NAPPANEE — Initially, it appeared a first-half goal-line stand would just be a moral victory, but it ended up leading to a huge victory. Trailing 10-0 at NorthWood late in the first half Friday, the Warsaw Tigers’ (6-2, 5-1 Northern Lakes Conference) defense denied the NorthWood Panthers (4-4, 4-2 NLC) on 4th-and-1 from the one-yard line with 2:10 left in the half. As it turned out, that stand came was even bigger than it appeared, as Warsaw outscored NorthWood 10-0 in the second half and went on to win the NLC game 17-10 in overtime. “The defense kept us in the game to give us a chance to win in the first half,” Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said. “We made them kick a field goal on the first drive, then the goal-line stand keeps it a two-score game. With offenses like we run both of ours, you knew there weren’t going to be a lot of chances in the second half.” NorthWood opened the game by scoring all 10 of its points on its first two possessions, but after that, the Warsaw defense held up. And with the defense playing strong, Jensen had images of his team’s 29-28 win at NorthWood in 2000. “At halftime, I went in and told them, ‘Twelve years ago, on this very field, we were down 14-0 at halftime. A group of young men decided they were going to change the line of scrimmage and give Brad Seiss a chance to win us a football game. We won that game in overtime.’,” Jensen said. “They did it. On the same end (of the field). On the same end.” He was able to lean on Seiss in that game, and this time around, it was junior running back Tristan McClone. Having already eclipsed Seiss’ single-game rushing record when he amassed 322 at Northridge earlier this season, McClone put the team on his back once again. After running for 47 yards on 14 carries in the first half, McClone began slamming the middle of the line in the second half, tallying 104 yards on 24 attempts, resulting in a 151-yard game. “When you spread them out, and with the field being slick, going north and south is what we wanted to do,” Jensen said. With McClone delivering body blows up the middle, sophomore quarterback Jake Mangas was able to find some open receivers. Entering the game last week for the injured Austin Head, Mangas completed 9 of 10 passes for two scores against Wawasee, and against NorthWood, he came up big when he needed to. On a 4th-and-5 play from the NorthWood 22-yard line, Mangas hit junior Conner McCammack on a nice touch pass, bringing his team with 10-7 with 7:25 remaining in the third quarter. After forcing NorthWood to punt on its next possession, Warsaw looked primed to take the lead after driving the ball from its own 39 to the Panthers’ 18. However, McClone fumbled the ball for the second time in the game, handing it right back to NorthWood at the 15-yard line with 38 seconds remaining in the third. Using a running game of its own, led by freshman Tanner Cleveland’s 91 rushing yards, the Panthers drove the ball 72 yards to the Warsaw 13-yard line, eating up all but 3:17 of the clock. Despite using so much of the clock, NorthWood senior kicker Brendan Widner, who had opened the game’s scoring with a 25-yard field goal in the first quarter, missed a 30-yarder, setting Warsaw up at its own 20-yard line. From there, the Tigers used 12 plays to drive the ball 75 yards, resulting in a 1st-and-goal from the 5-yard line. After fade pass to senior Taylor Cone was whistled incomplete, McClone ran the ball up the middle to the 2-yard line with 4.4 seconds remaining. Instead of attempting one more shot into the end zone, Jensen sent sophomore kicker Caleb Klusman onto the field, where he converted a 20-yard field goal, tying the game at 10-10. “No, no, no, no – not from four yards,” Jensen said about the prospect of going for the win late in regulation. “We felt like we had them and that’s asking a bit much. We went for the win on the first play, with the fade. The second play was just to get the ball into the middle of the field so we could kick the field goal.” In overtime, when each team gets a chance to score from the 10-yard line, Mangas found junior Seth Fouts for a 4-yard touchdown, handing the game over to the Tiger defense. Instead of scoring themselves, the Panthers actually ended up losing two yards on their overtime possession, keeping Warsaw’s conference championship hopes alive. “One more,” Jensen said, referring to this Friday’s home game against Concord. “One more. We get to go home and we get to play in the last game of the season for a conference championship.” With one week remaining in the regular season, Warsaw, Concord and Plymouth all sit at 5-1 in the NLC. While Concord and Warsaw play each other, the Plymouth Rockies will take on NorthWood. Therefore, if Warsaw could defeat Concord, and NorthWood defeated Plymouth, the Tigers would win the NLC title outright. At the end of the day, the winner of the Warsaw/Concord game will at least get a split of the championship, which excites Jensen. “Playing for a championship,” he said. “Can’t ask for more than that in the last game of the season.”
WARSAW 17, NORTHWOOD 10 (OT) W 0 0 7 3 7 – 17 N 10 0 0 0 0 – 10 W N 1st downs 15 15 Rushing yds 146 181 Passing yds 80 93 Comp-Att-Int 8-12-1 8-16-1 Total offense 226 274 Fumbles/lost 2/2 0/0 Penalties/yds 1/5 3/35 Punts/avg 1/34 2/35.5 First Quarter N – Brendan Widner 25 field goal 6:33, 3-0 N – Will Kirkwood 20 run (Widner kick) 0:28, 10-0 Third Quarter W – Jake Mangas 22 pass to Connor McCammack (Caleb Klusman kick) 7:25, 10-7 Fourth Quarter W – Klusman 20 field goal 0:04 Overtime W – Mangas 4 pass to Seth Fouts (Klusman kick) 17-10 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing – Warsaw, Tristan McClone 38-151, Tim Perkey 8-16, Mangas 1-(-5), Taylor Cone 1-(-16); NorthWood, Tanner Cleveland 22-91, Kirkwood 10-78, Blake Cleveland 6-8, Luke Edwards 2-4. Passing – Warsaw, Mangas 8-12, 80 yds, 2 TDs, INT; NorthWood, Kirkwood 8-16, 93 yds, INT. Receiving – Trevor Pruitt 1-24, McCammack 1-22, Cone 3-18, Fouts 2-10, McClone 1-6; NorthWood, Dustin Yoder 3-38, B. Cleveland 2-29, Travis Bear 2-24, T. Cleveland 1-2.
