Lions Run Warriors Out Of Sectional
SYRACUSE – Wawasee knew exactly what was coming at them. They just couldn’t stop the steam engine that was the Leo rushing offense.
The Lions only threw three passes the entire night, sticking with its bread and butter rushing attack that piled up more than 400 yards on the ground during a 35-7 win over Wawasee Friday night in the first round of the IHSAA Class 4A Sectional 19 football tournament.
The ground game for Leo was on full display during a critical period of the game in the second quarter. The game was tied 7-7 and Wawasee had the ball inside the Leo red zone following a personal foul penalty. As Warrior quarterback Gage Reinhard tried to thread a pass into traffic, Chris Horn came up with an interception inside the Wawasee one.
The Lions went to work, building a 99-yard drive the other way. Following 6’6″, 270-pound Logan Glaze, 6’3″, 334-pound JuJuan Allen and the rest of the mammoth Leo offensive line, running back Logan Leiter moved through the holes with ease, eventually hammering home a four-yard run that proved a crushing blow to Wawasee with just 19 seconds left in the half.
See video of the touchdown here.
While the big drive was a back breaker, the kill shot likely came just seconds later. After the kick off, Wawasee decided to run a play with just seconds left in the half. A screen pass to Brandin McCulloch had the Lion defense pursue and force a fumble, which Logan Wood picked up and returned for a touchdown. A 21-point swing left Leo heading into the lockerroom up 21-7.
“That 99-yard drive was huge for us,” Leo head coach Jared Sauder said. “We got a big break with the fumble right before halftime that we ran in. Obviously, that was a huge turning point. I can’t say enough about our offensive line with that drive right before the half. They just did a great job.”
Leo put any doubt away opening the second half with another long drive fueled with all runs. Leiter closed out the drive with a 14-yard score to put Leo up 28-7. Leiter, who rushed for 177 yards in the first half alone, finished with 267 yards and three scores. His first touchdown covered 22 yards on Leo’s first drive of the game. Wood added a two-yard plunge late in the third quarter.
Wawasee (5-5) looked like it would give Leo just its second test of the season after tying the score at seven in the first quarter. After Reinhard found Jordan Elliott on a 41-yard pass to the Leo four, Reinhard connected with Sam Clark for the final 12 feet for the score.
The Warrior defense also made a pair of plays, with Maclain Herr recovering a botched Leo snap and Brett Ward recording his first interception of the season on Leo’s second pass of the night. The Ward interception led to the drive Wawasee had that ended on the Horn pick.
“It’s one of those drives that takes the wind out of your sails, even though it was only a seven-point game at the time,” stated Wawasee head coach Josh Ekovich. “It took more out of it than that. But you have to have more resolve than that. But at the same time, when you’re getting five yards a pop, that was a momentum breaker. Then to come out and throw the flare, and fumble for a touchdown, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
A deflated Warrior side in the second half did little to muster any momentum. Reinhard would finish with just 169 yards in the air on 15 of 26 attempts. Clayton Cook, who was bottled up for most of the night, finished with five catches for 73 yards and Elliott had 55 yards on three catches. Wawasee’s ground game was stagnant, posting just 60 yards in total, most coming in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach.
Leo (10-0) will take on East Noble (8-2) next week, as the Knights were a 55-21 winner against NorthWood. On the other side of the Sectional 19 bracket, Angola (6-4) knocked out DeKalb 21-7 and Fort Wayne Dwenger (7-3) ended Wogomania at Northridge as the Saints beat the Raiders 28-3.