He who had to sit out as Warsaw's football team played on its biggest stage, recent graduate William Knepper will stand tall Saturday.

After three years of anchoring the Tiger defensive line for coach Phil Jensen, Knepper, who could only listen to the radio and wait for surgery on his torn ACL as Warsaw played in the sectional championship for the first time in school history, will end his prep career Saturday at Indianapolis North Central High School in the Methodist Sports Medicine North-South All-Star Football Classic.

Saturday's game is slated to start at 1:30 p.m. The South, which won last year's contest 21-13, leads the overall series 20-16.

"Obviously he's got two factors," Jensen said of why Knepper was a good selection for the North-South All-Star game. "One is his size, he's a big kid. Anytime you're 6-foot-3, 280 pounds and move as well as he does, that's impressive. Secondly, he's real athletic. You don't get very many linemen that also move on the basketball court or the baseball field as well as he does. He's got great footwork."

Also representing the Tigers is manager and 2003 graduate Eric Stayer. Stayer was also a manager for Doug Ogle's basketball team and Will Shepherd's baseball team.

Knepper, more commonly known as "Hoss" to Tiger fans, dominated offensive linemen and had his way with ball carriers through the first 11 games of his senior season, but a torn ACL in the sectional semifinal game against Huntington North seemingly ended his prep sports career.

Word on the street by some had Knepper out for the entire basketball season and maybe even the baseball season.

What happened next is nothing short of amazing.

After a near-complete tear of his ACL in early November, Knepper came back in mid-January and started for the Tiger basketball team, though he ended up playing sparingly.

He then played his senior season on the baseball diamond, leading the Tigers in home runs and helping them to a No. 5 state ranking and their first sectional crown since 1996.

"It's very shocking because of his size," Jensen said of Knepper's recovery. "You don't see many people recover from an ACL injury like that, especially when you're carrying that much weight around. That was pretty amazing."

Through the first 11 games of the year, a span in which the Tigers posted an 8-3 record, Knepper compiled 80 tackles, 15 tackles for loss and eight sacks. He also forced three fumbles, broke up four passes and blocked two kicks.

Jensen knew what he had in the talented Knepper as a player. As a sophomore - as the Tigers nearly knocked off state power Penn in the sectionals before falling by a field goal in overtime - Knepper caught the eye of legendary Kingsmen coach Chris Geesman.

"When we played Penn his sophomore year, Coach Geesman talked about him immediately after the game," Jensen said. "That was impressive. Hopefully he'll be able to continue his career as strong at St. Francis."

Knepper is the fifth player in Jensen's seven years to make the North All-Star team, joining former Tiger standouts Derrick Duncan, Ross Kesler, Kris Hueber and Brad Seiss. [[In-content Ad]]