Warriors Wake Up In Second Half
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
SYRACUSE - After playing as sluggish a half of football they had all year, the Wawasee Warriors followed it with perhaps their best.
Wawasee (8-2) trailed East Noble (6-4) 21-7 at halftime of Friday night's sectional opener at Warrior Field on the campus of Wawasee High School.
The Warriors came out in the final 24 minutes and scored on every possession they had in the second half to come away with a 45-28 win over the Knights.
While he may not drive the team bus or tape ankles, Wawasee quarterback Joe Leach continued to be Mr. Everything for the Warriors.
Leach got the Warriors' second-half scoring barrage started when he found fellow senior Andrew Mock from 27 yards out at the 10:31 mark of the third quarter to pull the Warriors to within a touchdown at 21-14.
Three minutes later, Leach scampered into the endzone from 16 yards out to tie the contest at 21-21.
The Warriors, whose defense was dominated in the first half by East Noble running back Zach Chapman, began to dominate on both sides of the ball when defensive back Tyson Kaase forced, then recovered a Josh Koegler fumble at Wawasee's 41-yard line.
It took just six plays for Leach to push his team into the lead when he found Mock again, this time from 29 yards out, to put the Warriors ahead 28-21.
Wawasee never looked back.
With the offense firing on all cylinders, the defense clamped down on Chapman. While the brusing tailback finished his season with 207 yards on the ground, he was held to just 51 yards on 13 carries in the second half.
"We made a couple of defensive adjustments in the second half," said Wawasee coach Joe Rietveld.
Rietveld moved around some of his defensive players due to an ankle injury that hampered Kaase, who Rietveld called the "quarterback of our defense."
Once Wawasee grabbed the lead in the second half, the Knights were forced to move away from their power running game and rely on the right arm of quarterback Matt Dove.
While Dove was effective with his feet, he struggled against Wawasee's secondary and ended his night 4 of 16 for 59 yards and one interception.
Wawasee had a little more production from Leach.
The 6-foot-3 signal caller, who took an official visit to Northwestern last week and is getting interest from several other division-1 schools, was an efficent 14 of 22 for 189 yards and three touchdowns.
For the season, Leach has thrown 22 touchdowns to just five interceptions.
On the ground, Leach had 207 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. While East Noble's Champman ran wild in the first and was held in check in the second, it was the exact opposite for Leach.
Leach managed just 33 yards in the first half before breaking loose in the second half.
Leach pushed Wawasee's lead to 35-21 with a 63-yard touchdown run that saw him outrun East Noble's entire defensive backfield.
Chapman drew the Knights to within a touchdown when he rumbled three yards for the score to close the gap to 35-28 with 9:43 left in regulation.
The Warriors ended any and all hope East Noble had of coming back as Wawasee slowly and methodically marched down the field, eating up more than six minutes of clock and capping the drive off with a one-yard Leach run to push the score to 42-28.
"It was nothing special," said Rietveld of his team's second-half offensive dominance. "We knew we were close in the first half. We just missed a few things here and there."
Aaron Polsean, who took over kicking duties for John Miller, ended the scoring for the evening when he connected on a 32-yard field goal.
With the win, Wawasee will now take on Plymouth (7-3) Friday in Plymouth for a berth in the sectional championship.
The two teams squared off earlier in the year in Plymouth with the Warriors pulling out a last-second 31-29 win.
While Leach was the leading rusher for Wawasee, sophomore Tom Schwartz looked solid as he rushed nine times for 44 yards.
Mock was Leach's favorite receiver on the evening with four catches, two for touchdowns, for 66 yards. Five different receivers caught passes from Leach.
The Warriors first got on the board in the first quarter when Leach found a streaking Lance Zimmerman from 19 yards out to tie the game at 7-7.
Wawasee had trouble with penalties Friday as they were whistled seven times for 70 yards. East Noble had 40 yards in penalties.
WAWASEE 45, E. NOBLE 28
E. Noble 7 14 0 7 - 28
Wawasee 0 7 28 10 - 45
EN W
First downs 14 16
Rushing yards 311 270
Passing yards 59 189
Comp.-Att.-Int. 4-16-1 14-22-0
Total offense 370 459
Fumbles/lost 2-2 1-1
Punts/avg. 2-40.5 1-62
Penalties/yards 4-40 7-70
First Quarter
EN - Matt Dove 1 run (Jake Bowen kick) 7-0, 7:56
Second Quarter
W - Joe Leach 19 pass to Lance Zimmerman (Aaron Polsean kick) 7-7, 6:46
EN -ÊZach Chapman 9 run (Bowen kick) 14-7, 3:32
EN - Chapman 27 run (Bowen kick) 21-7, 0:19
Third Quarter
W -ÊLeach 27 pass to Andrew Mock (Polsean kick) 14-21, 10:31
W - Leach 16 run (Polsean kick) 21-21, 7:26
W - Leach 29 pass to Andrew Mock (Polsean kick) 28-21, 4:43
W - Leach 63 run (Polsean kick) 35-21, 1:53
Fourth Quarter
EN -ÊChapman 3 run (Bowen kick) 28-35, 9:43
W - Leach 1 run (Polsean kick) 42-28, 3:33
W - Polsean 32 field goal 45-28, 1:48
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - East Noble, Zach Chapman 26-207, Matt Dove 10-47, Michael Isaacs 3-28, Josh Koegler 4-12; Wawasee, Joe Leach 26-207, Tom Schwartz 9-44, Andrew Mock 2-19
Passing - East Noble, Dove 4-16-59, 0 TD, 1 INT; Wawasee, Leach 14-22-189, 3 TD, 0 INT
Receiving - East Noble, Chapman 2-30, Kayne Hobson 1-11, Koegler 1-7; Wawasee, Mock 4-66, Nick Richardson 2-52, Trent Brown 4-30, Brandon Geiger 2-21, Lance Zimmerman 1-19 [[In-content Ad]]
SYRACUSE - After playing as sluggish a half of football they had all year, the Wawasee Warriors followed it with perhaps their best.
Wawasee (8-2) trailed East Noble (6-4) 21-7 at halftime of Friday night's sectional opener at Warrior Field on the campus of Wawasee High School.
The Warriors came out in the final 24 minutes and scored on every possession they had in the second half to come away with a 45-28 win over the Knights.
While he may not drive the team bus or tape ankles, Wawasee quarterback Joe Leach continued to be Mr. Everything for the Warriors.
Leach got the Warriors' second-half scoring barrage started when he found fellow senior Andrew Mock from 27 yards out at the 10:31 mark of the third quarter to pull the Warriors to within a touchdown at 21-14.
Three minutes later, Leach scampered into the endzone from 16 yards out to tie the contest at 21-21.
The Warriors, whose defense was dominated in the first half by East Noble running back Zach Chapman, began to dominate on both sides of the ball when defensive back Tyson Kaase forced, then recovered a Josh Koegler fumble at Wawasee's 41-yard line.
It took just six plays for Leach to push his team into the lead when he found Mock again, this time from 29 yards out, to put the Warriors ahead 28-21.
Wawasee never looked back.
With the offense firing on all cylinders, the defense clamped down on Chapman. While the brusing tailback finished his season with 207 yards on the ground, he was held to just 51 yards on 13 carries in the second half.
"We made a couple of defensive adjustments in the second half," said Wawasee coach Joe Rietveld.
Rietveld moved around some of his defensive players due to an ankle injury that hampered Kaase, who Rietveld called the "quarterback of our defense."
Once Wawasee grabbed the lead in the second half, the Knights were forced to move away from their power running game and rely on the right arm of quarterback Matt Dove.
While Dove was effective with his feet, he struggled against Wawasee's secondary and ended his night 4 of 16 for 59 yards and one interception.
Wawasee had a little more production from Leach.
The 6-foot-3 signal caller, who took an official visit to Northwestern last week and is getting interest from several other division-1 schools, was an efficent 14 of 22 for 189 yards and three touchdowns.
For the season, Leach has thrown 22 touchdowns to just five interceptions.
On the ground, Leach had 207 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries. While East Noble's Champman ran wild in the first and was held in check in the second, it was the exact opposite for Leach.
Leach managed just 33 yards in the first half before breaking loose in the second half.
Leach pushed Wawasee's lead to 35-21 with a 63-yard touchdown run that saw him outrun East Noble's entire defensive backfield.
Chapman drew the Knights to within a touchdown when he rumbled three yards for the score to close the gap to 35-28 with 9:43 left in regulation.
The Warriors ended any and all hope East Noble had of coming back as Wawasee slowly and methodically marched down the field, eating up more than six minutes of clock and capping the drive off with a one-yard Leach run to push the score to 42-28.
"It was nothing special," said Rietveld of his team's second-half offensive dominance. "We knew we were close in the first half. We just missed a few things here and there."
Aaron Polsean, who took over kicking duties for John Miller, ended the scoring for the evening when he connected on a 32-yard field goal.
With the win, Wawasee will now take on Plymouth (7-3) Friday in Plymouth for a berth in the sectional championship.
The two teams squared off earlier in the year in Plymouth with the Warriors pulling out a last-second 31-29 win.
While Leach was the leading rusher for Wawasee, sophomore Tom Schwartz looked solid as he rushed nine times for 44 yards.
Mock was Leach's favorite receiver on the evening with four catches, two for touchdowns, for 66 yards. Five different receivers caught passes from Leach.
The Warriors first got on the board in the first quarter when Leach found a streaking Lance Zimmerman from 19 yards out to tie the game at 7-7.
Wawasee had trouble with penalties Friday as they were whistled seven times for 70 yards. East Noble had 40 yards in penalties.
WAWASEE 45, E. NOBLE 28
E. Noble 7 14 0 7 - 28
Wawasee 0 7 28 10 - 45
EN W
First downs 14 16
Rushing yards 311 270
Passing yards 59 189
Comp.-Att.-Int. 4-16-1 14-22-0
Total offense 370 459
Fumbles/lost 2-2 1-1
Punts/avg. 2-40.5 1-62
Penalties/yards 4-40 7-70
First Quarter
EN - Matt Dove 1 run (Jake Bowen kick) 7-0, 7:56
Second Quarter
W - Joe Leach 19 pass to Lance Zimmerman (Aaron Polsean kick) 7-7, 6:46
EN -ÊZach Chapman 9 run (Bowen kick) 14-7, 3:32
EN - Chapman 27 run (Bowen kick) 21-7, 0:19
Third Quarter
W -ÊLeach 27 pass to Andrew Mock (Polsean kick) 14-21, 10:31
W - Leach 16 run (Polsean kick) 21-21, 7:26
W - Leach 29 pass to Andrew Mock (Polsean kick) 28-21, 4:43
W - Leach 63 run (Polsean kick) 35-21, 1:53
Fourth Quarter
EN -ÊChapman 3 run (Bowen kick) 28-35, 9:43
W - Leach 1 run (Polsean kick) 42-28, 3:33
W - Polsean 32 field goal 45-28, 1:48
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - East Noble, Zach Chapman 26-207, Matt Dove 10-47, Michael Isaacs 3-28, Josh Koegler 4-12; Wawasee, Joe Leach 26-207, Tom Schwartz 9-44, Andrew Mock 2-19
Passing - East Noble, Dove 4-16-59, 0 TD, 1 INT; Wawasee, Leach 14-22-189, 3 TD, 0 INT
Receiving - East Noble, Chapman 2-30, Kayne Hobson 1-11, Koegler 1-7; Wawasee, Mock 4-66, Nick Richardson 2-52, Trent Brown 4-30, Brandon Geiger 2-21, Lance Zimmerman 1-19 [[In-content Ad]]