SYRACUSE — A surprise start wasn’t enough to keep Wawasee from being worn down by the second-ranked team in Class 4A, as Concord eventually rolled to a 52-17 win at Warrior Field in Syracuse Friday night. The Wawasee Warriors (1-3, 0-2 Northern Lakes Conference) surprised the Concord Minutemen (4-0, 3-0 NLC) with an onside kick to open the game, recovering at midfield. Three plays and 1:08 later, junior quarterback Gage Reinhard hit classmate Clayton Cook for a 45-yard touchdown. “We figured they might start the game with an onside kick, and they got it, then they took it down and scored,” Dawson said. “I told them before the game ‘Guys, there’s going to be some adversity. It’ll be like a championship fight. You gotta take their best shot, then you have to box back.’” Concord answered with a Ryan Tepe field goal before the Minutemen offense got truly on track. The visitors’ first trip to the end zone took less than two minutes to cover 63 yards, with quarterback Trevor Wilmore hitting his brother Matt Wilmore from 19 yards out for Concord’s first lead, 10-7. Wawasee got a break when Concord, after driving 75 yards on its next possession, fumbled on the Warrior 18. Unfortunately for Wawasee, the next snap went over Reinhard’s head into the end zone, where Minutemen defensive lineman Curtis Brown-Watson won the scrum and recorded the touchdown. The Warrior offense spent the next six minutes looking to close the gap before halftime, but settled for a Nate Prescott field goal to draw within 17-10 with 36 seconds remaining in the half. And then Concord flexed its offensive muscle. Never one to run out the clock before halftime, Dawson instead had his quarterback throwing the ball downfield. Wilmore’s first pass was tipped away, but on the next one Chris Martin out-jumped a pair of Wawasee defenders, then scooted to the Wawasee 27. After a 10-yard penalty, Wilmore hit a leaping Brandon Thomas, who outfought another pair of defenders in the end zone to pad the Concord lead to 24-10. The Minutemen finished the first half with 249 yards of total offense. On the opening possession of the third quarter, the Warriors had a great chance to cut the lead to one score, but after moving the ball 71 yards to the Concord 5-yard line, Reinhard was intercepted in the end zone. Concord then scored touchdowns on its next four possessions, taking a total of just 12 plays and less than seven minutes off the clock, leading into the fourth quarter. “We’ve has some unbelievable third quarters,” smiled Dawson. “I thought the turning point was when they’re taking it down the field (to open the second half) and if they score there, who knows? But we came up with a big defensive stop, take it down and score, then we kind of exploded, and that was it.” But for two-and-a-half quarters, it was a close game – a fact not lost of Wawasee head coach Josh Ekovich. “Sometimes when it rains, it pours,” Ekovich said. “They have some great athletes, and any time you let them get in space, it’s trouble. They had the potential to score every time they touched the ball. They have some great athletes, and what it came down to is we got out depthed; our lack of depth exposed us. “There’s lot of things we could work on, but we’re going to be a pretty dang good team,” Ekovich added. “We’re going to get better every single day, but anytime you play a team like Concord, with exceptional talent and exceptional depth, that (52-17 score) could happen.” Concord takes its perfect record to Goshen Friday, while Wawasee travels to face NorthWood in Nappanee.
CONCORD 52, WAWASEE 17 C 10 14 21 7 — 51 W 7 3 0 7 — 17
C W 1sr downs 24 16 Rushing yards 209 99 Passing yards 263 191 Comp-Att-Int 11-19-0 15-26-0 Total offense 479 290 Fumbles/lost 3/3 4/2 Penalties/yds 6/55 3/25
First Quarter W – Clayton Cook 45 pass from Gage Reinhard (Nate Prescott kick) 10:47, 7-0 C – Ryan Tepe 27 field goal 8:48, 7-3 C – Trevor Wilmore 19 pass from Matt Wilmore (Tepe kick) 5:34, 10-7 Second Quarter C – Curtis Brown-Watson recovered fumble (Tepe kick) 6:47, 17-7 W – Prescott 24 field goal 0:36, 17-10 C – T. Wilmore 37 pass to Brandon Thomas (Tepe kick) 0:01, 24-10 Third Quarter C – T. Wilmore 22 run (Tepe kick) 4:08, 31-10 C – T. Wilmore 51 pass to Jace Krull (Tepe kick) 2:45, 38-10 C – Larry Smith 4 run (Tepe kick) 0:49, 45-10 Fourth Quarter 10:13 Con – Jason Grooms 20 pass to Chris Martin (Tepe kick) 10:13, 52-10 W – Nic Wilson 2 run (Prescott kick) 7:03, 52-17
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing — Concord, T. Wilmore 12-106, Martin 5-23, Smith 6-47, Jackson Marlow 1-10, Nick DeFreese 1-5, Jason Grooms 3-2, Blake Watkins 3-14, Cullen Fisher 2-9; Wawasee, Reinhard 4-15, Brandin McCulloch 7-25, Sam Clark 2-5, Wilson 11-48, Austin Lutz 1-1, Mylon Betts 3-6, Stephon Miller 1-(-5). Passing — Concord, T. Wilmore 9-17, 191 yds, 3 TDs; Grooms 1-1, 20 yds, TD; Fisher 1-1, 19 yds; Wawasee, Reinhard 19-30, 191 yds, TD, INT. Receiving — Concord, Martin 2-69, Jerrell Poindexter 3-26, Kyle Moreno 2-42, M. Wilmore 1-19, Knoll 1-51, Malique Boothe 1-19; Wawasee, Cook 7-108, Jordan Elliott 7-47, McCulloch 1-5, Clark 1-6, Lutz 3-15.
