1	2	3	4	F
	Wawasee Warriors	7	12	0	7	26
	Warsaw Tigers (3-4)	0	14	0	0	14

A valiant defensive effort by the Warsaw Tiger football went for naught on Friday night as the "green team from the north" capitalized on FOUR Warsaw fumbles to defeat the mighty Tigers 26-14.

*When one team fumbles the ball FOUR times and loses all FOUR fumbles...
*When that same team completes ONE pass for 9 yards...
*When that very same team allows an 82 yard kickoff return for a TOUCHDOWN and another kickoff return for 48 yards...

Knowing these things and not knowing what teams played in the game...the team that allows these things to happen to them will lose almost every time. Unfortunately for Tiger fans, this is what happened to the Warsaw football team on a cold, damp Friday night.

Trading touchdown for touchdown to start the game, senior Zach Rooney hit the hole hard and scampered 65 yards late in the second quarter giving the Tigers a 14-7 lead. The Tigers looked like they were heading into halftime with the lead...and once again, Florida State alumnus Lee Corso's famous line, "not so fast, my friend."

Warsaw's ensuing kickoff sailed deep...deep into Zac Patrick's hands. Patrick took the kickoff 82 yards to "the house" and Warsaw's jubilation was short lived as "the green team from the north" trimmed Warsaw's lead to 14-13. The extra point was missed but "Uncle Mo" shifted back to "the green team from the north."

The "green team from the north" scored right before halftime, a Derrick Sorensen 3 yard blast and all of a sudden the Tigers found themselves down 19-14 at the half.

The 3rd quarter was a back and forth affair as each team turned the ball over on its first possession.

The "green team from the north" completed one pass in the 4th quarter. As a matter of fact they completed one pass the entire game. That pass proved to be the nail in the coffin for the Tigers as Bauer Schmeltz hooked up with John Essex on a basic "tight end dump" good for 23 yards and the lone score for either team in the second half.

The offensive stats were very similar for both teams.

1st downs
Tigers 9
Green 11

Rushing yards
Tigers 208
Green 202

Passing yards
Tigers 9
Green 23

Total offense
Tigers 217
Green 225

By those stats it would be nearly impossible to pick the winner. However, the difference was the turnovers. Tigers 4. Green 1.

Warsaw was led by Zach Rooney who rushed 10 times for 85 yards. Brock Anson carried the ball 15 times for 76 yards and senior Peyton Balazs ran hard carrying the ball 13 times for 31 yards.

The star of the night for the Tigers was the defense led by Cameron "the Animal" Fritzel who led the Tigers with 9 tackles, 7 of them solo. It seemed as though Fritzel was all over the field all night. Lance Lybarger and Nate Stone also pitched in with 5 tackles each while Jeremy Lehman and Nate Stone had 4 tackles.

Warsaw drops to 3-4 on the year. It does not get any easier as Northwood invades Fisher Field next Friday night. This is the final regular season home game for the Tigers as they conclude their season the following week at Concord.

The "W" trophy belongs to the "green team from the north" for another year.

The Warsaw football helmets will remain "naked."

SCORING SUMMARY
Wawasee Sorensen 2 yd run (Clevenger kick)
Warsaw Anson 20 yd run (Ballenger kick)
Warsaw Rooney 65 yd run (Ballenger kick)
Wawasee Patrick 82 yd Kickoff Return (Clevenger kick failed)
Wawasee Sorensen 3 yd run (Sorensen run failed)
Wawasee Schmeltz 23 yd pass to Essex (Clevenger kick)

Posted In: Boy's Sports > Football

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