Grinding Effort Sets Off CelebrationThe mission was clear: the path to a sectional title was going to be won on the ground.
Warsaw completed that mission Friday with a 35-18 win against Penn for the first IHSAA football championship in school history.
The Tigers hadn’t thrown the ball much this season, but not at all Friday night. That was by design.
“We knew what we were getting into and we knew we had to come out strong and that’s what we did,” said Warsaw senior center Brock Hueber during the loud-and-proud victory celebration. “The O-line has been preparing since June for this. Penn is a great program and a great team. They’re an aggressive defense. I have a lot of respect for them.
“We came out here, we worked hard and we did our job. The results show what happens when you do that.”
The “Wild Bunch” Kingsmen defense considerably outweighed the Tiger line, but that’s nothing new for Warsaw, who rushed for 389 yards — led by junior fullback Juan Jaramillo, senior quarterback Wyatt Amiss and senior halfback Blake Marsh.
“I don’t think we faced a defensive line that weighed less than us (all season),” said Hueber. “Our biggest guy is (senior guard) Jacob (Desenberg) and he’s about 300 (pounds) and it drops steeply to (senior guard) Griffin (Reed at 260) and it gets to about 200 with us (195-pounder Hueber, 180-pound senior tackle Austin Meads, 200-pound senior tackle Angel Mendez and 210-pound senior tackle Kyle Miller).
“We’re used to being out-gunned if you want to call it that. We hit above our weight. We never let that stop us. We know we’re going to come out lower, meaner and more aggressive than anyone we face.”
Amiss gave propers to the “Hogs.” “On the offensive line, it’s not how much you weigh, but how nasty you are,” said Amiss. “Those guys are nasty. They get down. They get dirty. They’re not afraid to hit somebody in the mouth and they do it very well.” Hueber complimented Penn for its discipline.
“One of the good things about our program is that we’re willing to grind play after play two and three yards at a time,” said Hueber.
“(Opponents) get lazy. They get tired. They get bored. That’s when we can pop things.” Warsaw had both a 20-yard scoring drive that ate up more than nine minutes on their first touchdown and a one-play, 77-yard scoring possession thanks to Jaramilo’s sprint to the end zone.
“That’s kind of our M.O. — grinding it out for the short plays until they get tired and bored and then we can pop the big one here and there.”
Tigers head coach Bart Curtis put it this way: “We’re all over the place.
“We just feel good that we were able to compete with and able to beat a really good program in 6A.” Amiss talked about the Tigers’ poise, particularly in the second half when Penn went ahead 18-14.
“There were a lot of momentum flips in the game,” said Amiss. “When we had our opportunity, we seized it.
“We came out and we battled. Our scout players gave us the best look we could have all week. We prepared well for (Penn) and we just played hard. All our offense is trying to do is wear the defense down.
There’s no one that can stop us when we’re playing at the top of our game.”
