Playing the final game of the regular season Friday night, the Warsaw football team looked to end the campaign on a high not with a trip to Middlebury to take on Northridge. Thanks to some outstanding defense as well as two special teams scores, the Tigers were able to head into sectional play with a three-game winning streak under their belts with a 42-13 win.
“It would have been easy for our kids to get down on themselves [after the two-game losing streak], Lord knows I’ve had my moments this season,” Warsaw head coach Bart Curtis said after the game. “I feel pretty good about how they’ve responded. They’ve had every reason to fold and they haven’t. I’m really proud of them.”
Slowly but surely, the Raiders were able to move the ball well to begin the game’s opening drive, burning nearly five minutes of clock while picking up a pair of first downs. After a conversion on fourth and short earlier in the drive, Northridge elected to go for it again on a 4th and seven, but were denied by the Tiger D, which gave the ball to the offense in enemy territory.
It didn’t take Warsaw long to take advantage of the favorable field position. A nice run by Tucker Reed to start the drive got things going and after a few more methodical runs got the visitors near the red zone, a big play put points on the board. Facing a third and medium, quarterback Quinton Brock dropped back for his first pass of the game, connecting with Ethan Egolf who took it all the way to the house to open up the scoring with a 25-yard TD. With five and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Tigers were on top.
Northridge was able to move the ball much more efficiently on its second drive, using a pair of chunk plays to get into Warsaw territory. Once again though, the Tiger defense was able to stand tall on a fourth down play to force yet another turnover on downs and get the ball back at their own 37 as the first quarter came to an end.
It looked as if the visitors were going to take advantage with yet another score as early in the following drive, the Tigers were able to bust a run up the middle for some big yardage. Not giving up on the play though, a Raider defensive back was able to track down the ball carrier and punch the ball out from behind, resulting in a fumble for the first Warsaw turnover of the night.
The defense had their backs, getting off the field after giving up a pair of first downs with their third fourth down stop of the first half. The offense came back onto the field already in Northridge territory for the second time in the game with seven minutes to go in the second quarter.
The drive ended in disaster for the Tigers. After a few productive plays put the team just outside of the red zone, the offense began moving backwards after a holding call as well as a tackle for loss. Now facing a second and very long, Brock dropped back to pass for the second time. The ball was a bit of a wobbler as the QB faced some heavy pressure, and went right into the hands of Raider defensive back Hayden Gorball, who had nothing but green grass in front of him and took it 65 yards to the house to put Northridge on the board. After a missed PAT though, the Tigers were still up 7-6 with a little under four minutes to go in the first half.
Warsaw’s answer was immediate. Fielding the ensuing kickoff, Reed initially fumbled the ball for a split second, but it proved to be beneficial. With the entire kickoff team crashing in on him, Reed found a huge hole up the middle and exploited it, winning the 90-yard foot race and taking it to the house for the second touchdown in as many plays, putting the visitors up 14-6.

    Warsaw senior Hunter Dippon hangs on tightly to the jersey of Northridge's Derek Sherwood as Warsaw senior Cohen Heady moves in to assist with the tackle...Nieter

The big plays kept on going, as on the next Northridge drive, the Tiger defense forced yet another turnover, this time Egolf coming up with an interception that put the Warsaw offense in the red zone instantly. It didn’t take long for the team to convert the opportunity into points, as on the second play of the drive, Robbie Hoeffert took it in from three yards out to make it a 21-6 game with two minutes left in the half.
The trend of turnovers continued on the next Northridge drive, as the Tiger D forced a fumble to give the ball right back to the offense. Already inside the Raider 40 with a minute and a half to go, Warsaw got to work, but back-to-back fumbles stalled the drive just enough to prevent another score. The Tigers attempted to get on the field for a field goal attempt as time expired, but ran out of time before doing so.
Receiving the kickoff to begin the third quarter, Reed did it again. Fielding the ball near his own end zone, the sophomore weaved his way through the Northridge defenders on his way to his second kickoff return touchdown of the night, this one also going for 90 yards. Thirteen seconds into the second half, the Tigers were up 28-6.
“I haven’t seen that in a while. He’s not the biggest guy but he has some explosiveness to him,” Curtis said. “He’s got a fifth gear. I was really pleased with how our blockers set those wedges for him. He went virtually untouched twice.”
The Tiger defense continued its strong stretch of play by forcing a turnover on downs without giving up a yard on the ensuing possession, giving the ball to the Warsaw offense at the Northridge 20 for their first drive of the second half. With very little field in front of them, the visitors didn’t take much time to get into the end zone, with Hoeffert picking up his second score of the game from one-yard out.
“Our offense was given some short fields tonight and you have to convert those into touchdowns,” Curtis said. “We did that and I was happy to see that.”
After another three-and-out forced by the Tiger defense on the next drive, the game saw its first punt as the Raiders booted it away to give Warsaw the ball at the opposing 49. A big third down run by Brock was the catalyst of yet another scoring drive that ended with a two-yard run by Brody Duncan. The score made it 42-6 and enacted the running clock.
“Our varsity defense put together another shutout so I’m really proud of them. They played very well,” Curtis said. “I thought we tackled in the open field really well and our pursuit was good.”
The final play of the third quarter was the Raiders’ first offensive touchdown of the game, as Judah Hochstetler took a screen pass 69 yards to the house. Heading into the fourth, the score was now 42-13.
The second string offense for the Tigers took the field to begin the final quarter of play, and the unit had success moving the ball up the field while draining out the remainder of the clock. While the visitors didn’t score here, they were able to run out the remainder of the clock to put the finishing touches on victory.
Warsaw (6-3, 5-2 Northern Lakes Conference) has a bye next week before taking on Goshen at home on Nov. 1 to begin the 5A sectional tournament.