Slow Start Sinks Tigers
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | ||
 | Warsaw Tigers | 0 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 21 |
 | Northridge Raiders | 14 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 27 |
About the only thing going right for the Warsaw High School football team is...well...the weather. The weather for "Friday Night Lights" has been downright beautiful over the first five games.
The Warsaw Tiger football team spotted Northridge a 20-0 halftime lead and could not recover, losing their fifth game in a row, 27-21.
I said the weather was the only thing going right. However, on Friday vs. the Raiders...Warsaw won...the coin toss! Funny...maybe, but the Tigers chose to defer and sent the kickoff team on to the field. This is where things started going downhill.
Scott Smyths kickoff sailed high and deep toward the Northridge goal line. Nothridge senior Tyler Priem, who would go on to rush for 130 yards on 16 carries and 2 touchdowns, fielded the ball...and promptly returned the kickoff 66 yards to the Warsaw 23 yard line. Four plays later Priem found paydirt and it was all up hill for the Tigers.
Priem would go on to score another first half touchdown...sandwiched in between was a Thomas Nowak 6 yard touchdown run.
Halftime score...Northridge 20 Warsaw 0.
Good news for the Tigers is football is played in 4 quarters. Not 2...or 3 for that matter. The problem this group of Tigers needs to learn is that most, if not all teams play all 4 quarters! Not 2 or 3!
As I stated earlier, Warsaw deferred the coin flip to the second half...meaning the Tigers would receive the ball to open the second half. In steps Zach Rooney.
On the fourth play of the second half, Rooney zigged and zagged and 57 yards later scored the Tigers first touchdown of the game...cutting Northridge's lead to 20-7 with a lot of game left.
Not so fast, my friends.
Tyler Priem strikes again...accounting for all of his team's yards on the ensuing drive...Priem struck paydirt for the third time in the game...a 3 yard touchdown run...Northridge 27 Warsaw 7.
End of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter is where things started to get interesting. The Tigers opened the fourth quarter with the ball, using 14 plays on a 69 yard drive...capped off with a Jeremy Coppes fade pass in the corner of the endzone to 6'5" Jordan Wray...touchdown Tigers! This was Wray's first touchdown of his varsity career.
Northridge 27 Warsaw 14 with a lot of time on the clock.
Warsaw's defense then got nasty. On the ensuing possession, the Tigers forced Northridge to punt. Cody Bragg had other ideas. Bragg bursted through the line and blocked the Northridge punt! Senior Jalen Roscoe recovered the ball at the Northridge 23 yard line and the Tigers were in business.
Unfortunately, "the business" was short lived. On the first play from the Northridge 23 yard line Warsaw went "to the well" one too many times. Another Coppes fade pass to Wray did not fool the Northridge defense and Austin Bencsics picked off the pass in the endzone...deflating all of the momentum the Tigers has going their way.
The thing about this Tiger team is that although they have not won any games so far this season, the boys continue to fight...like Tigers.
Warsaw kept fighting and scored a late touchdown...a Coppes pass to senior Keelan Simpson with 41 seconds left in the game...making the score Northridge 27 Warsaw 21.
Desperation time indeed. However, a perfectly executed onside kick by senior Scott Smyth went for naught...bouncing out of bounds and ending the Tigers hopes.
Final score:
Northridge 27
Warsaw 21
| QTR | Team | Description | Home Score | Visitor Score |
| 1 | Northridge | 9:16 David Letherman 9 yd pass to Adams (Priem kick) | 7 | 0 |
| 1 | Northridge | 5:53 Nowak 6 yd run (Priem kick) | 14 | 0 |
| 2 | Northridge | 2:12 Priem 6 yd run (Priem kick failed) | 20 | 0 |
| 3 | Warsaw | 10:54 Rooney 57 yd run (Smyth kick) | 20 | 7 |
| 3 | Northridge | 3:21 Priem 3 yd run (Priem kick) | 27 | 7 |
| 4 | Warsaw | 9:13 Coppes 7 yd pass to Wray (Smyth kick) | 27 | 14 |
| 4 | Warsaw | 1:21 Coppes 5 yd pass to Simpson (Smyth kick) | 27 | 21 |
Zach Rooney led the Warsaw rushing attack with 62 yards on only 5 carries.
Jeremy Coppes had a decent day passing going 12-26 for 139 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Keelan Simpson led all receivers with 5 catches for 67 yards and a touchdown. Matt Abbitt chipped in with 2 catches for 38 yards and Jordan Wray caught 2 passes for 15 yards and a touchdown.
Scott Smyth was a perfect 3-3 on extra points.
| Northridge | Warsaw | |
| 15 | First Downs | 15 |
| 11-3-1 | First Downs: Rushing - Passing - Penalty | 6-7-2 |
| 208 | Rushing Yards | 134 |
| 6/10 | Passing: Completions / Attempts | 13/27 |
| 55 | Passing Yards | 134 |
| 1/0 | Passing: Touchdowns - Interceptions | 2/1 |
| 49 | Total Plays | 61 |
| 263 | Total Offense | 268 |
| 1/0 | Fumbles - Lost | 2/0 |
| 10/56 | Penalties - Yards | 3/25 |
| 0/0 | Defensive Sacks - Yards Lost | 0/0 |
| 23:10 | Time of Possession | 24:50 |
| 3 of 8 | 3rd Down Efficiency | 6 of 16 |
| 1 of 1 | 4th Down Efficiency | 2 of 3 |
| 6/12.2 | Punts - Average | 5/28.4 |
Warsaw's 0-5 start is the sixth time since 1901 that the Tigers have started the first five games of the season with an 0-5 record. The last time being 1975 (1956, 1933, 1920 and 1919 were the other years).
Our boys are trying. Playing hard. They need to put together four solid quarters of football and if they do that...good things will happen.
This week the Tigers host the Goshen Redskins. Coincidentally this is also the homecoming game. The crowd should be a good one. Game time this Friday night is 7:30.
The boys need our support. Hope to see you there!
Posted In: Boy's Sports > Football
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