Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
In the seven years Phil Jensen has headed the Warsaw football program, it's safe to say he's taken the Tigers places they haven't been.
A win Friday night over Huntington North at Fisher Field and he'll have done it again, putting Warsaw in the sectional championship for the first time in school history.
"Obviously this is exciting for the program," Jensen said before Wednesday afternoon's practice. "This would be the first time we've played up into November. We're just gonna go out and do what we've done before."
Following consecutive seasons that ended with sectional semifinal losses by field goals on the road in overtime - Penn 10-7 in 2000 and Snider 23-20 last year - Jensen and the Tigers have the luxury of playing at home against a Huntington North team that has just three wins.
Though the Tigers, whose three losses have come to teams with a combined 28-2 record, come in at 7-3 and the Vikings at 3-7, Jensen said he and his team are focused on Friday, not a 5A sectional title matchup with No. 3 Snider (9-0) or No. 5 Homestead (10-0).
"This time of the year everyone is 1-0," Jensen said. "We've got our hands full. They're fighting for their existence just like we are. Our last three games we haven't exactly been world beaters. You can't look at what a team did five, six or seven weeks ago. They're still practicing like we are, hoping to survive and advance."
For Warsaw to advance to next week's sectional championship game, the Tigers have to win Friday without two starting offensive linemen and their starting tailback.
Five-foot-9, 160-pound sophomore rusher Thomas Balestri, who rushed for 75 yards on 13 carries in last week's 14-7 win at Northrop, was carried off the field and will not dress Friday. Senior linemen Josh Nibert and Ryan Walenga will watch from the sidelines as well.
The Tigers will, however, have the services of leading passer and rusher Ryan DeGeeter.
The 6-4, 210-pound senior three-sport athlete is among the state's leaders in passing with 1,552 yards, completing 98 of 226 attempts.
He leads the team in rushing with 538 yards on 84 attempts, an average of 5.2 yards per carry, his longest rush a 50-yard scamper at Plymouth.
"I'm very familiar with Ryan DeGeeter, I had the pleasure of coaching him at the Bishop Dullaghan Camp," said first-year Huntington North coach Keith Wilkins. "I think he's a tremendous individual with great rapport towards his teammates and coaches. He's the total package. Physically, he's got all the assets of a Divison I quarterback, very good feet, size, mobility and great arm strength. He's got the total package."
When the right-haned rifleman is not throwing to favorite targets Nate Miller and Mike Thallemer, DeGeeter starts at outside linebacker for Warsaw's stingy defense, totalling 56 tackles and a key interception in the waning minutes of last week's win.
He also ranks third in the state in punting - which he does left footed - at a clip of 39.7 yards per attempt.
Miller, a junior flanker, has 38 receptions for 517 yards. Mike Thallemer, a senior receiver/defensive back, has 24 catches for 512 yards.
Huntington North, on the other hand, has but 642 passing yards on the year as a team, completing 26 of 95 attempts with eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Levi Sell leads the Vikings in passing, completing 21 of 75 attempts for 561 yards with all eight of the team's passing touchdowns and six interceptions.
Huntington North's bread and butter comes on the ground from its triple option.
Scott Tamowski leads the Vikings in rushing with 520 yards on 65 carries, an average of 8.0 yards per carry. Andrew Brauchla has 124 carries for 477 yards, while Sell has 86 carries for 456 yards.
"I've seen some good things (on film) from Huntington North," Jensen said. "They've got a good quarterback that can do nice things with the fake. He's real good at dealing out the ball. They scored a lot of points last week, especially for a bad night (of weather)."
The 3-7 Vikings advanced to Friday's seminfinal by defeating 2-8 Kokomo 35-21.
Playing Warsaw, a team that has won 34 games under Jensen the past four years, on its home field, Wilkins says he realizes he and his Vikings are clearly underdogs, even noting they get no respect in their hometown.
"Without a question we're the underdogs," Wilkins said. "Prior to Week 1 (of the tournament) someone made the comment that the winner of our game with Kokomo would be the worst team in 5A still playing. We face critisism all the time in our county, in the press. Our approach has been simple, we know we're gonna go out and work hard and do the right things. We know this is a rebuilding thing, and that we're not gonna see success immediately. Coach Jensen has done a great job building the program up at Warsaw, that's what we'd like to do here."
Class 5A
SECTIONAL 3
HUNGTINGTON NORTH (3-7) AT WARSAW (7-3)
7 p.m. Friday in Warsaw
Look at the Numbers
OFFENSE
Rushing (att-yds) -ÊWarsaw (309-1,498) - Ryan DeGeeter 84-538, Ryan Hamilton 57-278, Ben Kreinbrink 74-258, Thomas Balestri 38-173; Huntington North (384-1,876) - Scott Tarnowski 65-520, Andrew Brauchla 124-477, Levi Sell 86-456, Aaron Drummond 33-146
Passing (comp.-att.-int. yards, TDs) - Warsaw (98-229-9, 1,552, 9) - DeGeeter 98-226-8, 1,552, 9, Jeremy Sharp 0-2-0, Daniel Erickson 0-1-1; Huntington North ( 26-95-10, 642, 8) - Sell 21-75-6, 561, 8, Keith Giblin 5-20-4, 81, 0
Receiving (catches-yards) - Warsaw - Nate Miller 38-517, Mike Thallemer 24-512, Adam Griggs 10-205, Balestri 13-133; Huntington North - Tarnowski 6-194, Klint Jackson 6-113, Chris Kramer 3-106, Wayne Doyle 3-102
DEFENSE
Tackles (solo-assists) - Warsaw - Zach Smith 72-43 (115), William Knepper 56-22 (78), Brandon Cordell 53-26 (79), Thallemer 52-30 (82), Jake Engler 52-30 (82), DeGeeter 38-18 (56); Huntington North - Matt Hesting 62-69 (131), Drummond 29-32 (61), Matt Kauffman 32-25 (57), Kyle Murphy 21-25 (46), Daniel Jones 21-23 (44)
Interceptions - Warsaw (13) Thallemer 6, Griggs 2, DeGeeter 1, Michael Weinhorst 1, Brandon Stogsdill 1, Miller 1, Andrew Denlinger 1; Huntington North (2) Jackson 1, Hesting 1
SPECIAL TEAMS
Kickoff Returns -ÊWarsaw - Balestri 12-217 (18.1), Miller 4-75 (18.8), Hamilton 4-72 (18.0); Huntington North - David Mallicki 8-117 (14.6), Wayne Doyle 7-127 (18.1), Scott Tarnowski 7-72 (10.3), Drummond 6-60 (10.0)
Punts - Warsaw - Ryan DeGeeter 40-1,586 (39.7); Huntington North - Giblin 44-1,396 (31.7)
Punt Returns -ÊWarsaw - Miller 13-64 (4.9), Balestri 1-30 (30.0), Stogsdill 1-6 (6.0); Huntington North - Tamowski 4-83 (20.8), Kramer 1-30 (30.0), Kauffman 1-18 (18.0), Sell 1-0 (0.0)
