - Jared Eberly 2 run (Doru Aldea kick) 20-7, 8:02
Third Quarter
Waw - Lantz 20 run (kick failed) 26-7, 4:59
Waw -ÊLantz 16 pass to Ben Champoux (Champoux kick) 33-7, 0:32
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - Wawasee, Swain 20-165, Lantz, 9-46 Rob McKibben 2-12, Lukas Winegarden 3-8, Sam Bohnke 2-4, Joe Leach 1-(-2); Whitko, Tyler Wilkinson 19-87, Eberly 13-34, Travis Christman 6-39, John Carroll 3-22, Brian Lardino 1-4, Nate Hart 6-(-19)
Passing - Wawasee, Lantz 11-19-115-1, 1 TD; Whitko, Hart 2-8-13-0, 0 TD
Receiving - Wawasee, Champoux 4-58, Ryan Kauchak 2-35, Mock 2-12, Swain 2-2, Ryan Christner 1-8; Whitko, Christman 1-13, Wilkinson 1-1 [[In-content Ad]]