NAPPANEE - Against the Wawasee Warriors Friday at Andrews Field in Nappanee, the NorthWood Panthers didn't look like a 1-3 team coming off a 43-14 loss to Goshen the previous week.
During the Panthers' 41-6 Northern Lakes Conference win over Wawasee, the squad compiled 404 total yards, evenly distributing the yards through the air and on the ground.NorthWood junior quarterback Skyler Titus completed 10 of 12 passes for 208 yards and three touchdowns, while the ground game ate up 196 yards, 110 coming from senior running back Kent Biller.
"Our kids played hard," NorthWood coach Rich Dodson said. "Other than the turnover at the end of the game (by a back-up running back with 3:29 remaining), I thought our kids played well."
Dodson was most pleased by his team's ball protection. On the other sideline, Wawasee coach Tom Wogomon was less than impressed with his team's care of the ball. Of Wawasee's first four possessions, three ended with turnovers, all of which led to NorthWood touchdowns.
"We can't come in here and commit four turnovers, not steal the ball and not tackle - in order to be successful," Wogomon said.
With the turnovers, as well as Biller's 102 first-half yards, NorthWood took a 34-0 lead into the half. The Panthers added onto that lead with another touchdown near the end of the third quarter, building a 41-0 advantage.
"This was just a tale of being out-executed," a frustrated Wogomon said. "They just really out-executed us on every play."
A positive for the Warriors was their second-half play. Down big, Wawasee managed to keep possession of the ball for 15:27 of the 24 second-half minutes. Wawasee held that advantage thanks to a strong running game that picked up 93 second-half yards on 23 carries. For the game, the Warriors generated 188 rushing yards, 106 coming from senior Eric Brown.
"Eric Brown has played with an understanding of what it takes to play football," Wogomon said. "He got smacked around, but he kept coming back. He just works so hard. He really understands where we need to be as a football team."
And that rushing game was somewhat of a concern for Dodson coming into the contest.
"They've got a nice little running game going on over there," he said of Wawasee. "I know they lost their starting quarterback (Ryan McDonald) at the beginning of the year, but their sophomore quarterback (Jake Sommers) is coming on. He threw some nice footballs tonight."
Sommers finished the game with 80 yards on 8 of 13 passing, including a 4-yard touchdown toss to senior Dan Dingeldein in the fourth quarter.
While Wawasee did achieve some good things, the negatives outweighed the positives. The defense allowed Biller to run free throughout the first half, helping to set up the play action pass, which Titus executed to a tee.
"They did a nice job of opening up holes and he ran hard," Wogomon said of Biller. "He hung on to the football and he when he took bad angles, our heads were down when we'd meet him."
And even when it appeared Titus may have missed a wide open slot receiver in the second quarter, something good still happened, as he just tucked the ball away and sprinted 42 yards through the Warriors defense to the end zone.
"We continue to say it, but it is about tackling," Wogomon said about what his team needs to improve on.
Both teams entered the game with 1-3 records, with both also sporting 0-2 NLC marks. But with a three-year starter at quarterback and much more experience on the roster, NorthWood does have an edge on Wawasee in 2007.
"Wawasee's struggling - we know that," Dodson said. "We've been struggling too, but maybe not to the extent of their program, with their numbers.
"Their going to make headway in the progam," the NorthWood coach added. "I know coach Wogomon will do a good job, he just needs to work on getting their numbers back. He's just got a lot of work to do, but he's got the character to do it."
