Stephen Possell (58), Andy Holdeman (66) and the Wawasee defense clamped down on West Noble in a 37-12 win Friday night in Ligonier. (Photos by Mike Deak)

LIGONIER – Wawasee’s relentless pursuit of the football put the team in good position all night in a 37-12 win at West Noble Friday night.

The Warriors created four turnovers and pounded the ball down the Chargers’ throats in an aggressive performance on both sides of the ball. Wawasee accumulated 288 total yards in the game and hounded a weary West Noble from all angles.

The Wawasee ground game was effective, gaining 260 of those yards on 59 carries. Noah Wadkins led the rushing attack with 118 yards on 26 carries and scored on a one-yard touchdown run in the fourth to put the game out of reach.

Michael Katzer showed good patience with 86 yards on just nine carries, scoring on runs of eight and six yards. Zac McKee displayed good burst to the outside on an 11-yard touchdown run to the corner, outrunning a handful of Chargers to the pylon. McKee also had a key 26-yard catch on Wawasee’s first scoring drive that took the Warriors to the West Noble six. Tyler Smith punched the ball in the final six yards on the next play.

That drive, which put Wawasee up 7-6, saw a 54-yard touchdown run by Smith get called back by an inadvertent whistle from the far side line judge who thought the ball was downed by a running back. The Warriors made up for the blunder in less than two minutes by scoring, and scored on its next possession on the Katzer eight-yard touchdown run.

West Noble running back Bradley Martin amassed 178 yards of total offense, including an 87-yard touchdown catch.

West Noble also had to deal with drives ending in long plays with penalty mysteries. After what looked like a Wawasee personal foul would put the Chargers in decent field position, the call was deemed an offensive personal foul on West Noble, sending the Chargers back to its own 13.

Trailing 20-6, West Noble got the ball in its playmakers hands. A screen pass in traffic to Bradley Martin opened up enough for the burner to rocket 87 yards for a score. Martin ended his night with 178 total yards and made 12 tackles on the defensive side of the ball.

West Noble would trail 20-12 after missing a two-point conversion, and would head into halftime just down a score.

“We’re young and that team across from us is really good,” stated West Noble head coach Monte Mawhorter. “We tried to get the ball into Bradley’s hands any time we can. He is a very talented football player and he can make plays. They just keyed on him and their defense got to him. Credit to their defense tonight, they shut us down in that second half.”

Lucas Garza added a 30-yard field goal in the third quarter to push the lead to 23-12, and the Warrior defense would take over from there.

Stephen Possell, who led the Warriors with nine tackles, had quite a fourth quarter. Following a Possell sack of Chase Wroblewski, West Noble elected to go with the fake punt deep in its own territory. As Martin took the ball and rushed toward the edge, Possell clipped Martin’s ankles, giving Wawasee the ball at the one.

Possell would later record an interception to cap his monster night.

“He did a great job tonight,” Wawasee head coach Josh Ekovich said of Possell. “The growth he mas made this year is unbelievable. His knowledge of the game, his ability to go two ways. It’s a credit to his ability to buy in as a senior. I think it’s showing on Friday nights.”

Smith added a pair of interceptions for the Warriors, which held West Noble to 211 yards, a good bulk of which came in the first half.

West Noble’s Evan Porter opened the scoring on the first drive of the game with a 20-yard touchdown catch from Tim Airgood. The two-point conversion to Porter was waived off due to penalty, to which West Noble couldn’t execute a second successful try.

Wawasee will take it’s 2-0 record into Northern Lakes Conference play and to Northridge for a reunion with former coach Tom Wogomon and his 2-0 Raiders, a 28-14 winner at Michigan City. West Noble (0-2) will head into the depths of the Northeast Corner Conference and a date at Eastside, to which the conference limps into week three. Of the 10 teams from the NECC to play Friday night, only two won in Central Noble and Garrett. The eight losing teams were outscored 357-64.