As Warsaw football coach Phil Jensen put it, Snider quarterback Tyler Bobilya didn't look the part, but he certainly played it.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound senior hurt the host Tigers by running and throwing the ball Friday night at Fisher Field, leading the Panthers to a 33-20 win in the championship game of Class 5A Sectional 3."He doesn't look the part, but he certainly plays it," said Jensen, whose Tigers saw their six-game winning streak and season come to an end. "Offensively and defensively, we just can't simulate them in practice. We can't simulate their speed and their quickness. They're good."
Bobilya tucked the ball and ran 13 times for 140 yards, including a 64-yard touchdown trot, and also completed 6 of 8 passes for 113 yards, including a 39-yard scoring strike to junior Akeim Kelsaw.
"He's so quick, and he reads the defense well," Jensen said of Bobilya. "He's got a lot of weapons around him. Their running backs run hard and their receivers block well. We were getting mauled on the outside. Snider is a great program."
Warsaw, which rebounded from a 1-4 start to the season, ends the season with a 7-5 record.
The Tigers were playing in the sectional championship game for just the third time in school history. All three of those games ended in losses to Snider - the others being a 52-21 loss in 2002 and a 52-14 loss in 2007.
"I told the kids this would be the best team we'd play," Jensen said of Snider. "That's not a discredit to our conference, but when it comes to Sectional 3, Snider is the measuring stick. And we just didn't make all the plays we needed to. We made a lot of plays with all the guts and love we had, we just fell short. It hurts, but it's not a shame."
With the win, Snider improved to 10-2 and will host top-ranked Carmel in Friday's regional championship game.
Carmel (11-1) advanced by beating No. 7 Hamilton Southeastern (10-2) in Friday's Sectional 4 showdown.
Friday's win over Warsaw gave the Panthers their ninth sectional championship in the past 10 seasons and 18th in the program's rich history.
And while Snider scored 20-unanswered points in the first quarter and the scoreboard showed a 13-point difference in the end, the Panthers were challenged by the Tigers.
"We've known Coach Jensen for a long time," said first-year Snider coach Kurt Tippman, who was an assistant coach for the Panthers before taking over for veteran coach Russ Isaacs. "Coach Jensen is an outstanding coach, and he does a great job. We knew Warsaw would punch us in the mouth and they'd fight us for a sectional championship. They played hard."
After forcing the Panthers into a three-and-out to start the game, Warsaw took a 7-0 lead when junior Tyler Adams scored on a 37-yard touchdown run on the Tigers' second offensive play of the game.
Snider tied the game at 7-all four minutes later when Zach Barnes powered his way in from a yard out and Andy Roop's extra-point kick was good with 5:56 remaining in the first quarter.
On Warsaw's next possession, Tom Daniels returned the kick 70 yards and had the Tigers in great field position, but a penalty left them at Snider's 34 - albeit still great field position.
On the second play of the drive, the Tigers were called for a holding penalty and the drive when all was said and done the possession ended with a 13-yard punt.
The Panthers took the ball on their own 36 and Bobilya ran in from 64 yards out on the first play. Roop's extra-point kick failed and Snider led 13-7 with 3:32 to play in the opening stanza.
After three Warsaw offensive plays and a fumble, the Panthers scored on another one-play drive, this time as Bobilya hooked up with Akeim Kelsaw for a 39-yard touchdown pass. Roop's kick made it 20-7 in Snider's favor with 1:37 to play in the first quarter.
Just as they didn't give up after starting the season 1-4, the Tigers found in themselves to bounce back against Snider.
A 1-yard touchdown run by Andy Conrad, coupled with Matt Franco's extra-point kick, cut the advantage to six, 20-14, with 10:13 remaining in the half.
Warsaw's Tom Daniels put Warsaw on the board again when he scooped up a loose ball on the 6-yard line and returned it 94 yards to paydirt. Franco's kick failed, and with 8:37 remaining in the third, the teams were knotted at 20-all.
Field goals of 20 and 28 yards by Roop gave the Panthers a 26-20 lead with 8:02 remaining in the game.
On the Tigers' next possession, senior quarterback Justin Clemens found junior tight end Jalen Roscoe for a 23-yard gain on third-and-14, putting the home team at the 50-yard line.
Cameron Fritzel was stopped for a 1-yard gain on the next play, and after three-consecutive incompletions, the Tigers turned the ball over on downs.
And as if the game wasn't already interesting, it really got interesting on Snider's next drive.
After senior Keenan Kelsaw rushed for gains of eight, two and five yards, the Panther were called for illegal procedure.
Kelsaw then ran for another three yards, setting up a third-and-8 play from Warsaw's 38-yard line.
On the next play, Bobilya scrambled, searching for a teammate to pass to. He completed a 23-yard pass to Akeim Kelsaw.
Bobilya appeared to have crossed the line of scrimmage when the threw the pass, but the officials waived off the penalty, much to the dismay of Jensen and the Warsaw crowd.
Rather than backing the Panthers up, Snider had a first down at Warsaw's 15-yard line.
After a holding penalty put the Panthers back to the 17-yard line, Jason McGraw raced in for another Snider touchdown. Roop's kick gave the Panthers a 33-20 advantage with 2:04 remaining.
"The official made the call right away," said Tippman. "He was right on top of it. I'm assuming he made the right call."
Jensen didn't want to comment on the call after the game, only saying that there were other big plays in the game and that, "officials are like fields, both teams have to deal with it."
While Warsaw turned a Snider fumble into Daniels' 94-yard score, the Tigers fumbled the ball away three times themselves.
The Tigers also struggled to stop Snider's running game.
To go with Bobilya's 13 carries for 140 yards, McGraw racked up 116 yards on nine carries and Keenan Kelsaw carried 13 times for 95 yards. Zach Barnes added five carries for 24 yards.
Barnes also caught three passes for 37 yards, while Akeim Kelsaw caught three passes for 76 yards.
For Warsaw, Adams carried nine times for 53 yards, while Conrad racked up 43 yards on 11 carries. Conrad, who appeared to have injured his shoulder again and didn't carry the ball in the second half, ended his career 50 yards shy of breaking Brad Seiss' career rushing record of 3,652 yards.
Clemens, who carried 14 times for 21 yards, completed 10 of 20 passes for 143 yards.
Senior Zack Linky caught four passes for 51 yards, while Keelan Simpson had three receptions for 44 yards.
Sophomore Cameron Fritzel, senior Lucas Denlinger and Roscoe caught one pass each.
"We didn't make all the plays we needed to," said Jensen. "But it wasn't a lack of effort. The kids fought back. This group really matured and grew. I'm very proud of them."
Early in the game, Warsaw's Matt Abbitt was hit hard by a Snider player near the sideline. Abbitt was put on a stretcher and taken to the hospital. Unofficial word in the pressbox said Abbitt did have movement in his arms and legs and the trip to the hospital was a precautionary move, but his condition was unknown at press time.
