SOUTH WHITLEY - The letter 'W' surrounded the game between the Wawasee Warriors and Whitko Wildcats Friday in South Whitley, but the most important 'W' went to the Warriors in the way of a 19-6 win.
"To be 1-0 is where half the teams in the state would like to be right now," first-year Wawasee coach Tom Wogoman said. "So 1-0 is 1-0, and I couldn't be more pleased for the kids."In his inaugural head coaching game, Wogoman's offense racked up 330 total yards, and his defense limited the Wildcats to only 75 total yards on their home field.
"Our defense is a pretty athletic group, and we really hoped for them to beat offensive linemen," Wogoman said.
The Warrior defense did indeed penetrate the Wildcat offensive sets, disrupting the running game, as well as the passing. After starting the game 4 of 4 for 21 yards, Whitko sophomore quarterback Gabe Starkey began to feel the Warrior heat, finishing the contest 7 of 21 for 38 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
"Gabe's a sophomore, and he played like a sophomore at times and some times he played pretty well," Whitko coach Bryan Sprunger said. "It will come. We just have to catch the football and block a lot better."
Shortly after Starkey completed his fourth consecutive pass, Whitko appeared to have the momentum with the ball at the 50-yard line and the score knotted at 0-0 with seconds remaining in the first quarter. But just when things were going well, a shotgun snap skipped past the young quarterback, who had to pounce on it for an 11-yard loss. From there, Whitko couldn't recover, resulting in a punt.
"We get the one series when we had some things going, then we made a mistake," Sprunger said. "You can't do that. We're young."
After punting the ball away, Wawasee senior Eric Brown sprinted to a 55-yard touchdown on the Warriors third play. On the night, Brown used his sprinter's speed to get to the outside of the Wildcat defense for 121 yards and two scores on 23 carries. While the tactic may have worked in the first game of the season, Wogoman doesn't want to overuse Brown's ability solely.
"We need to get better at having an inside running game and opening things up for the outside (runs)," Wogoman said. "If we continue to just give (the ball) to Brown on the sweep, teams are going to be able to swallow that pretty well and pick that up."
Sandwiched in-between Brown's two TDs, his second coming at the 9:18 mark of the fourth quarter, was a 1-yard quarterback touchdown plunge by sophomore Jake Sommers in the second quarter. Sommers may have scored with his legs, but it was his arm that was much more important. In his first varsity start, Sommers completed 10 of 13 passes for 154 yards.
"Jake really played a solid game," Wogoman said. "He was patient with his throws and really didn't put anyone in a bad spot. He made sure that when he did throw the ball, it was one that only our receiver could get to. He didn't make any mistakes, and for a sophomore to come in here in Game 1 and play like he did is really good."
Most of Sommers' passes found senior Brandon Geiger, who caught four balls for 82 yards. But even with his solid effort, Sommers' title as starting quarterback is not cemented, as Ryan McDonald looks to return from an injury next week, allowing him to compete for the starting spot.
"Sommers has done a good job for us, but the race is still open a little," Wogoman said of his quarterback situation.
Wogoman's decision at quarterback won't be his only work this week, as the Warriors were right back on the practice field this morning, looking forward to next week.
"The most work can be done between Week 1 and Week 2, and we know we have a lot of work to do," Wogoman.
The Warriors may have been celebrating a victory, but Sprunger wasn't exactly sulking about his team following their opening-game loss.
"I'm not disappointed in the kids' effort," Sprunger said. "I thought they played hard tonight."
