SYRACUSE – Concord struck early, scoring a touchdown less than 50 seconds into its game with Wawasee at Warrior Field Friday night. The Minutemen then scored two more touchdowns in the opening quarter and never looked back, beating the Warriors 27-7. The Minutemen’s no-huddle offense was effective in the early parts of the game, with rain falling and the wet field making it difficult for Wawasee defenders to adjust to Concord’s misdirection plays. Concord scored its fourth touchdown just 1:01 into the second quarter, but from there, Wawasee was able to contain the Minutemen. The damage, however, had already been done. “Like I told the boys, it doesn’t matter whether you play offense, defense or special teams; when you’re down 21 it’s tough to come back,” Wawasee head coach Josh Ekovich said. “It’s never as bad as you think it is, and it’s never as good as you think it is. There’s a lot of things we can take from this. We got some experience for some young guys so they can develop as the season goes on.” Wawasee’s lone score was set up when Tyler Smith made a great fake of a handoff into the line, and then ran around the left side of the line for 64 yards to the Concord 6-yard line. Noah Wadkins got the ball to the 1, and Smith powered it in for the touchdown. Outside of the three-play touchdown drive, Wawasee had just 85 yards of offense, all on the ground. “The boys played hard; they didn’t quit, they kept going. Offensively we’re as frustrated as everyone else,” Ekovich said. “But I’ll tell you what, it’s coming along. There’s things that the average Joe can’t see that’s actually being developed, and those things turn into big things, and hopefully turn into more productivity.” The Warrior defense shut out Concord for the last 35 minutes of the game, and allowed only four first downs after halftime. “Those D-linemen, they’re a good group. They’re big, they’re physical, and they can run,” said Ekovich. “Steven Possell, Nick LeCount, Zac McKee and whoever’s out there in the front seven, they do a good job of flying to the ball and stopping the run. “We put them in a position where we put them in a five-man box and they still stopped the run. We had to do that in order to stop the pass; maybe that was an adjustment we should have made a little bit earlier. But our success is going to be based on our defense. They’re an experienced group now, and our defensive staff does a good job of putting them in a position to be successful. “The only thing is, they don’t have the speed to catch up to some of those guys from Concord, and that’s what killed us tonight.” Concord’s Josh Emerson rushed four times for 107 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown run, and caught two passes for 36 yards. Smith was the leading rusher for Wawasee with 78 yards on nine carries. Wawasee falls to 2-2 on the season and 0-2 in the Northern Lakes Conference. On Friday the team will make the short trip to Nappanee to take on NorthWood. The Minutemen improved to 3-1 and 3-0 in the NLC and will make the trip to Goshen on Friday.
