No. 5 Homestead Overwhelms Warsaw

FORT WAYNE - So this is where it ends.

It ends at Homestead 49, Warsaw 0. It ends with Warsaw's team flag whipping in the cold October night, still proudly being held high over the quiet team huddle on the football field after the 49-point blowout.

Warsaw football coach Phil Jensen wasn't ready for the season to end Friday, but it did anyway. Homestead, ranked No. 5, improved to 10-0. Warsaw completed its best season in a handful of years with a 6-4 record.

"(Homestead's) everything we saw," Jensen said. "They're very opportunistic. They capitalize on mistakes teams make. They turn those mistakes into points. They're explosive."

The loss dropped Warsaw to 0-13 in the postseason. Jensen bristled when asked about Warsaw's living with that albatross.

"That isn't our fault," he said. "These kids have nothing to do with the 12 (actually 13) games Warsaw High School has lost, except the ones they played in."

This much was for sure. A big part of Warsaw's game plan consisted of containing Homestead fullback Pete Lougheed, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound tank. Lougheed, who has several Division I schools salivating, entered as Homestead's leading rusher with 685 yards on 94 carries, an average of 7.3 yards per rush. He's also scored 19 touchdowns.

The Tiger defense got the job done on him, shutting him down on five rushing yards on four carries.

But Homestead isn't 10-0 because of Lougheed and Lougheed alone. In Warsaw's overzealousness to contain him, junior quarterback Kelly Disser ran amok.

Disser, who came in with 200 rushing yards in the previous nine games, rushed for 174 yards on four carries.

"They have a lot of talent," Jensen said. "You have to make decisions when you play a team like that. What are you going to take away? We made our decision, and their quarterback, who's an outstanding athlete, made the plays."

Disser and the option play gave the Tigers fits.

Two plays into the game, Disser rammed the ball into Lougheed's arms and kept it there for a good two seconds. Then he snatched it away and tore up field unscathed for a 69-yard touchdown run as Tiger defenders closed in on Lougheed. Forty-eight seconds into the game, Homestead led 6-0.

Disser's run was only one of the several big plays to come.

Warsaw's offense followed Disser's touchdown with seven plays but no score. When Andy Plank went to punt on fourth down, Lougheed burst through and blocked it. The blocked punt was the first of the season against Plank.

Two plays later, halfback Praveen Nattam scored on a 6-yard run, and Disser scored the two-point conversion. Homestead led 14-0 with 6:44 left in the first quarter.

"A blocked punt is one of the most devastating things that can happen to a football team," Homestead coach Cary Cavacini said. "Number one, it's fourth down. They have to give up the ball. Yes, that will take the wind out of your sail."

The Tiger offense ran off six more plays, all for naught. Again, like they would do all evening, they moved the ball but couldn't score.

Homestead's offense took over. Two plays later, Disser ran the same play that gave him big yards the first time. He gave it to Lougheed, then took it away. While Warsaw defenders chased Lougheed, Disser scampered down the field for a 64-yard touchdown run. Homestead led 21-0 with 3:20 left in the first.

Six plays, three touchdowns, 21 points. That was the line for Homestead's offense in the first nine minutes.

Lougheed added a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter as Homestead took the 28-0 halftime lead. Homestead's offense needed six plays to score that touchdown.

The halftime stats did nothing but prove how overrated time of possession can be. Warsaw's offense had the ball for 18 minutes, 44 seconds in the first half and ran 38 plays. Homestead had the ball for five minutes, 16 seconds and ran 14 plays.

But Homestead led 28-0.

Disser would burn the Tigers two more times in the second half. Warsaw opened the half by going three and out. After Plank's punt, Homestead took over at Warsaw's 45-yard line.

Three plays into the drive, Disser pulled the option with Lougheed for the third time. This time it got him 46 yards, down to Warsaw's 1-yard line. Two plays later, Nattam scored on a 6-yard run to make it 35-0. Homestead's offense struck after four plays.

"Last year, we lived off that (option) play," Cavacini said. "After a while, people would take that away, and we would have to go to something else. We haven't had to run it much this year, but we've always had it, and Kelly runs it excellent.

"They were going to stop our fullback tonight. They pretty much did. But we have such a nice offense, some other things were breaking for us."

The next time Homestead's offense touched the ball, Disser completed a 70-yard touchdown pass to split end Fred Derheimer. Homestead led 42-0 with 3:25 left in the third.

The Tigers had two individual highlights. Senior fullback Derrick Duncan did his best Mike Alstott impersonation, bulling through Homestead for 141 rushing yards on 28 carries. The other highlight was a 76-yard kickoff return by senior Scott Shepherd in the fourth quarter.

"We ran the football well on them at times," Jensen said. "We didn't sustain our drives. We didn't put points on the board. You got to put points on the board if you want to win."

Warsaw's 6-4 record follows a year the Tigers went 2-7.

"They represented their families, themselves and their school in a first-class manner for the last 18 months," Jensen said. "I couldn't be prouder of them. We told them they would be champions off the field. They're champions this year."