A kettle of hawks, RedHawks, Goshen RedHawks in fact, descended on Fisher Field at Warsaw’s Tiger Athletic Complex for the second time in eight weeks hoping to keep their 2024 football season alive.
The Warsaw Tigers, however, sent the RedHawks home again, this time with a season-ending defeat, dominating Goshen 52-7 to advance to the IHSAA Class 5A Sectional 11 final Friday facing another familiar conference foe, the IHSAA Class 5A number-one-ranked Concord Minutemen.
Some programs would be vulnerable to the trappings of facing a winless opponent they defeated by seven touchdowns in regular season play when there is the possibility for a revenge match against another conference opponent.
The Tigers, however, were strictly business, running ahead 31-0 at halftime and scoring a third quarter touchdown following the second half kickoff to trip the IHSAA mercy rule’s running clock by widening their lead 38-0.
Quinton Brock led off the scoring with a 43-0 touchdown run on a pitchout from Drew Sullivan, who returned under center after being injured in the latter part of the season.
Brock, instead of piloting the Tiger offense as he had through the latter half of the season, showed off his speed on a perimeter run where he steadily accelerated as each RedHawk defender pursued him. The junior also snared a pass from Drew Sullivan for 17 yards.
“We came out and we were… businesslike,” Warsaw head coach Bart Curtis said about a strong early start building a 21-0 first quarter lead. “We had some things we felt we’ll have to work on. I was pleased with the effort, the enthusiasm, and was pleased that our JV did such an excellent job against a varsity defense.”
The junior varsity offense contributed significantly to the Tigers’ 335 rushing yards, and it was the fullback-by-committee group’s time to shine.
Daylen Fitzpatrick rolled up 89 yards on 14 carries with two touchdowns, and sophomore Michael Schenck – who recently returned from an injury – added 35 yards on four totes.
Robbie Hoffert did not carry the ball, but his presence on the field contributed to key blocks needed to make the perimeter running game a success.
“All four fullbacks I feel comfortable with: Brody (Duncan), Robbie, Michael is coming back from (an injury), and Daylon runs really low to the ground, runs well,” Curtis noted.
Duncan, the other senior fullback along with Hoffert, started for the Tigers and beat up RedHawk defenders running for 51 yards in seven carries including a 7-yard TD run.
Other JV contributors included sophomore quarterback Cohen McCray, who took the reins under center, and scored the game’s final touchdown, and Wyatt Harman, who showed Friday night fans some strong perimeter running (28 yards, 3 carries) most folks see him execute on Saturday mornings.

    Sophomore quarterback Cohen McCray of Warsaw carries the ball during Friday night's sectional game against Goshen...Nieter

A sophomore starter at halfback, Tucker Reed, added two touchdowns on his only carries for the evening with an outside run from 30 yards out and an 18-yard counter touchdown run.
Hoffert’s aforementioned strength in perimeter blocking has set Reed free on multiple occasions throughout the season.
Goshen started out the contest with their recent strategic shift to almost entirely passing, including bubble screens to their wide and slot receivers. The RedHawks only rushed for 35 yards on 13 carries.
We were a little soft early, and then kinda’ got our corners to set the edge and the safeties came downhill a little better.”
After a pesky RedHawk opening drive that eventually sputtered, the Tigers not only stifled the early threat, but the varsity defense pitched another shutout.
The Tiger defense gave RedHawk signal caller Carter Diaz (17-32 passing, 149 yards, 1 TD) plenty of trouble with an interception by Tristan Wilson, and sacks by Grady Nelson, Cohen Heady, and Gavin Schultz.
Coach Curtis summarized the evening, saying, “Very pleased and excited. We did well. We get to come in for another Monday. We’ll come in tomorrow and have a film session and a little walk through, and the moms will do a brunch for us.”
The Tigers will get back to business preparing for another rematch and a return to Jake Field to battle the Concord Minutemen, who overcame a 17-0 Tiger halftime en route to beat Warsaw 28-24 in week five.
Don’t, however, call it a rematch. Curtis points out some significant differences between regular season and post season second encounters.
“The difference between game five and game eleven is one of the teams is going to be storing gear the following Monday,” Curtis remarked. “There’s a little more to it than a rematch. Both teams know each other well. They have a really good idea of what we are trying to accomplish when we have the football. They also know how to attack our defense. We feel like it’s a great high school football matchup.”
Warsaw, now 7-3, survive and advance for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday at the Minutemen’s (10-0) home, Jake Field.