COLUMBIA CITY - Warsaw did a good job last year of avenging wins from the previous year. The Tigers opened up the 1998 campaign in similar fashion.

The Tigers got revenge for a season-opening loss last year to Columbia City by rolling over the Eagles 30-14 Friday at Gandy Field.

It wasn't a perfect opener for the Tigers, but they got the right mix of big plays on offense, defense and special teams to come away with the big win.

"This is huge to come back against a team that beat us soundly last year," Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said. "The kids have responded to this whole thing as a challenge and met it head on. They don't do it perfectly. They are not there yet, but we are a lot closer to there than we were."

Jose Esquivel led the Tigers' offense with 114 yards on the ground in only 3-1/2 quarters. And the defense, which gave up over 300 yards rushing last year to Columbia City, held the Eagles to only 69 on the ground this year.

And field position was helped by the kickoff return team, which accumulated over 100 yards in returns against the Eagles. The punt team also helped set up Warsaw's second score of the night when Columbia City punter Corey Egolf was nailed after scooping up a low snap.

"It was a great effort on a hot, muggy, nasty night," Jensen said. "We are not there yet. This is just one. It is a long season. We will keep getting better every night."

Warsaw opened up a 14-0 lead on two scoring strikes from Greg Seiss to Ross Kesler and Jon Hill. Columbia City cut the lead in half on the first of two Shanon Ward touchdown runs, and Brad Waggoner made it 17-7 at halftime on a 37-yard field goal.

After trimming the lead to 17-14 in the third quarter, Esquivel clinched things for Warsaw early in the fourth. After a Columbia City punt put Warsaw at its own 44, Esquivel needed only one play to scamper past the Eagle defense and in for a 56-yard scoring run and a 24-14 Warsaw advantage.

After getting half his rushing total in one run, Esquivel spent the rest of the game on the bench and letting some of his younger teammates carry the load.

Zach Sheetz added the final score of the night on a two-yard run later in the fourth.

"We definitely didn't fold, and that is great to see," Jensen said. "We wanted to establish the run first, but they are a big, strong team. For all practical purposes, we had three sophomores playing on the offensive line. We had to take what we could get, you set up the run with the pass and the pass with the run. Fortunately, we have some kids at the skill positions who are working real hard."

In his first varsity start at quarterback, Seiss completed 6 of 14 passes for 107 yards and the two touchdowns.

"Greg made some good reads, but overthrew a couple, and we had a couple dropped, but all in all it was a great team performance," Jensen said.

Warsaw did the job when it had to against the Eagle attack. Now, granted Columbia City was without its two top running backs from a year ago and its starting quarterback, but when the going got tough against the Eagles, the defense responded.

"The defense played well considering they had to be on the field for so long in the third quarter, but they tightened up after that," Jensen said. "The defensive line stepped up and did a good job. We got tired there for a little bit, which did give us some problems."

Warsaw (1-0) hosts Tippecanoe Valley Friday. [[In-content Ad]]