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It’s not every day that two teams head into the final game of the season undefeated and playing for a conference championship. It’s even less common for the game to actually live up to the hype. But it did so and more on Friday night when 8-0 Warsaw traveled to Middlebury for a clash with 8-0 Northridge with the Northern Lakes Conference title on the line. The game more so resembled a tennis match than anything else, as the two teams went back and forth for 48 minutes. In the end, the Raiders scored the final points of the night, finishing off an undefeated regular season and conference championship run with a 37-30 win.
“We knew coming in that they were really good and that they have a really good offense and we proved them right,” Warsaw head coach Bart Curtis said after the game. “I thought we played pretty well at times but when we needed to move the ball in the second half, we didn’t. I feel so sad for our kids because of who they are as kids and how hard they’ve worked for this. I’m sick to my stomach.”
Warsaw threw the first punch in the heavyweight bout. Calmly fielding an onside kick attempt to begin the game by Northridge, the Tiger offense methodically worked its way down the field as it has already done so many times this season. Fullback Michael Schenck was the centerpiece of the offense on the opening drive, and he was rewarded for his efforts with a goal line carry that he punched into the end zone for six. A bad snap on the extra point try prevented the visitors from adding another, but four minutes in, Warsaw led 6-0.
It took less than a minute for the Raiders to land a counter strike. Just four plays were needed for the high-octane Northridge offense to reach the end zone, with quarterback Jake Scholl’s legs acting as the catalyst. The sophomore signal caller busted off a 37-yard run to get his team in enemy territory before scrambling for a score a couple of plays later. After a successful PAT, the home side now led 7-6.
The Tiger offense didn’t miss a beat when it retook the field, as it racked up first down after first down on its way to another trip to the red zone. This time however, a costly chop block penalty against the visitors stopped the drive in its tracks, resulting in a 32-yard field goal attempt by John Conley. He was able to send a perfect ball through the uprights to put his team back in front 9-7 with 90 seconds left in the first quarter,
By the time the quarter ended, the Raiders were a yard away from adding another touchdown to the board. The big play on this drive was an end-around to sophomore receiver Myhles Norman, who got the home side into the red zone. From there, Scholl was able to use his legs for his second touchdown of the night before throwing for a two-point conversion that made it 15-9.
That lead lasted for all of 15 seconds, as Wyatt Harman fielded the ensuing kickoff at the 4-yard line, got some great blocking to create a hole in the middle of the field, and he was gone. A 96-yard kick return tied the game up for the Tigers before an extra point went through for the fourth lead change of the game in the first 13 minutes.
Bsreaking away from the pack, senior Wyatt Harman scores Warsaw's second touchdown on a kickoff return...Nieter
The next Northridge drive was the first of the game to not result in any points, as the Warsaw defense was able to come up with a massive fumble recovery in their own territory to keep their opponents at bay. The Warsaw possession that followed was a massive one for the visitors. The Tigers held on to the ball for just over eight minutes, working their way down the field largely using the legs of Schenck, who broke the century mark for the game on this drive. Quarterback Mark Haynes came up with a couple of massive passes as well, converting on two fourth downs. The second of which was an eleven-yard touchdown pass to Tucker Reed that put an exclamation point on the biggest possession of the game thus far and made it a 23-15 advantage.
Northridge had already proven at this point that two minutes was more than enough time to reach the end zone, and by the time 60 seconds had passed on the Raiders’ two-minute drill, they were in Tiger territory. It looked as if the home side was going to come up with an answer right before the break, but Scholl’s first mistake of the night cost him dearly, as sophomore Keagen Patrick baited him into throwing a ball into coverage, a ball he wound up intercepting to preserve the eight-point lead going into halftime.
The Raiders had the luxury of getting the ball back to begin the third quarter, and they took advantage of it. Looking to get back onto the scoreboard after a pair of empty trips, Scholl was tremendous on this drive, using both his arm and legs to march his team down the field. It took the home side a little under four minutes to get into a goal-to-go situation, where Kane Yeater punched it in from a yard out. Scholl took the two-point try in himself, and we were tied once again at 23 all.
“You can’t tackle him, he throws the ball, he gets into the end zone with nobody around him,” Curtis said “
On the other side, the Tigers had scored on every drive to this point and they weren’t going to start now. At this point, Schenck had gone from having a great game to a special one, as he was willing his team down the field. It was starting to take three to four defenders to bring him down as he continued to churn for more yards, as he picked up a pair of 15-yard runs in which the first contact was made near the line of scrimmage. He ended up punching it in at the goal line once again to give him 165 for the game with five minutes left in the third quarter. Warsaw now led again, 30-23.
“He ran like a man. I was very pleased with how he and we played on the first five drives,” Curtis said.
The Raiders responded by giving the visitors a taste of their own medicine. The home side held the ball for the remainder of the third on a drive that featured a bit of controversy. Just past midfield, Scholl ran an option play and pulled off a perfect fake to his running back. The back was swarmed and Scholl took off down the sidelines and into the end zone. Unfortunately for him, he sold it a bit too well, as when the RB was tackled, the whistle blew. After a lot of conversation and even more booing, the end result was a four-yard gain.
Northridge ended up in the end zone anyway, as Scholl connected with Keivantre Copeland on a short pass for a score to pull the home side within one. The Raiders elected to go for two to try and take the lead with a little under eleven minutes remaining, but a phenomenal read by Matthew Flores-Ortega blew the play up before it even got going, keeping his team in front 30-29.
The Raider defense finally got the stop it desperately needed on the next drive, forcing a three-and-out and the first punt of the night after just two minutes came off of the clock. Upon getting the ball back, Northridge dug deep into its bag of tricks to move the ball down the field. The home side used a double pass for its first big chunk play of the drive before busting out the hook and ladder to get the ball to the one. A play later Scholl took it in for his third score of the night before adding a two-point try with his legs as well. 3:08 remained in the game, and the Raiders now led 37-30.
“[Punting] was the ball game. We didn’t give the ball to Michael Schenck enough and that’s on me,” Curtis said.
With their backs against the wall, the Warsaw offense got back to work, but now had to rely much more on the pass than usual. Haynes was able to complete one pass to Grady Nelson to get the team to midfield, but things stalled out from there. Hayden Gorball came up with an interception with just over a minute left to seal the deal and crown Northridge as the kings of the NLC.
Warsaw (8-1, 6-1 NLC) is off next week before beginning sectional play against Fort Wayne Wayne.
“How we handle this as young men is going to show a lot over the next two weeks,” Curtis said. “This was disappointing but there’s still more football to be played.”
