Larsh, Tigers Keep ‘W’ Trophy With Win Over Wawasee
Larsh, Tigers Keep ‘W’ Trophy With Win Over Wawasee
Posted
Mark Howe-mhowe@timesuniononline.com
Larsh, Tigers Keep ‘W’ Trophy With Win Over WawaseeThanks in large part to senior quarterback Tristan Larsh, Warsaw retained the “W” trophy Friday night with a 35-13 win over Wawasee in Northern Lakes Conference football action at Fisher Field.
Wawasee got off to a solid start, forcing Warsaw to punt on its first possession. The snap was low, and freshman Harrison Mevis’ kick was blocked and returned 22 yards for a touchdown by Warrior sophomore Jesse Landeros.
Larsh threw a pair of second-quarter touchdown passes, one to Zach Riley and the other to Luke Adamiec just before halftime, to put the Tigers in the lead. He scored the first of his three second-half rushing touchdowns on Warsaw’s first offensive play of the third quarter. Warsaw scored twice in the space of 1:17 between the second and third quarters.
Landeros scored again late in the third quarter, returning a tipped Larsh pass 18 yards for a pick-six and cutting the Tiger lead to eight.
Six plays later, on the second snap of the fourth quarter, Larsh struck like lightning again. He rushed through the right side of the Wawasee defense to score from 40 yards out.
Larsh added a 15-yard score midway through the final period to salt the game away.
“There’s not many games where you get a punt blocked for a touchdown and an interception returned for a touchdown,” Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said. “You look at the stats on that, and it’s not very good.
“But this goes back to a resilient bunch of kids who keep trying to grow, mature and keep working on the hard things to get better at football. I’m real, real proud of them.”
Jensen said it wasn’t a game plan for Larsh to have a hand in five touchdowns, but more like a season plan that came to fruition Friday. Larsh finished with 197 yards rushing and 67 yards passing.
“We’ve been trying to make it his night all year. The reason we moved him back (to quarterback) was because of what we saw tonight; every time he touches the ball he has the ability to go the distance because of his speed,” Jensen said.
“Tonight we found the right combination. He made some great reads, he threw the ball well and was a great leader for us. But our whole senior class, after the touchdowns we gave up, we just kept bouncing back and just kept fighting. This is a great win for us.”
The Warriors had some movement of the ball, throwing out everything but the kitchen sink at the Tigers in terms of formations and lineups. Four players took snaps at quarterback, and the different looks generated 270 yards of offense. Alec Rosbrugh rushed for 117 yards on 20 carries.
But Wawasee had penalties that stalled drives or helped the Tigers continue their marches down the field. Warrior coach Mike Eshbach was not available for comment after the game.
Wawasee fell to 1-6 overall, 0-5 in the conference, and plays its last home game of the regular season Friday, hosting Elkhart Memorial.
Warsaw improved to 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the NLC. The Tigers also have their home regular season finale Friday, hosting 4A No. 7 NorthWood.
WARSAW 35, WAWASEE 13
Waw 7 0 6 0 – 13
War 0 14 7 14 – 35
Waw War
1st downs 12 18
Rushing yds 181 265
Passing yds 89 67
Comp-Att-Int 10-25-1 5-9-1
Total yds 270 332
Fumbles/lost 2-1 1-1
Penalties/yds 9-60 4-25
Punts/avg. 4-30 4-20
First Quarter
Waw – Jesse Landeros 22 return of blocked punt (Brayden Johnson kick), 8:58, 7-0
Second Quarter
War – Zach Riley 31 pass from Tristan Larsh (Harrison Mevis kick), 7:47, 7-7
War – Luke Adamiec 8 pass from Larsh (Mevis kick), :07, 14-7
