Wawasee’s Homecoming Upset Bid Falls Short
SYRACUSE – It was far from a typical homecoming environment Friday night at Warrior Field. Wawasee and Plymouth entered the game on very different ends of the football spectrum, but on very familiar, and unfortunate, grounds off the gridiron.
Plymouth boasted a No. 1 ranking and 5-0 record while Wawasee came in off its worse loss of the season. But the communities for both Plymouth and Wawasee shared an wretched heartache off the field. Over the past two weeks both communities were hit hard by teen suicides. Wawasee lost sophomore Bethany Ducheteau on Sept. 15 while Plymouth lost junior football player David Bacon this past Sunday.
Cheerleaders from both Plymouth and Wawasee released red and green balloons following a moment of silence in remembrance of their classmates. That gesture was the beginning of what would be a memorable night of football.
When all was said and done, No. 1 remained unscathed as the Rockies claimed a 29-20 victory. That score was not misleading, Wawasee gave Plymouth everything it could handle and more.
The Warriors started the game by recovering an onside kick, much to the surprise of Plymouth and nearly everyone in attendance. Wawasee then needed just four plays to find the end zone as it was Tyler Smith hooking up with Alec Rosbrugh for a 22-yard score. A missed extra point left Wawasee with a 6-0 lead.
Things looked to be going in Wawasee’s favor following a fumble by Plymouth on its opening drive, but the Warriors failed to capitalize on that opportunity and the Rockies did not waste their next few chances.
Plymouth put up 22 unanswered points on the Warriors behind some big plays from Jack Barron and Cam Eveland. Barron hit Eveland for Plymouth’s first score then the two connected on a 51-yard strike later to set up an eight-yard scoring run for Eveland. In the final second of the first quarter Barron ran it in from five yards out to put his team up 22-6. The Rockies were rolling.
“I’m just so proud of our boys,” said Plymouth head coach John Barron when asked about his team’s response to the difficult week and hot start by Wawasee. “They’ve gone through so much that I really didn’t know what to expect tonight.
“Wawasee played great, they’ve got a great scheme, their kids played really hard. We had some uncharacteristic penalties and turnovers, I think our kids were almost trying too hard to win this game. But, in the end, our kids did what they had to do to win this game.”
Wawasee seemed like it was going to roll over for Plymouth after falling behind 22-6, but the Warriors were bound and determined to prove that they were not the same team that lost 38-10 at NorthWood the week before.
An interception by Stephon Miller set up a huge drive for the Warriors as Noah Wadkins got things going in the second quarter with a 10-yard rumble to the end zone. A nice stand on defense gave the ball back to Wawasee’s offense and that gave the ball back to Noah Wadkins.
Wadkins, who finished the game with team-high 89 rushing yards, broke off a 43-yard scoring run to bring the Warriors within two at 22-20. Wawasee had a chance to attempt a go-ahead field goal before half but were not able to get the field goal unit on the field quick enough following a sack by Plymouth.
The second half provided much less drama or excitement as the Warriors could not take advantage of two turnovers, one fumble and one on downs, by the Rockies.
Plymouth highlighted the half on a fourth and one play that ended up being a 29-yard touchdown run for Barron. The senior signal caller rushed for 111 yards and passed for 131 more. Jeremy Splix led all players with a 138 rushing yards. Eveland accounted for 138 all-purpose yards.
Though the Warriors took the loss, they went toe-to-toe with the best team in their conference and their sectional and, perhaps more importantly, they responded from a poor showing at NorthWood.
“This shows what we’re capable of,” said Wawasee head coach Josh Ekovich. “We’re capable of moving the ball well, we’re capable of putting 14 points up in a quarter. We took advantage of a lot of opportunities. Our o-line did a good job tonight. At the end, Plymouth just did a good job of blitzing us to death and we didn’t execute.
“We had opportunities to score throughout the second half, we couldn’t take advantage. Credit Plymouth for that, that’s a good football team. There’s a reason why they’ve been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 all season.”
Following the game, and an odd sequence of plays where Plymouth tried to score in the final seconds despite holding a 29-20 lead, John Barron ran into the stands with a game ball and presented it to Bacon’s father, David Sr. in a fitting cap to an emotional week.
“Those parents have allowed us to continue our season,” said the Rockies coach. “The expressed, in the worse tragedy and worse grief that a parent could face, their faith in Christ. They’ve spread that to our players and have shown them that it’s okay to be a Rockie and play the game.”
Plymouth (6-0, 4-0) will host Concord in a huge Northern Lakes Conference showdown next Friday while Wawasee (2-4, 0-4) will travel to Warsaw in hopes of retaining the Traveling ‘W’ Trophy.