The Ws get to stay on Warsaw's helmet at least for another year.

A tradition started by Warsaw football coach Phil Jensen last season allows the Tiger players to wear the letter W on the side of their helmet until they lose the annual battle for the W trophy, the award presented to the winner of the Wawasee-Warsaw football game.

Jensen is now 2-0 is those games in his two-year stint thanks to the running of Derrick Duncan and another outstanding job by the Tiger defense in a 28-7 win over the Warriors Friday at Fisher Field.

"It is important to our kids," Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said. "This is a special game. It is one of the neat things about athletics - the rivalry games you have. We talked about that a lot that tradition matters."

Filling in for the injured Jose Esquivel at halfback, Duncan ran for a career-high and a Warsaw season-high 205 yards.

"The line blocked excellent," Duncan said. "When I knew Jose was out, coach (Jensen) told me I would have to step it up. I ran all the plays in practice and was ready to go."

Esquivel broke his left arm in last week's loss to Goshen and will be out for the rest of the season. Duncan, who also plays almost every play on defense at linebacker, ran the ball 37 times as Warsaw controlled the clock and the line of scrimmage.

"It is very tiring," Duncan said of playing both ways. "But this is a big game, it has to be done, and you have to do it. You don't really have a choice, you have to keep pumping."

The Goshen game did a number on the Tigers. First, they lost Esquivel, quarterback Andy Plank suffered a concussion, and Warsaw's winning streak ended at four games.

Jensen wondered how his team would react. He got his answer.

"I am pleased with our kids bounced back," Jensen said. "There was so much hype with last week's game. They played so hard, and we came up short and we lose our best running back and we are beat up. For them to concentrate, get focused and get grouped together enough was outstanding.

"Last week Goshen makes the big plays that break our back, and this week our kids step up and make the big plays," he said.

Really even with Esquivel standing on the sidelines with a cast on his left arm, the game plan didn't change much for the Tigers. Duncan just moved from the fullback position to the halfback position, and the big offensive line for the Tigers did the rest.

"Duncan played hard, but we had five or six in front of him that were pounding," We controlled the line of scrimmage in the first quarter, and we controlled the line in the second half. It is not just one kid, that is all of them doing their job.

"It is ironic because Jose last year stepped up when Derrick breaks his leg in the Goshen game, and Derrick returns the favor," he said.

Even preparing for Warsaw was not that much different.

"Duncan is a fine football player," Wawasee coach Gene Mitz said. "We knew with the quality athlete that he is that was not a big surprise what he did tonight."

Warsaw ran 30 offensive plays in the second half compared to only 13 for Wawasee. The Tigers cemented the game in the fourth quarter with a 17-play drive that ate up over seven minutes of the clock and finished with a 1-yard plunge by Evan Miller.

Earlier in the drive, it looked like the Warriors would hold the Tigers to a three-and-out series and get the ball back in great field position with almost eight minutes on the clock. Warsaw lined up to punt the ball on its own 26-yard line, but Wawasee jumped offsides, and the Tigers had new life.

"We thought we would get the ball around midfield, and we still had a chance to put a couple in the end zone," Mitz said. "I would have liked to have gotten that chance."

Warsaw opened the game with two long ball-controlling drives using Duncan almost exclusively. The first drive ended with Duncan scoring from two yards out, and the second one had Andy Plank plunging in from a yard out for a 14-0 first quarter Warsaw lead.

Duncan's score was set up by a 38-yard pass from Plank to Emerson Poort and the second score was paced by a 24-yard pass from Plank to Pat Riley.

"Plank made some big plays," Mitz said. "He threw the ball well, and the receivers made the catches in clutch situations."

Wawasee got right back into the game in the second quarter when Narron Graves scooted home from 10 yards for the score and 14-7 halftime deficit for the Warriors.

After Warsaw took a 21-7 lead in the third quarter on Plank's second score of the night, the Warriors looked as though they might be able to get back into the ball game when quarterback Jeff Beer escaped trouble, flipped the ball to Graves and watched as Graves did the rest, running 38 yards down to the Warsaw 22. But two plays later, Duncan came crashing in from his linebacker position and sacked Beer, causing the Wawasee signal-caller to fumble the ball. Joe Stanley recovered, and the Tigers took over.

"We hurt ourselves on the fumble or else we have a chance to get back into the football game there," Mitz said. "They made the plays, and we didn't."

With the loss, Wawasee suffered its third straight game after starting the year at 3-1. And all have been in the Northern Lakes Conference.

"We will have to learn from this and go home and get ready to win homecoming," Mitz said. "They were a good team, and we that coming in."

Wawasee (3-4, 2-3) hosts Mishawaka Marian Friday, while Warsaw (5-2, 3-1) hosts NorthWood Friday. [[In-content Ad]]