The Fort Wayne Snider Panthers stood in the way of a sectional championship for Warsaw's football team in both 2002 and 2007. Friday, the Tigers get another shot.
The Tigers (7-4) and Panthers (9-2) will square off to crown the top team in Class 5A Sectional 3 at 7 p.m. at Fisher Field, with Warsaw looking to erase memories of its previous two sectional title shots.In 2002, Snider downed Warsaw 52-21, then turned around an ended the Tigers' season by a score in 52-14 in 2007.
"That's not even been discussed," Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said about the previous two sectional championship games against Snider. "Our whole focus has been what it's been all year long, which is trying to get better each practice and being well prepared. The kids have had good focus this week. Coming from where we were at 1-4 to being in the sectional title game - there's a lot of excitement and a lot of enthusiasm."
All that excitement may stem from the fact that many may had written the Tigers off earlier in the season.
Following a 24-7 opening-game win over Columbia City, Warsaw dropped its next four. At 1-4, the Tigers picked up a 28-21 win at Goshen, beginning a six-game winning streak going into Friday's game.
"Confidence goes a long way," Jensen said. "You get the win at Goshen, then you come to practice on Monday, and it's a little more fun to practice. It's just been a real good growth process."
And defense has been a big part of that winning streak, as Warsaw's last four opponents have combined to score 13 points.
"They're a hot team right now," Snider head coach Kurt Tippman said. "They're on a winning streak and are much improved. They're playing their best football at the end of the season, which is when you want to be playing well. They're a very dangerous team."
Tippman is in his first year as head coach at Snider, but had been an assistant with the Panthers since 1997, as well as in 1994, after playing for the Panthers in the 1980s. With his experience at Snider, he sees this year's Warsaw team being a little different than the 2002 and 2007 editions.
"They're always a well-coached team, but the one thing that stands out from the previous times we've played them is they're physical," Tippman said.
That physicality begins with senior running back Andy Conrad, who's only 93 yards shy of breaking Warsaw's career rushing record of 3,652 set by 2001-graduate Brad Seiss.
This season, Conrad has rushed for 1,384 yards, scoring 11 touchdowns, averaging 5.8 yards a carry.
"We start every game looking to stop the running game of the other team," Tippman said. "Andy Conrad is a 1,400-yard rusher, and he doesn't play in a weak conference. To do that in the (Northern Lakes Conference) is quite an accomplishment."
Conrad will be the focal point, but he's not Warsaw's only rusher, as senior quarterback Justin Clemens is just as quick to tuck the ball and run, rushing for 381 yards this year.
"Obviously, we're going to run the ball more than we're going to throw the football," Jensen said.
Even though Clemens has thrown for 525 yards and five touchdowns on 54-of-137 passing, Tippman seems to be very concerned with his legs.
"If you stop (Conrad), you have to worry about (Clemens)," he said. "He's got quite a few yards and he's a big quarterback. He's as big a quarterback as we've seen."
When Clemens does go to the air, senior Zack Linky has been his top target, averaging nearly 14 yards per catch, hauling in 26 balls for 360 yards and two scores.
On defense, the Tigers have relied on sophomore Cameron Fritzel, whose 63.5 tackles leads the team, while he and senior Brandon Head each have 7.5 tackles for loss, five of Head's being sacks.
The Tigers' defense will be tested by a Snider offense that features a three-pronged rushing attack.
"We have three senior running backs," Tippman said. "Jason McGraw is probably the one with the best stats, but they all get looks."
McGraw leads Snider with 1,091 yards and 11 touchdowns, while senior quarterback Tyler Bobilya has 696 yards and eight scores, but it's the Panthers third-leading rusher that may be the most dynamic player on the field.
On top of rushing for 308 yards and seven touchdowns, senior Zachary Barnes also has seven catches for 191 yards and two scores, while also being disruptive on the Panthers defensive line with 29 tackles, five sacks and two fumbles caused and recovered.
"He makes so many tackles when the play is going away from him," Jensen said of Barnes. "He's just such a great athlete. Their defense is just packed with amazing athletes. They fly to the football and they're very aggressive. For us to be successful, we have to have three yards at a time and keep the clock moving, keep the ball out of their hands."
And that kind of offensive game plan is what worries Tippman.
"(Warsaw) isn't too explosive, but what worries me is if they're able to get 3, 4 or 5 yards at a pop and keep the ball out of our offense's hand," Tippman said.
Snider is defeating its opponents by an average score of 36-12 this year, and if Warsaw is going to pick up chunks of yards, it will have to deal with a tough, balanced defensive line.
The line of all seniors features Barnes, as well as Donald Campbell and his 34 tackles, Rachard Maddox (36 tackles) and Andrew Kraick (43 tackles).
"We told the kids this was going to be a team with, overall, the most athletes, as well as being the most well-coached team we've seen," Jensen said.
Snider's losses this year have come against Class 4A No. 2 Fort Wayne Dwenger (10-0) as well as Class 4A No. 8 Fort Wayne South (25-20), but the Panthers did defeat Class 5A No. 4 Kokomo in the opening round of the sectional (42-7).
Since dropping their record to 1-4, Warsaw may have seemed like underdogs in most of their games, and will once again against Snider, but Jensen believes the slow start may have been beneficial in some ways.
"There's a been a lot of maturing - a lot of growing up," he said. "Through that whole time we talked about adversity making you stronger. Life's not so much about what happens to you, but how you handle it. The kids have handled it real well."
And now the kids will have a chance to win the school's first sectional title in front of its home fans.
"We're glad to be at home and in our surroundings," Jensen said. "We had a big win here last week against Homestead. Hopefully, we'll have a good crowd out here on Friday night, because these kids deserve it. They've done a tremendous job of representing their families and our community and school, because of that 'Never Say Die' attitude - that 'Don't Quit' attitude. In today's society, when things aren't going well, it seems more and more like, 'Ah, I'll just walk away from it.' These kids could have folded the tent up at 1-4. Instead, they're here playing for a championship. That's something we should all be proud of."
