Coach Troy Akers said he made it the No. 1 priority for his Warsaw Community High School football team.
The players, he said, have taken it to heart."We made it the No. 1 priority, we want to win at home and defend the house," said Akers, whose Tigers host Fort Wayne South Side in Friday's Class 5A Sectional 3 semifinal clash at Fisher Field. "The players have taken it to heart. When you play in a great community like Warsaw and they support and back you, you want to win in front of them. We've had the best attendance at home games ever for Warsaw football. When people come out and watch the way they have this year, you better play well."
The Tigers, who opened sectional play Saturday by beating host Fort Wayne Northrop 48-16, take a 6-4 record into Friday's clash with the Archers.
At Fisher Field this season, Warsaw sports a 4-1 record, with the lone home loss coming to the NorthWood Panthers, who beat the Tigers 37-35 with a field goal in the waning seconds.
"We've played very well at home," said Akers. "We lost to NorthWood, that was a game we let slip away. We want to make Fisher Field a place that's not so hospitable. We want to create an aura, like at Plymouth or Concord. Those are tough places to play. We want people to say 'we don't want to play at Warsaw, they've got the 12th man.'"
Akers is encouraging fans to continue to support the Tigers Friday when they host the Archers, who sport a 4-6 record after beating Carroll 24-7 in last week's sectional opener.
The winner of Friday's game will play either Huntington North (9-1) or No. 8 Fort Wayne Snider (9-1) in next week's sectional championship game.
If the Tigers beat Fort Wayne South, the sectional championship game is guaranteed to be at Fisher Field, regardless of who wins between Huntington North and Snider.
Before the Tigers can host the sectional championship for the first time in school history, or play in one for just the second time in school history, they must beat a South Side team that Akers said he can describe in just two words.
"Speed and pressure," said Akers. "They have more speed than Northrop. They're easily the quickest team we'll have seen all year. On top of that, they bring a lot of pressure defensively."
Leading the Archer offense is 5-foot-10, 165-pound sophomore Greg Johnson, who took over the signal-calling duties midway through the season when an injury sidelined then-starting quarterback Carson Bradley.
In the win over Carroll, Johnson threw a 24-yard touchdown pass and ran for a 53-yard touchdown.
Oh yeah, while playing defense, he also intercepted an errant Carroll pass.
"They made a big change at quarterback, and it's worked for them," Akers said of the Archers. "They brought the Johnson kid in at quarterback, and he's greased lightning. He's not a drop back in the pocket passer. When you get him on the move, he's slippery. He made Carroll's defense look bad last week."
An advantage to Akers and the Tigers might be that a number of South Side's players see time on both offense and defense, while Warsaw has long tried to impose a platooning philosophy to keep players fresh and rested.
"Most of their athletes go both ways, and that's caught up with them in a few games," said Akers. "We're hoping to be able to take advantage of that. Carroll made enough mistakes last week and it wasn't really an issue."
Despite playing a number of underclassmen and playing through a laundry list of injuries, the Tigers will finish the season with a winning record after going 2-9 a year ago.
"We do have some very talented undeclassmen," said Akers. "The more weeks we get under their belt is like getting more practices for next year. It's advantageous for us to keep winning. I'm pleased with the program. We feel like the program is headed in a good direction."
Maybe that direction leads to a sectional championship game at Fisher Field next Friday.
As for the all-time series between the Tigers and Archers, the two schools play regularly in boys basketball, but have only met twice on the gridiron.
South Side beat Warsaw 13-2 in 1960 and then 12-6 the following year.
The Tigers and Archers have had one common opponent this season.
South Side beat Northrop 10-7 in the second week of the regular season, while Warsaw beat the Bruins 48-16 in last week's sectional opener.
