Finishes to football games don't get any wilder than what happened at Warsaw Community High School's Fisher Field Friday night. With three touchdowns scored between the Warsaw Tigers (4-4, 4-2 Northern Lakes Conference) and NorthWood Panthers (5-3, 3-3 NLC) in the final 1:26 of the game, the home team scored the last one with 0:00.1 showing on the clock, leading to a 22-19 NLC victory. "For two teams that love to run the football and control the clock, for a finish like that — how crazy," Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said. The craziness began when Warsaw gained possession of the ball with 5:39 remaining and trailing 13-7. Going into that drive Warsaw had generated just 23 yards of total offense on its two second-half drives. But with the game on the line, things began to click, as the offense took the ball from its own 20 to the NorthWood 17 before Jensen called a timeout with 3:09 remaining and the Tigers looking at a fourth-and-one. Facing a game-deciding situation, sophomore quarterback Austin Head snuck for the first, but junior running back Zach Rooney was injured two plays later, which left him on crutches after the game. "He sprained it, but we don't know how bad it is," Jensen said about the team's leading rusher, who had 99 yards in the win. "We'll find out more (today)." With Rooney on the bench, Warsaw once again faced a fourth down, this time a fourth-and-four from the 7-yard line. Instead of going to their strength, the running game, Head instead threw a fade route to junior receiver Taylor Cone, who looked back for the ball, made an adjustment and hauled it in, sending the Warsaw fans into a frenzy. Following senior kicker Jeff Ballinger's extra point, Warsaw was on top 14-13 with 1:14 remaining. But it wasn't over. On the ensuing kickoff, NorthWood senior Tanner Roberts returned it to the Warsaw 47-yard line, and thanks to a penalty on a horse-collar tackle two plays later, the Panthers had a first-and-10 at the Warsaw 13-yard line. Three plays later, Bowling Green University-bound Coy Brown scored from three yards out, but the failed two-point conversion left the door open at 19-14 with 30.6 seconds remaining on the clock. Back when Cone hauled in his score, there was a question as to whether or not the Tigers had left too much time on the clock, but after Brown scored, that extra time was a blessing. "When we scored, (assistant coach Matt Thacker) looked at me and said, 'We left too much time on the clock,'" Jensen said. "He was right, but luckily, we left that time on the clock." Warsaw didn't get the kickoff return it wanted, returning it to the 28-yard line, but a 25-yard pass to Cone set the Tigers up at the NorthWood 48 with 10.8 seconds left. Still quite a distance from the end zone, a win looked bleak, but when Cone caught another pass over the middle, he cut it right to the outside, picked up a block from senior Peyton Balazs and sprinted all the way in with one-tenth-of-a-second remaining. "Huge block by Peyton Balazs," Jensen said of the running back. "He wasn't in rhythm tonight, and didn't get as many reps, but by going hard, he sprung (Cone) for a big touchdown." The touchdown was nice for Jensen to see, but it wasn't exactly something he was planning. "When we hit him, we were looking to call a timeout, and hopefully get one or two throws into the end zone, but he breaks a tackle and beats everyone into the end zone," Jensen said. Head capped the night with a two-point conversion pass to senior Jordan Wray, and when NorthWood couldn't return the kickoff for a score, Warsaw was celebrating. "Just a gutty, gutty performance by both teams," Jensen said. "Obviously, it's easy for me to be happy because we won. But how proud to be for two sets of men who just gave everything they've got for their teams and for each other." On NorthWood's end of the field, the excitement wasn't there, as coach Scott Hoover could only ponder what may have been if it wasn't for an interception and three lost fumbles. "It came down to the end, but we didn't play well enough to win," Hoover said. "We had four turnovers, which we haven't done this year. I think every one of our backs fumbled and we threw and interception. Everybody contributed." Along with the turnovers, the Panthers also got inside the Warsaw 10-yard line twice, but had to settle for two field goals from junior Brendan Widner, while another from 31 yards was missed in the fourth quarter. "We dropped a touchdown pass and we slipped on what we thought was a for-sure touchdown on the same series," Hoover said. "It was mistake after mistake after mistake. They did a nice job of capitalizing on that." While NorthWood did drop a couple of scores, Rooney and fellow defensive back Nate Stone also broke up a pair of passes that would have gone for scores. "Huge goal-line stands to force field goals and keep it a one-score game," Jensen said. Those stands gave the Tigers their shot to sneak out a win, as NorthWood controlled the tempo after Warsaw went on top following a Rooney touchdown early in the second quarter. Despite the Panthers appearing to be in control, the defense held up enough to let Cone make some late-game heroics. Cone's first catch was the fade route grab with 1:26 left, but he finished with three catches for 80 yards and two scores. "Taylor's our best receiver, there's no question, but we've struggled in that phase of the game," Jensen said. "We moved him to defensive corner, and he's done a great job at corner since the Memorial game. So, he's gotten less reps offensively, but in that situation, we know we're going to go to him on the fade (route) and he makes a great catch." On the night, Head completed 8 of 11 passes for 169 yards and the two scores, but did throw a first-quarter interception. Along with Rooney's 99 rushing yards, sophomore Seth Fouts went for 55 on 14 attempts. The win was Warsaw's fourth in five games after getting off to an 0-3 start, and the Tigers close out the regular season Friday at conference-leading Concord, which sits at 6-2 overall and 6-0 in the NLC. "We've been pretty good at handling the losing for a while, but now we have to handle the winning," Jensen said. "This is a big game. We can't sit back and relax. The draw for the sectional is Sunday, so we need to keep moving forward."
