SYRACUSE – Tom Wogomon said he couldn’t remember his defense stopping a team on fourth down this season. The Wawasee Warriors certainly got stingy when they had to Friday night against the Warsaw Tigers. In a battle for Kosciusko County bragging rights, the traveling W Trophy and position in the Northern Lakes Conference, the host Warriors benefited from some key defensive stands in a 14-13 homecoming win. “I can’t say how proud I am of this defense,” said Wogomon, whose team beat Warsaw for the third straight season. “We’ve been getting pushed around. I don’t think we’d stopped a team on fourth down all year. We came up big tonight.” Trailing 7-0, Warsaw faced a 4th-and-goal situation at Wawasee’s 2-yard line in the waning seconds of the first half. Junior Tristan McClone, the Tigers’ workhorse running back who came in averaging 195 yards per game, was stuffed at the line of scrimmage – sending Wawasee’s team and cheering section into a frenzy. On a 4th-and-2 from the 48-yard line in the third quarter, Wawasee’s defense held again, stopping McClone a yard short of a first down as the Tigers were trying to cut into the Warriors’ 14-0 advantage. “First off, hats off to the team in green over there,” Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said after his team lost its first conference game of the season. “Their coaches had them ready to play, and they made plays.” Wawasee improved to 3-4 overall and 2-4 in the NLC, while Warsaw fell to 6-2 and 4-1. The Tigers looked flat offensively during portions of the game, but certainly made things interesting late. With starting quarterback Austin Head sidelined with an injury, sophomore Jake Mangas – the son of Wawasee grad Tim Mangas – threw a pair of touchdown passes to senior Taylor Cone. The first was a 5-yard strike with 10:50 to play in the fourth quarter, and coupled with Caleb Klusman’s extra-point kick, cut Wawasee’s advantage to 14-7. The Mangas-to-Cone connection worked again with 36 seconds left in the game, this time from 20 yards out. Rather than opting for overtime, Jensen chose to go for the win. The snap, however, was fumbled and Wawasee pounced on Mangas. After recovering the ensuing onside kick, the Warriors ran the clock out and celebrated a hard-fought victory. “The challenge has been the same all year,” said Wogomon. “We’ve got to play physical football. It took us to the seventh game to do so, but hopefully we’ll continue to play like that.” Much like the defense, the Warrior offense made plays when it had to. Sophomore Gage Reinhard put Wawasee on the board in the second quarter with a 26-yard touchdown pass to classmate Clayton Cook. The two hooked up again in the third quarter, this time from 8 yards out. Jordan Acton’s kick made it 14-0 with 7:42 remaining in the frame. “Both are sophomores, and they’ve been playing together for a long time,” Wogomon said of Reinhard and Cook. “They know where each other is going.” Reinhard finished the game 9 of 16 for 133 yards. Cook caught five passes for 102 yards. Thrown into the fire, Mangas appeared to have ice in his veins as he completed 8 of 9 passes for 86 yards. “Jake Mangas did a great job,” said Jensen. “We probably asked too much of him.” Cone had six catches for 61 yards, while McClone had 187 yards on 40 carries. Warsaw and Concord entered the evening as the only two unbeaten teams in NLC play. Both were upended Friday night, as Plymouth beat Concord 31-28. Concord, NorthWood, Plymouth and Warsaw are all now in a logjam atop the NLC. The Tigers play at NorthWood Friday, and then host Concord in the final week of the regular season. “I hope we learn from this as we move forward,” said Jensen. “I see a lot of deep pain, and that’s something we haven’t had for four or five years. Maybe that’s a good thing.” WAWASEE 14, WARSAW 13 War 0 0 0 13 — 13 Waw 0 7 7 14 — 14
