Field position and takeaways, said Warsaw Community High School football coach Phil Jensen, can make life easier for an offensive unit. Such was the case for Jensen’s Tigers, who hosted and defeated the Elkhart Memorial Crimson Chargers 24-0 Friday night at Fisher Field. In a homecoming win that was much-needed after last week’s 41-6 loss at Plymouth, the Warsaw offense spent the majority of the game in Memorial territory and benefited from three Crimson Charger turnovers. The Tigers, who improved to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in Northern Lakes Conference play, didn’t commit any turnovers themselves and their defensive unit kept Memorial off the scoreboard for the third consecutive season. “Field posistion and turnovers can make life a lot easier on an offense,” said Jensen, whose Tigers have outscored Memorial 80-0 in their last three meetings. “Our defense didn’t give up any big plays either. We’re back in the conference race. Now we have to get ready for a big game next week at Northridge. Northridge is a pretty good team.” Concord sits atop the NLC standings with a 3-0 record, while Plymouth is 2-0. NorthWood, Northridge and Warsaw are all 1-1, while Memorial is 1-2 and Goshen and Wawasee are each 0-2. In getting back to .500 both overall and in the conference, the Tigers kind of sputtered their way to a 7-0 lead at halftime and then turned things on in the second half. “It took a while to get to where we felt good,” said Jensen. “In the first half we had some blown opportunities. We had five penalties for 50 yards in the first half. We’ve got to do a better job not holding. We’ve got some young offensive linemen who are working hard and trying hard. Sometimes when you’re trying hard, you don’t always do the right thing. The good thing was our defense kept them out of the end zone and we finally got going on offense in the second half.” Senior quarterback Jake Mangas threw a 32-yard strike to sophomore Jeremy David for Warsaw’s first score, putting the Tigers up 7-0 with 2:31 remaining in the second quarter. A 37-yard field goal by senior Caleb Klusman made it a 10-0 count with 8:58 left in the third quarter, and then a 12-yard pass from Jake Mangas to junior brother Kyle Mangas pushed the lead to 17-0 just under seven minutes later. Senior Jakub Wood rounded out the scoring, barrelling his way in from seven yards out with 9:15 remaining in the game. Wood led Warsaw with eight carries for 45 yards, while classmate Ethyn Bradley, who also had an interception from his defensive secondary position, added 17 yards on 11 carries. The Tigers only racked up nine first downs and 179 yards of total offense Friday, but because of the field position game were constantly in position to score. Memorial was held to seven first downs and 147 yards of total offense, as the Crimson Chargers fell to 1-3 on the season. “We won, that’s what matters,” said Jensen when asked about shutting out Memorial for the third-straight year. “I’m sure if you went and asked (defensive coordinator) Coach (Kris) Hueber, he’d smile and talk about about it, but the big thing is we won.” Jake Mangas finished the game 10 of 23 through the air for 134 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Riley Rhoades caught four passes for 53 yards, while David reeled in two balls for 41 yards and Kyle Mangas made three catches for 27 yards. For Memorial, senior Trevor Trowbridge completed just 6 of 19 passes for 65 yards and was picked off twice. Jaylin Rhodes led the Crimson Chargers’ rushing attack – what little of one there was – with 13 carries for 62 yards. Christian Donovan added 19 yards on seven carries. Warsaw is at Northridge Friday, while Memorial travels to Plymouth.
WARSAW 24, ELKHART MEMORIAL 0 EM 0 0 0 0 — 0 W 0 7 10 7 — 24
EM W 1st downs 7 9 Rushing yds 82 45 Passing yds 65 134 Comp-Att-Int 6-19-2 10-23-0 Total yds 147 179 Fumbles/lost 3/1 0/0 Penalties/yds 6/50 6/55 Punts/avg 8/26 5/39
Second Quarter W – Jake Mangas 32 pass to Jeremy David (Caleb Klusman kick) 2:31, 7-0 Third Quarter W – Klusman 37 FG, 8:58, 10-0 W – Jake Mangas 12 pass to Kyle Mangas (Klusman kick) 2:07, 17-0 Fourth Quarter W – Jakub Wood 7 run (Klusman kick) 9:15, 24-0 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing — Memorial, Jaylin Rhodes 13-62, Christian Donovan 7-19, Andrew Goodman 6-8, Trevor Trowbridge 7-(-7); Warsaw, Wood 8-45, Ethyn Bradley 11-17, Rob Sullivan 4-8, J. Mangas 3-(-13). Passing — Memorial, Trowbridge 6-19-65, 0 TD, 2 INT, 1 INT, 0 TD; Warsaw, J. Mangas 10-23-134, 2 TD, 0 INT. Receiving — Memorial, Eric Holt 1-29, Brandon Leal 1-17, Charles Pates 2-12, Geno Peek 1-7; Warsaw, Riley Rhoades 4-53, K. Mangas 3-27, David 2-41, Wood 1-13
