Concord Minutemen 28
Warsaw Tigers 6

Mike Jones may have an ordinary name; however, his performance against the Warsaw Tigers on Friday night was anything but ordinary.

Franko House has a pretty cool name, and his performance against the Warsaw Tigers on Friday night was pretty darn cool.

Jones, a BACKUP tailback to injured DuWhan Alford, rushed 29 times for 217 yards and 3 touchdowns.

House caught all 4 of Concord's completions for 106 yards.

Mike Jones and Franko House were just too much for a gutty, feisty Warsaw football team.

Playing without "all everything" Zach Rooney who was injured last week against Northwood, Phil Jensen knew that his defense would have to play their best game of the year. The defense, ball control, and field position were going to be the recipe for success against a powerful Concord team. Along the way, the Tigers were going to have to make some plays on offense. A valiant effort by an undermanned Warsaw team fell short and Concord wore out the Mighty Tigers en route to a 28-6 victory. A victory that earned the Minutemen their second straight NLC championship.

House, who caught his first pass on a 3rd and 6 ... a 52 yarder, started Concord's first scoring drive. Jones weaved his way into the end zone from 5 yards out and at the end of the 1st quarter the Minutemen had the lead 7-0.

Phil Jensen's recipe was working. His defense was playing great. Taylor Cone who was the hero in last week's thriller against Northwood kept changing field position by punting the ball time after time deep into Concord territory.

Halftime score: Concord 7 Warsaw 0

The Minutemen received the 2nd half kickoff and had the ball on their own 30 yard line. Something good happened for the Tigers. A shotgun snap sailed over quarterback Ryan McKibben's head and after the ball was touched by what seemed like all 22 players on the field, the Tigers recovered the football on the Concord 14 yard line! The Warsaw defense had the turnover it was looking for. However, after three plays that netted 6 yards the Tigers missed a 26 yard field goal and all of a sudden the momentum that Warsaw had was gone. Against a powerhouse like Concord, opportunities like these do not come along often.

Once again the defense stiffened and forced a Concord punt. Again, this was an opportunity for the offense to generate something, trailing by just one score. Warsaw could ill afford a turnover, but an errant pass was intercepted and Concord was in business. Mike Jones saw the opportunity and took advantage of it, racing into the end zone from 15 yards out giving the Minutemen a two score lead, 14-0.

Warsaw needed something on offense. Anything on offense. They got what they needed. Sophomore Austin Head recognized a mismatch. Head found 6'5" senior Jordan Wray 20 yards down the field. Wray out jumped the Concord defender, did a little "dipsy doo" and took it to the house for a 47 yard touchdown! The Tigers gained back the momentum ... for a minute. The extra point was missed and the momentum that Warsaw had was short lived. Concord 14 Warsaw 6.

Concord is good. Very good. Mike Jones answered with a 22 yard scamper and the Tigers fell behind 21-6 with time running out.

The recipe worked for almost 3 quarters, but against a team this good Warsaw was going to have to capitalize when they could and minimize their mistakes. A valiant effort but in the end the Minutemen wore out the Mighty Tigers capping off the scoring with a 2 yard blast by junior Jarrett Settles. Final score ... Concord 28 Warsaw 6.

One of the things I like to do at the end of the game is look at the statistics and make believe I didn't know who won the game. Most of the time, the winning team dominates the running game or passing game. Maybe one team turned the ball over a lot more than the other. Sometimes a team is penalized a lot more than the other.

Check this out ...

1st downs
Concord 18
Warsaw 14

Rushing yards
Concord 271
Warsaw 163

These two statistics were in Concord's favor. However, remember Warsaw was playing without leading rusher Zach Rooney.

Passing
Concord ...4 for 13 for 106 yards
Warsaw ... 3 for 11 for 94 yards
EVEN! However, the 2 interceptions hurt the Tigers here.

Warsaw had the ball for 26 minutes and 9 seconds. Concord had the ball for 21 minutes and 51 seconds.

Concord had 377 yards of total offense. Warsaw had 257 yards of total offense.

Concord wins the game. The statistical battle is also in their favor but not by the amount one would think. The recipe worked ... for a while.

Peyton Balazs was the workhorse for the Tigers all night getting tough yards time after time. The senior finished the game with 20 carries for 44 yards. SOPHOMORE Tristan McClone rushed 14 times for 72 yards and SOPHOMORE Seth Fouts ran hard all night carrying the ball 10 times for 31 yards.

SOPHOMORE Austin Head completed 3 passes for 97 yards and a touchdown.
Senior Jordan Wray caught the lone touchdown for 47 yards. JUNIOR Taylor Cone caught a nice pass for 20 yards and SOPHOMORE Zach Davies caught one for 27 yards.

The defense was once again led by senior, Cameron "the animal" Fritzel and his 8.5 tackles. 7 of them solo. Nate Stone had 7 tackles, 6 solo.
Lance Lybarger had 6.5 tackles.

The mighty Tigers finish the year with a 4-5 record and tied for third in the always tough Northern Lakes conference.

Having gone to high school in the state of Florida, once the regular season ended and your team did not qualify for the playoffs ... well, your season was over. In Indiana, they play by different rules. Next week EVERY TEAM in the state of Indiana is 0-0. Whether you are 0-9 or 9-0, it does not matter.

The Tigers travel to Fort Wayne next week looking to extend their season against the Fort Wayne Carroll Chargers in the opening round of Sectional play.

Half the teams in the state of Indiana will be turning in their equipment after next Friday night. The mighty Tigers are hoping that they are not one of them.

Buckle up!

Posted In: Boy's Sports > Football