The Class 4A fourth-ranked Concord Minutemen wrapped up an undefeated season, while the Warsaw Tigers closed out a regular season to forget Friday at Fisher Field.
Defeating Warsaw 35-14 in Northern Lakes Conference football action, Concord (9-0, 7-0 NLC) finished undefeated in the regular season for the third time in school history, resulting in a Gatorade bath for coach Tim Dawson."It matters a lot because it's only been done twice in school history," Dawson said about going undefeated, which the Minutemen also did in 1967 and 2006. "Anytime you can play our schedule, and go undefeated, you need to enjoy that."
As the Minutemen were celebrating a conference championship, Warsaw coach Phil Jensen was praising the resilience of his team, which finished the regular season at 1-8 and 1-6 in the NLC.
"Our kids played hard," Jensen said. "I was really pleased. They could have easily tanked on us when it got away from us a little bit."
The Tigers could have tanked after the Concord offense scored touchdowns on its first three possessions, taking a 21-0 lead with 8:20 remaining in the second quarter.
During a nine-play span, the Minutemen offense scored two touchdowns and posted seven first downs.
"That's a really, really good high school football team," Jensen said. "They're very well balanced. Obviously, they have a great quarterback, a good running back, good line and a really good defense."
The great quarterback was senior Anthony Yoder, who completed 9 of 16 pass attempts for 244 yards and two touchdowns, while also running the ball eight times for 48 yards and two scores. The running back was 6-foot-2, 230-pound sophomore DuWhan Alford, who ran for 81 yards and a score.
Yoder and Alford benefitted from an offensive line that featured senior Eddie Warr (6-3, 339 pounds), senior Jacob VanderMolen (6-4, 240), senior Coty Brown (6-7, 265), junior Devon Butler (6-4, 285) and junior Jason Spriggs (6-6, 231).
By comparison, Warsaw's starting center, senior Zac Erba, is 5-11 and 170 pounds.
"They're getting better every game and you want them to be able to do that," Dawson said about his offensive line. "The thing we were worried about offensively was the line coming together."
Dawson may have been worrying about the line coming together, but Jensen was worrying about how to combat it.
"They can cause you a lot of fits, because if you're not back to play pass, they're going to run it down your throat," he said. "Then, when you come up to stop the run, Yoder can sling the football."
Falling behind 21-0, Warsaw responded late in the first half as Concord was whistled for two of its four pass interference penalties of the night during a 54-yard scoring drive capped by a 11-yard pass from senior Jeremy Coppes to sophomore Taylor Cone with 37.9 seconds remaining.
Just when the Tigers began to get some momentum, Concord returned the ensuing kickoff to their own 47-yard line, then picked up another 15 yards on a face mask penalty.
With great field possession, Yoder found senior Joe Adams for a 38-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the drive, putting Warsaw in a 28-7 hole at the half.
Yoder bit the Tigers again on the opening drive of the second half, finding senior Alex Sith for a 68-yard touchdown on the third play of the drive, building a 35-7 lead with 10:45 remaining in the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Warsaw scored as many points against Concord as any team this season when sophomore Zach Rooney raced 53 yards for a touchdown.
The score, accompanied with the extra point by senior Scott Smyth, put 14 points on the board, which is a point total only reached by East Noble and Goshen this year against the Minutemen.
"Their kids played hard and didn't quit," Dawson said. "We knew they wouldn't."
Midway through the fourth quarter, each coach began making substitutions, and Jensen made a concerted effort to get his seniors recognized, calling separate timeouts to allow his offensive and defensive seniors to walk off to applause.
"They're a special group of young men," Jensen said about his seniors. "We're not the best football team, but they're a classy bunch of kids. They've been through a lot and stuck it out. I'm real proud to be their coach."
The long run punctuated Rooney's day, as he ran the ball 11 times for 108 yards.
Making Rooney's night even more impressive was the fact Concord was packing the box, not fearing the Warsaw passing attack, which completed 2 of 11 passes for 17 yards.
"From the game films we saw, we knew their quarterback was a good runner," Dawson said about Coppes. "We were worried about him. We have a veteran secondary, so we're not afraid to play a little man (coverage) if we need to and be able to keep everything in front of us."
With the regular season now behind them, the Tigers will now look for redemption in the opening round of Sectional 3 at Fort Wayne North (4-5) Friday.
"We did some nice things tonight, but we just have to try to get healthy the best we can," Jensen said. "We have to get better and try to win a playoff game."
