COLUMBIA CITY – Tristan McClone had all of 100 yards rushing last season as a backup running back. He topped that in the first quarter of Friday night’s season opener at Columbia City. Making his first varsity start in the backfield, the 5-foot-11, 200-pound Warsaw junior flirted with a pair of school records and led the Tigers to a 20-14 win over the Eagles at Max Gandy Athletic Field. McClone, who tallied 123 yards in the first quarter, finished the game with 43 carries for 295 yards and three touchdowns. He was three attempts shy of breaking Rod Wildman’s single-game school record for carries, a mark that was set in 1972 against Wawasee. He was just 16 yards shy of breaking Brad Seiss’ single-game school record for rushing yards, a mark that was set in 2000 against Wawasee. “To even be mentioned in the same breath as Brad Seiss, I don’t know how to respond to that,” said McClone when asked how it felt to flirt with the school record. “This wouldn’t have happened without our offensive line. They did a great job of blocking and getting their linemen out of the way.” McClone scored on a 63-yard run in the first quarter, and the Tigers held a 6-0 lead after the PAT attempt failed. McClone’s second touchdown, a 1-yard plunge set up after senior Josh Hueber recoverd a Columbia City fumble and returned it nearly 60 yards, pushed Warsaw’s advantage to 14-0 when he converted the two-point conversion with 10:45 remaining in the second quarter. The Eagles cut the deficit to 14-7 with 6:59 to play in the third quarter when senior Adam Neely scored on a 7-yard run and Chris Wilson’s extra-point kick split the uprights. The Tigers responded in a big way, however, and just under four minutes later McClone scampered 33 yards for his third touchdown of the evening. The extra-point kick was blocked, but Warsaw led 20-7 and was able to hang on after Neely’s 11-yard touchdown run with 4:27 remaining in the game cut the deficit to 20-14. Prior to the season, 13th-year Warsaw coach Phil Jensen raved about his players’ work ethic. He praised his team for working so hard in the weight room. “They put in the work in the offseason,” said Jensen, who earned his 100th career win as a head coach. “We wanted to get back to what we do, and that’s run the ball.” With McClone leading the way, Warsaw racked up 315 rushing yards on 51 carries. “We weren’t planning on 43 carries, we’d like to run him 20 to 25 times, but when your workhorse is running you gotta saddle up and ride him,” Jensen said of McClone. Junior quarterback Austin Head completed 5 of 7 passes for Warsaw. Senior receiver Taylor Cone caught four of those passes for 42 yards, while junior fullback Seth Fouts had one catch for eight yards. For Columbia City, Neely led the way with 28 carries for 135 yards, while junior quarterback Travis Herbst rushed nine times for 38 yards. Herbst completed 7 of 12 passes for 87 yards. He threw one one interception, a pass that was picked off by senior Justin Miller. While a big storyline in the game was what McClone did, another key was what Columbia City senior Jared Murphy wasn’t able to do. In a 34-14 win at Fisher Field last season, Murphy had his way with the Tigers. That wasn’t the case Friday night. Murphy had one carry for two yards and three receptions for -3 yards. “Kris Hueber is doing a great job as defensive coordinator,” said Jensen. “We had a great gameplan, and the kids executed it. We took (Murphy) out of the equation. We put (Gabe) Furnivall on him and pounded on him. We didn’t want him to make that big play.” With the win, the Tigers started the season 1-0 for the first time since 2009. The victory also pushed Jensen’s career record to 100-68 in 17 years. Jensen is now 71-56 with the Tigers. “We got No. 1 for this year, that’s more important,” Jensen said, downplaying his coaching milestone and turning the attention to his players. Warsaw is in action again Friday when it hosts Homestead.
