Warsaw Tigers Entering New Season, Era
August 16, 2018 at 4:16 p.m.
Warsaw Tigers Entering New Season, Era
By Dale [email protected]
West is going to be asked to do a lot more this year, as the Warsaw Tigers move to the option offense under Hall of Fame coach Bart Curtis.
Curtis, a member of the 2016 Indiana Football Hall of Fame Class, has tallied 201 wins in 27 years of head coaching experience, which includes stops at Maconaquah, New Prairie and Mishawaka.
He takes the reins of the Warsaw program from Phil Jensen, who stepped down in December after coaching the Tigers to a program-best 104 wins in 18 seasons.
West is the main man in Curtis’ option attack, as the 6-foot, 170-pound senior takes over at quarterback for the graduated Tristan Larsh.
“It’s an attack across a broad front ... think Army, Navy, Georgia Tech, the Citadel. If you watch some of their games, that’s who we try and emulate, and that’s who we study, and those are the people we visit to learn more,” Curtis said when asked about the option offense.
“Obviously the quarterback is the key in this offense. If you don’t have a trigger man who can make split-second decisions, be confident, be smart enough to get us in the right places at the right times, if you don’t have those things you’re not going to be able to do this stuff.”
Curtis said West has proven himself in the offseason and in practice, and that he’s earned the spot under center as the Tigers travel to Columbia City for Friday’s season opener.
“He’s learning every day, and he’s taking coaching well. What I need to get him to do is correct his errors before I correct them,” Curtis said of West. “What I want to do is get to the point where he can correct himself.”
Curtis also noted that senior John Culbertson, juniors Blake Marsh and Wyatt Amiss, and sophomores Aaron Greene and Mason Martz have taken reps at quarterback during preseason practice, though they’re expected to play elsewhere.
“Those are five kids that have taken reps at quarterback that are already displaced somewhere else ... if they were getting the reps that Josh was getting it’d be a tighter race. Not because Josh isn’t doing a good job, but because I think they’d have grown together,” said Curtis.
“We went down to flexbone camp at Manchester University and Josh took a job that was tight, and by the end of camp it wasn’t tight. He’s the front runner right now, so he’s getting the majority of the reps.”
Senior Bryce Garner is the leading rusher that returns. He is expected to play fullback, as is classmate Kane Dawson.
Curtis mentioned the names of seniors Logan Johnson and Culbertson, junior John Feldman, and sophomores Jacob Hawn, Ben Brennan and Colton Wampler as guys who could fill in at fullback if needed.
Junior Keagan Larsh and Amiss are the front runners at halfback, while sophomore Luke Adamiec and Martz figure to play split end.
Curtis said he wants to be at least eight men deep on the offensive line, where seniors Matt Shoemaker and Daytona Hill, and juniors Brock Hueber and Jacob Desenberg have solidified themselves.
Others that could see time on the O-line include senior D’Anthony Hill, juniors Nick Miller and Austin Meads, and sophomore Dallas Anders.
“We’ve got some opportunities, some different spokes ... I told the kids, the more you can learn, the more beneficial you’ll be to the team, and the more likely that we can get you on the field,” said Curtis.
“If you learn split end and halfback, or halfback and fullback, or in Blake Marsh’s case halfback and quarterback, you’re gonna be more beneficial to the team. We’re committed to two-platooning, but we’re not handcuffed to that. If it comes to a point where we half to play a defensive kid at halfback and rotate through some guys, we’ll do that ... whatever it takes.”
Defensively, the Tigers will run a 4-3, cover 4 formation.
Seniors Jaxon Wagoner, Jon Michael Garcia, Cobe VanHouten and Cole Dawson will anchor the line, while senior Ian Glogovsky, Johnson and Culbertson make up the linebacker unit.
The secondary will consist of seniors Eli Owen and Trenton Sands, and Marsh and Adamiec.
“Those kids have worked hard, but we’re not locked into those guys, they haven’t walked away with a position yet,” said Curtis. “Like I said at the parent meeting, everyday is a tryout. There are no final cuts. I expect the kids to come out every day and earn it.”
In another phase of the game, a big weapon that Curtis has at his disposal is the leg of junior kicker Harrison Mevis, who was 24 of 24 on PATs a year ago, and who has the strength to put a kickoff in the endzone each time, boot a long field goal, or pin a team deep with a punt.
“What I’ve done with Harrison Mevis is nothing,” smiled Curtis. “I’ve let Coach (James) Richards coach him throughout the summer. We got together, and Harrison said ‘when do I need to be at workouts?’ I told him I don’t care. He’s on the soccer team. I told him when the fall comes, put the ball in the endzone, put it through the uprights, and if we need to punt, punt it far. He’s got the ability to be a big weapon for us.”
After opening the season Friday at Columbia City, the Tigers will host East Noble in Week 2.
Warsaw will travel to Plymouth on Aug. 31 to open Northern Lakes Conference play.
Curtis, in his old-school manner, didn’t talk about favorites to win the conference, or look ahead to certain opponents.
Curtis’ philosophy, one that landed him in the Hall of Fame, is to take one day at a time and treat that day as if it’s the most important, whether it’s practice or a game.
“We’re not gonna worry about the sectional, and we’re not gonna worry about the NLC. We’re gonna worry about the Warsaw Tigers,” said Curtis. “We’re not worried about that stuff. What we’re gonna worry about is how do we look? How do we practice? What are we doing correctly on film, what are we doing incorrectly? How quickly can we fix problems?
“That being said, obviously Game 1 is the most important game because its the game. Game 2 will then be the most important game because it’s the next game.
“Let me tell you, when I was at Mishawaka, if we did anything well there it was to make the kids understand that every game is the most important game, no game is the be-all, end-all. My gosh, there would be people telling the kids ‘I don’t care if you go 1-9 as long as that one win is against Penn. No, we want to go 1-0 every Friday night, I don’t care who it’s against.”
West is going to be asked to do a lot more this year, as the Warsaw Tigers move to the option offense under Hall of Fame coach Bart Curtis.
Curtis, a member of the 2016 Indiana Football Hall of Fame Class, has tallied 201 wins in 27 years of head coaching experience, which includes stops at Maconaquah, New Prairie and Mishawaka.
He takes the reins of the Warsaw program from Phil Jensen, who stepped down in December after coaching the Tigers to a program-best 104 wins in 18 seasons.
West is the main man in Curtis’ option attack, as the 6-foot, 170-pound senior takes over at quarterback for the graduated Tristan Larsh.
“It’s an attack across a broad front ... think Army, Navy, Georgia Tech, the Citadel. If you watch some of their games, that’s who we try and emulate, and that’s who we study, and those are the people we visit to learn more,” Curtis said when asked about the option offense.
“Obviously the quarterback is the key in this offense. If you don’t have a trigger man who can make split-second decisions, be confident, be smart enough to get us in the right places at the right times, if you don’t have those things you’re not going to be able to do this stuff.”
Curtis said West has proven himself in the offseason and in practice, and that he’s earned the spot under center as the Tigers travel to Columbia City for Friday’s season opener.
“He’s learning every day, and he’s taking coaching well. What I need to get him to do is correct his errors before I correct them,” Curtis said of West. “What I want to do is get to the point where he can correct himself.”
Curtis also noted that senior John Culbertson, juniors Blake Marsh and Wyatt Amiss, and sophomores Aaron Greene and Mason Martz have taken reps at quarterback during preseason practice, though they’re expected to play elsewhere.
“Those are five kids that have taken reps at quarterback that are already displaced somewhere else ... if they were getting the reps that Josh was getting it’d be a tighter race. Not because Josh isn’t doing a good job, but because I think they’d have grown together,” said Curtis.
“We went down to flexbone camp at Manchester University and Josh took a job that was tight, and by the end of camp it wasn’t tight. He’s the front runner right now, so he’s getting the majority of the reps.”
Senior Bryce Garner is the leading rusher that returns. He is expected to play fullback, as is classmate Kane Dawson.
Curtis mentioned the names of seniors Logan Johnson and Culbertson, junior John Feldman, and sophomores Jacob Hawn, Ben Brennan and Colton Wampler as guys who could fill in at fullback if needed.
Junior Keagan Larsh and Amiss are the front runners at halfback, while sophomore Luke Adamiec and Martz figure to play split end.
Curtis said he wants to be at least eight men deep on the offensive line, where seniors Matt Shoemaker and Daytona Hill, and juniors Brock Hueber and Jacob Desenberg have solidified themselves.
Others that could see time on the O-line include senior D’Anthony Hill, juniors Nick Miller and Austin Meads, and sophomore Dallas Anders.
“We’ve got some opportunities, some different spokes ... I told the kids, the more you can learn, the more beneficial you’ll be to the team, and the more likely that we can get you on the field,” said Curtis.
“If you learn split end and halfback, or halfback and fullback, or in Blake Marsh’s case halfback and quarterback, you’re gonna be more beneficial to the team. We’re committed to two-platooning, but we’re not handcuffed to that. If it comes to a point where we half to play a defensive kid at halfback and rotate through some guys, we’ll do that ... whatever it takes.”
Defensively, the Tigers will run a 4-3, cover 4 formation.
Seniors Jaxon Wagoner, Jon Michael Garcia, Cobe VanHouten and Cole Dawson will anchor the line, while senior Ian Glogovsky, Johnson and Culbertson make up the linebacker unit.
The secondary will consist of seniors Eli Owen and Trenton Sands, and Marsh and Adamiec.
“Those kids have worked hard, but we’re not locked into those guys, they haven’t walked away with a position yet,” said Curtis. “Like I said at the parent meeting, everyday is a tryout. There are no final cuts. I expect the kids to come out every day and earn it.”
In another phase of the game, a big weapon that Curtis has at his disposal is the leg of junior kicker Harrison Mevis, who was 24 of 24 on PATs a year ago, and who has the strength to put a kickoff in the endzone each time, boot a long field goal, or pin a team deep with a punt.
“What I’ve done with Harrison Mevis is nothing,” smiled Curtis. “I’ve let Coach (James) Richards coach him throughout the summer. We got together, and Harrison said ‘when do I need to be at workouts?’ I told him I don’t care. He’s on the soccer team. I told him when the fall comes, put the ball in the endzone, put it through the uprights, and if we need to punt, punt it far. He’s got the ability to be a big weapon for us.”
After opening the season Friday at Columbia City, the Tigers will host East Noble in Week 2.
Warsaw will travel to Plymouth on Aug. 31 to open Northern Lakes Conference play.
Curtis, in his old-school manner, didn’t talk about favorites to win the conference, or look ahead to certain opponents.
Curtis’ philosophy, one that landed him in the Hall of Fame, is to take one day at a time and treat that day as if it’s the most important, whether it’s practice or a game.
“We’re not gonna worry about the sectional, and we’re not gonna worry about the NLC. We’re gonna worry about the Warsaw Tigers,” said Curtis. “We’re not worried about that stuff. What we’re gonna worry about is how do we look? How do we practice? What are we doing correctly on film, what are we doing incorrectly? How quickly can we fix problems?
“That being said, obviously Game 1 is the most important game because its the game. Game 2 will then be the most important game because it’s the next game.
“Let me tell you, when I was at Mishawaka, if we did anything well there it was to make the kids understand that every game is the most important game, no game is the be-all, end-all. My gosh, there would be people telling the kids ‘I don’t care if you go 1-9 as long as that one win is against Penn. No, we want to go 1-0 every Friday night, I don’t care who it’s against.”
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