Someone told Warsaw Community High School football coach Troy Akers long ago, don't turn the ball over and you have a chance to win.
The Tigers had more than a chance to win Friday, they advanced to the sectional championship game for just the second time in school history with a 14-7 win over the visiting Fort Wayne South Side Archers."This is the first game this season we've played turnover-free football," said Akers, whose team improved to 7-4 on the season. "We didn't turn the ball over tonight, that's great. I'm just so proud of these kids. This is exciting. I'm really excited for the kids and the coaches. I'm really excited for the community. We've had so much great support from this community, and now we're hosting a sectional championship game."
The Tigers will play host to No. 8 Fort Wayne Snider (10-1) Friday at Fisher Field. Snider advanced by beating host Huntington North (9-2) by a lopsided score of 52-9.
In Warsaw's only other sectional final appearance, the Tigers fell to Snider in 2002.
After Friday's win over the South Side Archers, who fell behind 14-0 but made things interesting late in the fourth quarter when Derek Evans returned a kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown, Akers said he didn't care who his team faces next.
"It wasn't a pretty win, but we're hosting and we're playing in a sectional championship game next Friday," said Akers. "We're going to enjoy this. I don't care if we're playing the Colts or the Bears, we're playing next week. I'm just so proud of this team."
The teams were locked into a scoreless battle until Warsaw senior quarterback Ben Higgins hooked up with classmate Thomas Justice for a 45-yard touchdown pass with 5:35 remaining in the third quarter. Matt Franco's extra-point kick gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead.
"After the first touchdown, things started to go our way," said Akers. "I thought Ben Higgins threw a great ball and Thomas Justice made a nice catch."
Warsaw's scoring drive covered 45 yards in one play and lasted eight seconds.
It was set up when South Side's Jonathan McCoy went to his knee and was ruled down on a punt attempt.
The score remained 7-0 in Warsaw's favor until sophomore Justin Clemens, who started the game at tight end and finished the contest at quarterback, powered his way across the goal line for a one-yard score with 1:28 remaining in the game.
After struggling to find consistency with their running game, the Tigers found some life in the fourth quarter.
Warsaw started a drive at its own 18-yard line with 2:30 to play in the game.
Sophomore Andy Conrad powered his way for a three-yard gain on the first play, and then broke free for a 41-yard scamper on the next play.
Senior Ben Davis, an all-conference defensive linemen who came into the game with a team-high eight rushing touchdowns, followed Conrad's long run with a 37-yard trot of his own.
Clemens barrelled his away in for the score on the next play on a quarterback keeper.
"We got into a power situation," said Akers when asked what brought life to his team's running game. "South Side's front line was dominating us, we needed to do something. We went to a goal line set in the middle of the field and just played power football."
After Franco's extra-point kick with 1:28 remaining in the game, it appeared the Tigers had a comfortable 14-0 lead.
South Side, however, had other ideas.
Derek Evans put the Archers on the board 13 seconds later with an 84-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.
The Archers then attempted an onside kick, but the ball went out of bounds and Warsaw took over at the 47. The Tigers ran three plays and took the final 1:15 off the clock to score the postseason win.
South Side finished the season with a 4-7 mark.
While Warsaw's offense came to life when it had to, the Tiger defense made plays the majority of the game.
After allowing the Archers first downs on the first three plays of the game, the Warsaw defense was able to force three South Side turnovers.
Aaron West and Tom Daniels came up with key interceptions for the Tigers, while Josh Anglin scooped up an Archer fumble.
"The defense bent but didn't break," said Akers. "We made some big plays when we needed to, and we came up with three turnovers. I'm just so proud of this team."
Conrad, who entered the game as Warsaw's leading rusher with 920 yards, carried the ball 19 times for 91 yards. Davis added 46 yards on three carries.
Higgins completed 4 of 14 passes for 63 yards, while Justice pulled in two catches for 57 yards.
South Side had to go to backup quarterback Chris Hambrick after starting signal-caller Greg Johnson went down with a leg injury.
Johnson, who rushed for 12 yards on the game's first play, finished the contest with seven carries for 33 yards and was 0 of 5 through the air. He came out of the locker room at halftime on crutches.
Hambrick completed 6 of 13 passes for 64 yards. Evans led the Archer offense with 11 carries for 63 yards, while John Easley tallied 52 yards on nine carries.
Both Calvin Dubose and Cameron Bradley had two catches for 19 yards for South Side.
The game was the third all-time between Warsaw and South Side.
While the two schools meet each year on the basketball courth, the Tigers and Archers hadn't met in a football game since 1961.
