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Having not beaten Elkhart Central (formerly Elkhart) since 1923, Warsaw's varsity football team made up for it Friday night, dismantling the Blue Blazers 55-0 in Class 5A Sectional 2 action.
Warsaw, which is now 1-3 against Central in sectional action, improves to 9-1 on the season; Central, in coach Tom Kurth's worst season in 40-plus years, ends its season at 2-8.
Warsaw will travel to Penn (9-1) next Friday. Penn advanced by thrashing LaPorte 58-10.
As the Tigers have done all year, they kept the ball on the ground Friday and ran behind its gargantuan offensive line, amassing 449 yards on 48 carries, an average of 9.4 yards per carry.
Junior tailback Brad Seiss passed the 1,000-yard plateau for the season and finished the game with 154 yards and four touchdowns on 14 carries.
"Seiss is a very good running back, he tore us apart," Kurth said.
Tiger senior triggerman Jared Scrafton finished the game with 118 yards and a touchdown on seven carries, 83 yards coming on a quarterback keeper that put Warsaw up 35-0 with 7:00 remaining in the first half.
"We ran the ball like we always have," Jensen said. "Scrafton did a great job running the ball. Brad got his 150 yards, but Scrafton getting a 100 yards is great."
Warsaw also got key rushing performances from juniors David Muta (7-78) and Stanton Moore (9-34), and sophomores Ross Parker (1-36) and Ben Kreinbrink (5-26).
In all, Warsaw racked up 533 yards of offense to Central's 190.
The Tigers have nine wins in one season for the first time since 1982, when Warsaw finished 9-1 under Kevin Westover. That same year, Jensen, in his senior year of high school, and his Penn teammates fell in overtime to Kurth's Blue Blazers.
Warsaw's offense set the tone early, scoring on the first drive of the game on a 26-yard pass from Scrafton to 6-foot-4 senior Josh Buck. Adam Sisson's kick made it 7-0.
Buck finished the game with two receptions for 52 yards, his other 26-yard catch came from Seiss on a halfback toss.
Seiss scored Warsaw's next three touchdowns on runs of four, 13 and 49 yards, giving the Tigers a healthy 28-0 lead with 11:42 remaining in the opening half. Seiss now has 19 touchdowns on the year, 15 in the last four games.
Just as impressed with as he was with his team's offense, Jensen bragged up his defense, which recovered three fumbles and picked off one pass.
"The ball bounced our way, and we turned it into points," Jensen said. "The defense played a great game. They (Central) came close with some long passes, but our defense stiffened."
If Central had a bright spot, a dim one at that, it was its passing game. Junior Bradley Pompey and senior Jeffrey Miller combined for 181 yards on 10-of-28 passing with one interception. Sophomore Jerimy Robinson led the Central receiving corps with three catches for 56 yards. Senior Brandon Scheuer added two catches for 54 yards.
"Warsaw is a very good team," Kurth said. "We made them look good. Our inability to catch the pass really hurt us, we knew we had to throw against them. Our inability to run the ball hurt us. I thought we could throw on them, but you can't drop balls like we did."
The Tigers finished the game with 84 yards on 4-of-10 passing. Scrafton led Warsaw through the air with 58 yards on 3-of-8 passing. Seiss was 1 of 1 through the air for 26 yards.
Up 41-0, Scrafton found junior Chris Clay for a 19-yard touchdown strike with eight seconds left in the first half. Sisson's kick made it 48-0.
Muta scored Warsaw's last touchdown on a 49-yard scamper with 5:34 left in the third quarter.
Warsaw will play at No. 2 Penn Friday, for the right to play in the sectional championship game against the Mishawaka/Michigan City winner.
"Penn has won three state championships in the last five years, that makes them the best team in the state in my mind," Jensen said. "If you wanna be the best, you gotta beat the best. We've gone through a lot of adversity but still played hard. Going to Penn is about as adverse as you can get, but I know my kids will play hard."
WARSAW 55
ELKHART CENTRAL 0
Class 5A sectional
Elkhart Central (2-8) 0 0 0 0 - 0
Warsaw (9-1) 21 27 7 0 - 55
EC W
First downs 8 15
Rushes/yards 24-9 48-449
Passing yards 181 84
Comp.-Att.-Int. 10-28-1 4-10-0
Total offense 190 533
Fumbles/lost 3-3 1-1
Punts/avg. 5-33.4 1-34
Penalties/yards 4-30 7-45
First Quarter
W - Josh Buck 26 catch Jared Scrafton (Adam Sisson kick) 7-0, 9:17
W - Brad Seiss 4 run (Sisson kick) 14-0, 2:09
W - Seiss 13 run (Sisson kick) 21-0, 1:13
Second Quarter
W - Seiss 49 run (Sisson kick) 28-0, 11:42
W - Scrafton 83 run (Sisson kick) 35-0, 7:00
W - Seiss 7 run (kick blocked) 41-0, 1:11
W - Chris Clay 19 catch from Scrafton (Sisson kick) 48-0, :8
Third Quarter
W - Muta 49 run (Sisson kick) 55-0, 5:34
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - Central: Justin Glick 11-17, Justin Cooper 3-3, Bradley Pompey 8-(-7); Warsaw: Seiss 14-154, Scrafton 7-118, Muta 8-78, Ross Parker 1-36, Stanton Moore 9-34, Ben Kreinbrink 5-26
Passing - Central: Pompey 7-21-160, Jeffrey Miller 3-7-21; Warsaw: Scrafton 3-8-58; Seiss 1-1-26, Ryan DeGeeter 0-1-0
Receiving - Central: Jerimy Robinson 3-56, Rannen Robertson 3-21, Brandon Scheuer 2-54, Cameron Macon 2-40; Warsaw: Buck 2-52, Clay 1-19, Chris Parker 1-13
