Jensen, McGarvey Reach Milestones In Win
September 9, 2017 at 6:43 a.m.
By Mark [email protected]
For head coach Phil Jensen, it was win No. 100 in his 18th season with the Tigers, leaving him three shy of George Fisher on the Warsaw all-time victories list. Jensen is now 129-94 in his 22nd season overall as a head coach.
Senior running back Will McGarvey rushed for 69 yards, leaving him at exactly 2,000 for his career.
Jensen was quick to recognize the people in his life that made 100 wins with the Tigers possible.
“My wife, my kids ... there’s a lot of hours that I’m not with them so I can do this,” he said. “God, He has a plan for me. I could have been dead two years ago (because of a fall), and to still be able to do this, I feel blessed. It’s my mission area, it’s what I’m supposed to do. And there’s been a lot of great kids, a lot of great coaches, and tremendous support from our community and administration at the school.
“In this day and age, people can’t wait to take a shot. And through it all, the administration has stuck by us; what we believe in and what we do. And I’m really thankful for that.”
Jensen talked about McGarvey’s ability as well as his leadership on the team.
“Will believes and supports our offensive line. They’re young and inexperienced, but they’re getting better, and I’m very pleased with his leadership and the way he’s stepping up.”
The Tigers relied on the big play for the win. On the last play of the first quarter, senior quarterback Tristan Larsh found classmate Zach Riley on an out pattern, and once Riley made the catch he outran Crimson Charger defenders 83 yards up the left sideline for a touchdown.
Memorial answered by doing what it does, moving the chains and shortening the game by keeping the clock moving. The ensuing drive used 11 plays to move 80 yards in 5:29, culminating with an 11-yard run buy Nolan Grose. The two-point conversion run failed, leaving the Tigers ahead 7-6.
McGarvey immediately answered Memorial’s touchdown with an 82-yard kickoff return and score that put the home team down 14-6.
“The kickoff return by Will was huge. To bust that and go up by eight was big,” said Jensen.
Memorial had a couple of long drives after halftime. The Chargers opened the second half with an 18-play, 71-yard drive that ate all but 1:16 of the third quarter. But the Tigers stopped Memorial on fourth-and-goal at the 9-yard line.
“Memorial is a ball-control team, and coming up empty there put them at a disadvantage,” Jensen said. “They’re about getting first downs and eating the clock, which they did a great job of. But we stiffened when we had to and got off the field. Our defense bent some, but didn’t break.”
The Crimson Chargers ran 20 plays on their last gasp of a drive, consuming 5:46 off the clock. The final blows were a sack by Jaxon Wagoner on third down, and a gang tackle of Charger quarterback Tyler Lehner for a loss on fourth down.
The Tiger offensive statistics don’t look like much. Other than the touchdown pass, Warsaw had 128 yards of total offense, and Memorial won the time-of-possession battle by nearly 13 minutes.
Jensen said the Tigers made an adjustment at halftime that broke McGarvey open for runs of eight, 17, 15 and three yards to get him to 2,000. More importantly to the Tigers, it set up freshman Harrison Mevis for a game-icing 39-yard field goal.
“Elkhart Memorial had a great game plan. They widened their edges defensively, to take Tristan and his speed out of the game,” Jensen said.
“So at halftime, we adjusted our blocking scheme, and went back to the inside trap with Will, and he really responded. He was running hard, and (offensive lineman) Keegan Bays was pulling and blowing people up on the end. So that was a big drive, even though we stalled out, when we got that field goal from Mevis.”
Larsh rushed for 32 yards and passed for 101 more. Eli Owen and Isaac Lowe each had nine yards in receptions, and Bryce Garner rushed for nine yards on three carries. Memorial was led by running back Mark Brownlee, who had 16 carries for 105 yards.
Warsaw improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The Tigers host NLC foe Northridge at 7 p.m. Friday for homecoming.
WARSAW 17, ELKHART MEMORIAL 6
W 7 7 0 3 – 17
EM 0 6 0 0 – 6
W EM
1st downs 10 17
Rushing yds 110 183
Passing yds 101 50
Comp-Att-Int 4-8-0 6-8-0
Total yds 211 233
Fumbles/lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties/yds 5-50 5-45
Punts/avg. 2-33.5 3-35.0
First Quarter
W – Zach Riley 83 pass from Tristan Larsh (Harrison Mevis kick) :00, 7-0
Second Quarter
EM – Nolan Grose 11 run (run failed) 6:31, 7-6
W – Will McGarvey 82 kickoff return (Mevis kick) 6:19, 14-6
Fourth Quarter
W – FG Mevis 39, 7:59, 17-6
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Warsaw – McGarvey 12 carries, 69 yards, Larsh 11-32, Bryce Garner 3-9; Memorial – Mark Brownlee 16-105, Rashaun Smith 14-38, Grose 12-34, Isaiah Booze 2-5, Tyler Lehner 6-1.
Passing: Warsaw – Larsh 4-8-101 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int.; Memorial – Lehner 6-8-50 yards, 0 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving: Warsaw – Riley 1-83, Eli Owen 1-9, Isaac lowe 2-9; Memorial – Grose 5-32, Brownlee 1-18.
Records: Warsaw 2-2 (1-1 NLC), Memorial 0-4 (0-3 NLC)
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For head coach Phil Jensen, it was win No. 100 in his 18th season with the Tigers, leaving him three shy of George Fisher on the Warsaw all-time victories list. Jensen is now 129-94 in his 22nd season overall as a head coach.
Senior running back Will McGarvey rushed for 69 yards, leaving him at exactly 2,000 for his career.
Jensen was quick to recognize the people in his life that made 100 wins with the Tigers possible.
“My wife, my kids ... there’s a lot of hours that I’m not with them so I can do this,” he said. “God, He has a plan for me. I could have been dead two years ago (because of a fall), and to still be able to do this, I feel blessed. It’s my mission area, it’s what I’m supposed to do. And there’s been a lot of great kids, a lot of great coaches, and tremendous support from our community and administration at the school.
“In this day and age, people can’t wait to take a shot. And through it all, the administration has stuck by us; what we believe in and what we do. And I’m really thankful for that.”
Jensen talked about McGarvey’s ability as well as his leadership on the team.
“Will believes and supports our offensive line. They’re young and inexperienced, but they’re getting better, and I’m very pleased with his leadership and the way he’s stepping up.”
The Tigers relied on the big play for the win. On the last play of the first quarter, senior quarterback Tristan Larsh found classmate Zach Riley on an out pattern, and once Riley made the catch he outran Crimson Charger defenders 83 yards up the left sideline for a touchdown.
Memorial answered by doing what it does, moving the chains and shortening the game by keeping the clock moving. The ensuing drive used 11 plays to move 80 yards in 5:29, culminating with an 11-yard run buy Nolan Grose. The two-point conversion run failed, leaving the Tigers ahead 7-6.
McGarvey immediately answered Memorial’s touchdown with an 82-yard kickoff return and score that put the home team down 14-6.
“The kickoff return by Will was huge. To bust that and go up by eight was big,” said Jensen.
Memorial had a couple of long drives after halftime. The Chargers opened the second half with an 18-play, 71-yard drive that ate all but 1:16 of the third quarter. But the Tigers stopped Memorial on fourth-and-goal at the 9-yard line.
“Memorial is a ball-control team, and coming up empty there put them at a disadvantage,” Jensen said. “They’re about getting first downs and eating the clock, which they did a great job of. But we stiffened when we had to and got off the field. Our defense bent some, but didn’t break.”
The Crimson Chargers ran 20 plays on their last gasp of a drive, consuming 5:46 off the clock. The final blows were a sack by Jaxon Wagoner on third down, and a gang tackle of Charger quarterback Tyler Lehner for a loss on fourth down.
The Tiger offensive statistics don’t look like much. Other than the touchdown pass, Warsaw had 128 yards of total offense, and Memorial won the time-of-possession battle by nearly 13 minutes.
Jensen said the Tigers made an adjustment at halftime that broke McGarvey open for runs of eight, 17, 15 and three yards to get him to 2,000. More importantly to the Tigers, it set up freshman Harrison Mevis for a game-icing 39-yard field goal.
“Elkhart Memorial had a great game plan. They widened their edges defensively, to take Tristan and his speed out of the game,” Jensen said.
“So at halftime, we adjusted our blocking scheme, and went back to the inside trap with Will, and he really responded. He was running hard, and (offensive lineman) Keegan Bays was pulling and blowing people up on the end. So that was a big drive, even though we stalled out, when we got that field goal from Mevis.”
Larsh rushed for 32 yards and passed for 101 more. Eli Owen and Isaac Lowe each had nine yards in receptions, and Bryce Garner rushed for nine yards on three carries. Memorial was led by running back Mark Brownlee, who had 16 carries for 105 yards.
Warsaw improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the conference. The Tigers host NLC foe Northridge at 7 p.m. Friday for homecoming.
WARSAW 17, ELKHART MEMORIAL 6
W 7 7 0 3 – 17
EM 0 6 0 0 – 6
W EM
1st downs 10 17
Rushing yds 110 183
Passing yds 101 50
Comp-Att-Int 4-8-0 6-8-0
Total yds 211 233
Fumbles/lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties/yds 5-50 5-45
Punts/avg. 2-33.5 3-35.0
First Quarter
W – Zach Riley 83 pass from Tristan Larsh (Harrison Mevis kick) :00, 7-0
Second Quarter
EM – Nolan Grose 11 run (run failed) 6:31, 7-6
W – Will McGarvey 82 kickoff return (Mevis kick) 6:19, 14-6
Fourth Quarter
W – FG Mevis 39, 7:59, 17-6
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Warsaw – McGarvey 12 carries, 69 yards, Larsh 11-32, Bryce Garner 3-9; Memorial – Mark Brownlee 16-105, Rashaun Smith 14-38, Grose 12-34, Isaiah Booze 2-5, Tyler Lehner 6-1.
Passing: Warsaw – Larsh 4-8-101 yards, 1 TD, 0 Int.; Memorial – Lehner 6-8-50 yards, 0 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving: Warsaw – Riley 1-83, Eli Owen 1-9, Isaac lowe 2-9; Memorial – Grose 5-32, Brownlee 1-18.
Records: Warsaw 2-2 (1-1 NLC), Memorial 0-4 (0-3 NLC)
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