West, Tigers Headed In Right Direction
August 25, 2018 at 6:33 a.m.
West, Tigers Headed In Right Direction
By Dale [email protected]
The 6-foot, 170-pound senior quarterback took steps in that direction Friday night with a 52-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that led the Tigers to a 17-10 win over the visiting East Noble Knights.
Running the flexbone, option offense in front of a large crowd in the home bleachers at Fisher Field, West kept the ball and turned a third-and-3 situation into a long touchdown with 4:35 remaining in the game. His clutch score gave the Tigers a 17-7 lead at the time and brought Warsaw’s fans to their feet.
West finished the game with 11 carries for 100 yards, while senior fullback Kane Dawson – who had a 49-yard touchdown run called back because of a penalty – added 79 yards on 21 attempts as the Tigers improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2008.
“He made a play ... we’ve been waiting for that,” Curtis said of West. “We’ve been waiting for him to take ownership of this offense, and I think he did it tonight.”
Curtis, who notched his 203rd career win, laughed when he explained to reporters after that game that his team didn’t block right on West’s touchdown run, but he was pleased with the way his signal caller made something of it.
“Well we didn’t block it right,” laughed Curtis. “We blocked the guy he was supposed to pinch off and he improvised and broke a couple tackles and he was off to the races. It looked a lot better than it was actually executed.
“The other play, when we ran the counter trey, (West) turned the wrong way, there was nobody to hand off to and he goes for 40-some yards for a first down. We need stuff like that to happen when we screw it up ourselves, because we’re pretty good at that right now offensively. But, we executed much better than last week ... still light years to go, but our defense flew around and kept us in it. We kept trying to give it back, but the defense kept bailing the offense out and we got a great win.”
Warsaw’s “Orange Crush” defense gave up 154 yards on the ground and 113 through the air, but made big plays when it had to. The Tigers’ opponents have turned the ball over 10 times in the first two games.
Senior defensive back Eli Owen picked off a pass from East Noble junior Bailey Parker on the first play of the game Friday, and Warsaw junior Blake Marsh made two picks of his own, one in the second quarter and another in the third.
The 5-11, 155-pound Marsh has made three interceptions already in the first two games of the season.
“He’s a player, he makes plays,” Curtis said of Marsh, who also stars on Warsaw’s basketball team. “He’s a competitor, a multi-sport kid, a competitor, and those are the kind of kids you wanna have out there.”
Warsaw junior defensive back Luke Adamiec recovered an East Noble fumble in the third quarter that halted a long offensive series by the Knights.
Warsaw led 10-0 in the first half as Harrison Mevis kicked a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter and Dawson pounded his way in from five yards out in the second stanza.
Parker put East Noble on the board with a 3-yard run at the 8:13 mark of the second quarter.
West’s 52-yard touchdown trot gave the Tigers a fourth-quarter cushion of sorts, but a 36-yard field goal by East Noble’s Joe Painter with 1:23 remaining in the game made things interesting.
Following Painter’s field goal, the Knights attempted an onside kick, but the Tigers recovered successfully and were able to run the clock out.
The Tigers tallied 204 yards of total offense, 190 on the ground and 14 through the air.
East Noble’s defense, which was put in bad situations time after time because of turnovers, allowed the Tigers just eight first downs.
“I was happy how the defense played,” said East Noble coach Luke Amstutz. “They were put in terrible positions by our turnovers, and the defense played well all but two plays.
“They had a botched counter that the kid (West) spins around five times for 40 yards on third down, and then they had the big play down the sideline where we just didn’t get to our responsibilities. Against a team like that, if you don’t get to your responsibilities every single play they’re going to hurt you at some point, and they did.”
Parker ran for 109 yards on 15 carries and completed 12 of 26 pass attempts for 113 yards, though he did throw the two interceptions.
Jacob VanGorder carried the ball 17 times for the Knights for 97 yards.
Tanner Stacy led East Noble with four catches for 39 yards.
East Noble opens Northeast 8 Conference play Friday with a trip to Huntington North.
The Tigers travel to Plymouth to open Northern Lakes Conference action.
East Noble beat the Rockies 16-6 in Week 1.
WARSAW 17, EAST NOBLE 10
EN 0 7 0 3 — 10
W 7 3 0 7 — 17
EN W
1st downs 21 8
Rushing yds 154 190
Passing yds 113 14
Comp-Att-Int 12-26-3 2-5-0
Total yds 267 204
Fumbles/lost 1/1 2/2
Penalties/yds 7/45 3/45
Punts/Avg 3/33 3/33
First Quarter
W – Harrison Mevis 37 FG 10:32, 3-0
W – Kane Dawson 5 run (Mevis kick) 3:52, 10-0
Second Quarter
EN – Bailey Parker 3 run (Joe Painter kick) 8:13, 10-7
Fourth Quarter
W – Josh West 52 run (Mevis kick) 4:35, 17-7
EN – Painter 36 FG 1:23, 17-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — East Noble, Parker 15-109, Jacob VanGorder 17-97, Blaine Malott 2-18; Warsaw, West 11-100, Dawson 21-79, Blake Marsh 3-9, Wyatt Amiss 2-3
Passing — East Noble, Parker 12-26-113, 3 INTs, 0 TDs; Warsaw, West 2-5-14, 0 INT, 0 TD
Receiving — East Noble, Tanner Stacy 4-39, Brooks Miller 2-14, Jack Herber 1-14, Gage Ernsberger 1-10, VanGorder 1-8; Warsaw, Marsh 1-13, Eli Owen 1-1
Records: Warsaw 2-0, East Noble 1-1
The 6-foot, 170-pound senior quarterback took steps in that direction Friday night with a 52-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that led the Tigers to a 17-10 win over the visiting East Noble Knights.
Running the flexbone, option offense in front of a large crowd in the home bleachers at Fisher Field, West kept the ball and turned a third-and-3 situation into a long touchdown with 4:35 remaining in the game. His clutch score gave the Tigers a 17-7 lead at the time and brought Warsaw’s fans to their feet.
West finished the game with 11 carries for 100 yards, while senior fullback Kane Dawson – who had a 49-yard touchdown run called back because of a penalty – added 79 yards on 21 attempts as the Tigers improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2008.
“He made a play ... we’ve been waiting for that,” Curtis said of West. “We’ve been waiting for him to take ownership of this offense, and I think he did it tonight.”
Curtis, who notched his 203rd career win, laughed when he explained to reporters after that game that his team didn’t block right on West’s touchdown run, but he was pleased with the way his signal caller made something of it.
“Well we didn’t block it right,” laughed Curtis. “We blocked the guy he was supposed to pinch off and he improvised and broke a couple tackles and he was off to the races. It looked a lot better than it was actually executed.
“The other play, when we ran the counter trey, (West) turned the wrong way, there was nobody to hand off to and he goes for 40-some yards for a first down. We need stuff like that to happen when we screw it up ourselves, because we’re pretty good at that right now offensively. But, we executed much better than last week ... still light years to go, but our defense flew around and kept us in it. We kept trying to give it back, but the defense kept bailing the offense out and we got a great win.”
Warsaw’s “Orange Crush” defense gave up 154 yards on the ground and 113 through the air, but made big plays when it had to. The Tigers’ opponents have turned the ball over 10 times in the first two games.
Senior defensive back Eli Owen picked off a pass from East Noble junior Bailey Parker on the first play of the game Friday, and Warsaw junior Blake Marsh made two picks of his own, one in the second quarter and another in the third.
The 5-11, 155-pound Marsh has made three interceptions already in the first two games of the season.
“He’s a player, he makes plays,” Curtis said of Marsh, who also stars on Warsaw’s basketball team. “He’s a competitor, a multi-sport kid, a competitor, and those are the kind of kids you wanna have out there.”
Warsaw junior defensive back Luke Adamiec recovered an East Noble fumble in the third quarter that halted a long offensive series by the Knights.
Warsaw led 10-0 in the first half as Harrison Mevis kicked a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter and Dawson pounded his way in from five yards out in the second stanza.
Parker put East Noble on the board with a 3-yard run at the 8:13 mark of the second quarter.
West’s 52-yard touchdown trot gave the Tigers a fourth-quarter cushion of sorts, but a 36-yard field goal by East Noble’s Joe Painter with 1:23 remaining in the game made things interesting.
Following Painter’s field goal, the Knights attempted an onside kick, but the Tigers recovered successfully and were able to run the clock out.
The Tigers tallied 204 yards of total offense, 190 on the ground and 14 through the air.
East Noble’s defense, which was put in bad situations time after time because of turnovers, allowed the Tigers just eight first downs.
“I was happy how the defense played,” said East Noble coach Luke Amstutz. “They were put in terrible positions by our turnovers, and the defense played well all but two plays.
“They had a botched counter that the kid (West) spins around five times for 40 yards on third down, and then they had the big play down the sideline where we just didn’t get to our responsibilities. Against a team like that, if you don’t get to your responsibilities every single play they’re going to hurt you at some point, and they did.”
Parker ran for 109 yards on 15 carries and completed 12 of 26 pass attempts for 113 yards, though he did throw the two interceptions.
Jacob VanGorder carried the ball 17 times for the Knights for 97 yards.
Tanner Stacy led East Noble with four catches for 39 yards.
East Noble opens Northeast 8 Conference play Friday with a trip to Huntington North.
The Tigers travel to Plymouth to open Northern Lakes Conference action.
East Noble beat the Rockies 16-6 in Week 1.
WARSAW 17, EAST NOBLE 10
EN 0 7 0 3 — 10
W 7 3 0 7 — 17
EN W
1st downs 21 8
Rushing yds 154 190
Passing yds 113 14
Comp-Att-Int 12-26-3 2-5-0
Total yds 267 204
Fumbles/lost 1/1 2/2
Penalties/yds 7/45 3/45
Punts/Avg 3/33 3/33
First Quarter
W – Harrison Mevis 37 FG 10:32, 3-0
W – Kane Dawson 5 run (Mevis kick) 3:52, 10-0
Second Quarter
EN – Bailey Parker 3 run (Joe Painter kick) 8:13, 10-7
Fourth Quarter
W – Josh West 52 run (Mevis kick) 4:35, 17-7
EN – Painter 36 FG 1:23, 17-10
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — East Noble, Parker 15-109, Jacob VanGorder 17-97, Blaine Malott 2-18; Warsaw, West 11-100, Dawson 21-79, Blake Marsh 3-9, Wyatt Amiss 2-3
Passing — East Noble, Parker 12-26-113, 3 INTs, 0 TDs; Warsaw, West 2-5-14, 0 INT, 0 TD
Receiving — East Noble, Tanner Stacy 4-39, Brooks Miller 2-14, Jack Herber 1-14, Gage Ernsberger 1-10, VanGorder 1-8; Warsaw, Marsh 1-13, Eli Owen 1-1
Records: Warsaw 2-0, East Noble 1-1
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