Tigers Held Scoreless At NorthWood

NAPPANEE - Seven years between shutouts, a span of 71 games, Warsaw's varsity football team has now been held scoreless twice in seven days.

A week after a 31-0 loss at rival Wawasee, the first time the Tigers were shutout since the 1997 sectional opener against Homestead, Warsaw traveled to Nappanee Friday and fell 29-0 to Class 3A No. 3 NorthWood at Andrews Field.

Much like last week's loss at Warrior Field in Syracuse, one big quarter for the opposition went a long way in doing in the Tigers.

A week ago it was 28 points in the first quarter, Friday night it was NorthWood scoring 20 points in the third quarter, as the Panthers stretched a 6-0 halftime lead into their seventh win of the season.

"That's a typical thing at Andrews field," said first-year Warsaw head coach Troy Akers. "Despite the injuries, I thought we came out ready to play. I was proud of our first-half effort. I felt at halftime we had done some nice things. Rich Dodson is the best coach I've ever been around as far as making adjustments or whatever he does with his team at halftime."

The host Panthers came out running the ball to start the second half, an aspect of the game NorthWood has always been good at and always prided itself on.

NorthWood started the drive on its own 32 and quickly moved the ball to the Tiger 37 on three carries by junior Darren Lengacher and one rush by senior Michael Ramirez.

Senior Jason Hochstetler took care of the rest, taking the handoff from quarterback Kiser Chamberlin, breaking out of a pile of tacklers that appeared to have him wrapped up for a two-yard loss and running it in for a 37-yard touchdown.

"If you had to go back to one play that broke our backs, it would be Hochstetler's touchdown run," said Akers, whose Tigers fell to 4-4 overall on the season and 2-4 in Northern Lakes Conference play. "Hochstetler looked like he was tackled and broke it out for a touchdown. That took the wind out of our sales."

NorthWood lit up the scoreboard 4:06 later when Lengacher ran in from 11 yards out, and with 35 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Ramirez broke free for a 14-yard scoring scamper.

After struggling with the extra-point attempt on the first two touchdowns, junior Ryan Burkhart made good on his P.A.T. kicks on NorthWood's third and fourth touchdowns, pushing the Panthers' advantage to 26-0.

Burkhart rounded out the NorthWood scoring effort with a 41-yard field goal witih 8:53 remaining in the game.

It appeared as if Warsaw was going to get on the scoreboard with 4:04 left in the second quarter when senior Nate Fitzsimmons kicked a 29-yard field goal that appeared good.

The officiating crew ruled it wide right.

"I thought we had three there on the field goal," said Akers. "The official came over after the game and admitted that he missed it (the call). That doesn't make you feel real good."

Neither did the fact that the Tigers shot theirselves in the foot at key points in the game, fumbling the ball three times, including the first play of the game.

The Panther defense recovered two Tiger fumbles and picked off one pass from sophmore quarterback Tyler Akers, who was making his second career varsity start. Akers filled in for junior Mark Sudhoff, who starter at quarterback last week at Wawasee and sat out Friday night with a concussion.

As was the case against Wawasee last week, Warsaw was able to move the ball down the field at times, the Tigers just made costly mistakes at key times.

"We moved the ball again and got no points," said Troy Akers. "Tyler threw the ball well despite the weather. We just game them (NorthWood) too good of field position. They're as good as it gets in the NLC."

The win improved NorthWood to 7-1 overall on the season and to 5-1 in NLC play. The Panthers, who conclude the regular season next week at Plymouth, are in a three-way tie for the NLC crown with Wawasee and Concord. Wawasee beat Elkhart Memorial 35-6 Friday, while Concord survived a scare from a scrappy Northridge team, winning 21-14 in overtime.

Hochstetler rushed the ball six times for NorthWood, leading the team with 72 yards. Lengacher carried 12 times for 65 yards, while Ramirez tallied 50 yards on 11 carries.

Chamberlin completed 5 of 13 passes for 88 yards. Ramirez caught two passes for 45 yards, while Andrew Huber made two catches for 32 yards.

For Warsaw, tailback Thomas Balestri rushed the ball 16 times for 59 yards, while fullback Nelson Conley racked up 21 yards on five carries.

Akers completed 5 of 15 passes for 47 yards and threw one interception. Tyler Stouder caught three passes for 38 yards, while Antonio Castillo had one reception for 10 yards and Conley one for negative one yard.

All totaled, NorthWood outgained Warsaw 304-111.

The Tigers are in action again Friday when they host Concord at Fisher Field, the last regular season contest to be played on the shores of Winona Lake, as the Tigers will play at their new field next year on the campus of the high school.