DUNLAP – It wasn’t at all how the Warsaw Tigers wanted to conclude the regular season, as they suffered two heartbreaking losses Friday night. On the scoreboard, Warsaw (4-5, 3-4 NLC) fell 22-17 to the host Concord Minutemen (7-2, 6-0 NLC), who struggled offensively the majority of the game before Jason Grooms threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes and led his team to an outright Northern Lakes Conference championship. As if that loss didn’t hurt enough, the Tigers also lost senior standout Riley Rhoades, who went into Friday’s game with 72 catches for 778 yards and eight touchdowns. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound receiver caught two passes against 5A No. 8 Concord, coming up injured on the second one. Rhoades was helped off the field by teammates in the second quarter and then carted away from the sideline. He came back to the sideline in the second half with crutches, and with an ice pack wrapped around his left knee. Warsaw coach Phil Jensen didn’t know the exact severity of the injury after the game, though he was obviously worried and said it “wasn’t good.” “Our kids played hard,” said Jensen, whose team held a 17-10 lead with just over four minutes remaining in the game. “This loss is not our kids’ fault, they played their brains out for four quarters. They even rallied after Riley went down, they were all worried about him, as am I. “They stayed focused and kept getting after it. We had a great drive there to score the touchdown before halftime, and the two-point conversion to tie things up. We got the ball to start the second half, and we just never got anything going really against their five-man front. But again, it was not from a lack of effort by our kids. They fought really hard and fought through some adversity, and I’m really proud of them.” The Tigers scored the game’s first points on a safety when junior Jeremy David blocked a Concord punt and the Minutemen recovered the ball in the endzone. Concord took the lead with 1:54 remaining in the first quarter on a 38-yard field goal by sophomore Josh Gorball, and then extended its advantage to 10-2 when Grooms tossed a 44-yard scoring strike to fellow senior Josh Emerson with 8:37 left in the first half. Warsaw knotted the game at 10-10 with 19 seconds left, as junior quarterback Michael Jensen ran in from a yard out, and then tossed a two-point conversion pass to David, who set up the drive with his second blocked punt. “He’s a great playmaker for us as a junior,” Warsaw’s veteran coach said of David. “There’s a lot of kids who made plays, they were just getting after it and playing hard.” The Tigers regained the lead with 6:16 left in the fourth quarter when junior Rob Sullivan took a handoff from Jensen and went untouched into the endzone from a yard out. After struggling offensively the majority of the game, the Minutemen, who were whistled for 13 penalties for 95 yards, found their swagger during crunch time. Grooms connected with junior Cedric Mitchell for a 34-yard scoring strike with 3:59 left in the game. Gorball missed the extra-point kick, leaving Concord down 17-16, but Grooms hooked up with Emerson for a 64-yard touchdown toss with 1:52 remaining that sealed the deal. Concord ran for a two-point conversion, trying to give itself a seven-point lead, but was stopped by the Tigers. Outside of the three big scoring passes by Groom, Warsaw held Concord’s offense in check. “The kids played hard, but we gave up 22 points, and we only got 17,” said Jensen. “The numbers are the numbers. When you give up 22 and only get 17, the numbers don’t work. But again, it wasn’t for a lack of effort from our defense, they played hard.” Concord finished the game with 316 yards of total offense, 247 of which came through the air, as Grooms finished the game 12 of 35. Emerson caught five passes for 131 yards. Senior Matt Fragale led the Minutemen on the ground with 44 yards on 14 carries. Warsaw was held to 127 yards of offense. Jensen completed 13 of 35 passes for 114 yards and was picked off once. Sophomore Will McGarvey pounded out 43 yards on 23 carries, but Jensen was brought down behind the line of scrimmage a number of times, leaving him with -37 yards rushing. The Tigers finished the game with just 13 rushing yards as a team. “We’ve got to be able to run the ball better,” said the elder Jensen. “Again, consistency on offense has been our Achilles’ heel, whether it’s penalties, dropped passes, not being able to run the ball, not being able to protect the quarterback. We have struggled to find consistency all year.” Warsaw will need a consistent offensive attack next week, as the Tigers travel to Huntertown to play the Carroll Chargers in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs. Concord, which finished the NLC portion of its schedule with a 7-0 mark, will have a bye week before playing at Fort Wayne North Side in the Class 5A playoffs on Oct. 30.
CONCORD 22, WARSAW 17 War 2 8 0 7 — 17 Con 3 7 0 12 — 22
War Con 1st downs 10 14 Rushing yds 13 69 Passing yds 114 247 Comp-Att-Int 13-35-1 12-35-0 Total yds 127 316 Fumbles/lost 1/0 2/1 Penalties/yds 8/60 13/95 Punts/avg 10/36 6/15
First Quarter W – safety on blocked punt 9:41, 2-0 C – Josh Gorball 38 FG 1:54, 3-2 Second Quarter C – Jason Grooms 44 pass to Josh Emerson (Gorball kick) 8:37, 10-2 W – Michael Jensen 1 run (Jensen conversion pass to Jeremy David) :19, 10-10 Fourth Quarter W – Rob Sullivan 1 run (Andrew Mevis kick) 6:16, 17-10 C – Grooms 34 pass to Cedric Mitchell (kick failed) 3:59, 17-16 C – Grooms 64 pass to Emerson (conversion run failed) 1:52, 22-17 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing — Warsaw, Will McGarvey 24-43, Sullivan 4-7, Jensen 9-(-37); Concord, Matt Fragale 14-44, Grooms 11-25. Passing — Warsaw, Jensen 13-35-114, 0 TD, 1 INT ; Concord, Grooms 12-35-247, 3 TDs, 0 INT. Receiving — Warsaw, David 5-40, D’Andre Street 2-36, Thomas Hickerson 1-14, Brock Riley 1-10, Sullivan 1-5, Riley Rhoades 2-5, Jack Tucker 1-4; Concord, Emerson 5-131, Mitchell 2-47, Luke Simon 2-28, Matt Wilmore 2-26, Jocco Iavagnilio 1-15
