COLUMBIA CITY - It was halftime when Warsaw soccer coach Corey Rose had an inkling his team would win a sectional championship, and his source of inspiration wasn't even of this earth.

"I tell you one thing, at halftime it was 0-0," he said. "I looked over and saw the moon. It was orange. For some reason, I felt darn good about that, going into the second half with an orange moon."

Maybe the orange moon meant something for the black and orange Warsaw Tigers on Saturday night. More likely it didn't. Still, a Warsaw team with a pedestrian 6-7-4 record surprised 12-4-2 Carroll 2-1, ending the Chargers' three-year reign as Columbia City Sectional champions.

Carroll beat Warsaw last year in the semifinals.

"Finally we were able to get to the championship instead of meeting Carroll earlier," Rose said. "That's the way it should be, the two best teams in the championship."

As the Tigers were handed their trophy afterward, Warsaw senior midfielder Brett Dickerson stood on the 50-yard line and raised the soccer ball up in his right hand as Tiger fans roared their approval.

"Carroll's won the past three years," Dickerson said. "They're a great team. Every time we played them, it's always been a heckuva game. Our record might not show it, but we don't give up. That's obvious out here, because we beat a heckuva team."

This was the first sectional title for the Tigers under Rose.

"I knew we would give them a good battle," Rose said. "Their record is a good record, and they're a great team. To win the sectional the three previous years, you have to have a good tradition and good feeder program.

"We do too. We had a darn tough schedule. I think that prepared us for this game. A 6-7-4 record doesn't look like much, but we played hard teams day in and day out."

Indeed. Of Warsaw's seven losses, four came to teams that were ranked in the top 20 at one time or another.

Warsaw 6-foot-1 senior goalkeeper Matt Brown had no doubts the Tigers could win.

"We were really confident we could play with this team," he said. "They had a better record, but we saw them play. We knew what they had, and we knew what we had."

Forty-six seconds into the second half, Phil Hood lined Warsaw's first goal into the right corner of the net on an assist by Brad Waggoner. Carroll goalkeeper Brett Esselburn appeared to get screened by everyone clustered in front of him, because he never reacted to the ball and never saw it until it was too late.

Dickerson, holding the trophy under one arm after the game, looked back and said that one goal was the crucial point.

"We were able to set the tone and control the game," he said. "When we play a team like Carroll, you have to control the game. Scoring first was huge. That's all you can say."

The Tigers added their second goal with 19:05 left. Andy Grubbs scored on a Jay Stahly assist as Warsaw toasted Esselburn for coming too far out front.

Less than three minutes later, Justin Poehler scored Carroll's lone goal.

Then for the final 16 minutes, Rose, his players and the fans endured several gut-wrenching, heart-stopping moments as Carroll zeroed in on the Warsaw goal.

The Charger offense dominated late in the game, but it was all for naught as they couldn't put the ball in the goal.

"I tell you, they were scaring the heck out of me with their pressure at the end of the game," Rose said. "We were both pressuring. It was one of the classic games in a sectional."

They didn't score any goals, but the Tigers wouldn't have been in a position to win without Brown and Dickerson.

Wherever the ball was, Dickerson was sure to be. A lady in the crowd grew exasperated after seeing Dickerson yet again take control of the ball and the field.

"Who is that kid?" she barked.

"Brett Dickerson controlled the midfield," Rose said. "He was not going to be denied."

Because of Carroll's onslaught at the end, the Chargers had 14 shots on goal compared to eight for the Tigers. Brown finished with seven saves, making key deflections down the stretch.

"Matt Brown, you can't say enough about him and the goals he saved," Rose said. "He saved many off the top corner. In my book, after tonight, he's the best keeper in the state of Indiana."

Brown deflected the praise.

"I think that's generous of him," he said. "But the defense played solid in front of me. You can pretty much thank them for that."

Dickerson, who was everywhere on the playing field during the game, still managed to be everywhere after the game. He grabbed the bucket of ice water and dumped it over Rose's head.

Warsaw meets Angola in the Columbia City Regional at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Angola beat DeKalb 3-2 in two overtimes in the Westview Sectional.

But Warsaw senior tri-captain David Gehrke was only concerned with the here and now.

"I think it's cool, man," he said. "It's the first sectional we've won. We showed Carroll we wanted it with the first two goals."

WARSAW 2, CARROLL 1

Second-half goals:

W - Phil Hood goal (Brad Waggoner assist), 1-0 Warsaw, 39:14

W - Andy Grubbs goal (Jay Stahly assist), 2-0 Warsaw, 19:05

C - Justin Poehler goal (James Irven assist), 2-1 Warsaw, 16:35

Shots on goal:

Carroll 14, Warsaw 8

Goalkeeper saves:

Warsaw - Matt Brown 7

Carroll - Brett Esselburn 2 [[In-content Ad]]