Warsaw quarterback Michael Jensen tries to corral a bad snap Friday night.

WARSAW – Braxton Linville has made his mark as a hero on the hardwood during his high school athletic career.

The NorthWood senior added to his prep legacy Friday night with a little bit of greatness on the gridiron.

Receiver Linville made a gorgeous fingertip touchdown catch on a rifled pass from Trey Bilinski with just 14.4 second left to lift the Panthers to a thrilling 21-14 win over Warsaw in a Northern Lakes Conference contest.

“I just knew that I had to squeeze it and that I could not drop it,” said Linville of his tremendous game winner. “My teammates trusted me and I have a good connection with Trey (quarterback Trey Bilinski) from playing basketball.  It just feels great to get a win tonight.”

Linville, who has led NorthWood to back-to-back Class 3-A basketball sectional championships, has committed to play hoops at Grace College next year.

NorthWood, which beat Warsaw 42-28 last season, improves to 5-3 overall and goes to 3-3 in NLC play. Warsaw, which sees its three-game winning streak stopped, drops to 4-4 overall and 3-3 in league action.

The Panthers went 54 yards in just over two minutes on their game winning drive. The final drive was helped in huge part by a questionable pass interference call on the Tigers, made by an official in front of the NorthWood sidelines on a play over the middle. That call helped the Panthers get out of a huge hole after a holding call and a personal foul on NorthWood earlier in the series. Linville also had a huge 26-yard reception from Bilinski on the final drive.

Warsaw coach Phil Jensen took the high road on a night where there was more dirty laundry on the field than in a college dorm room. The two teams were penalized a total of 20 times by a flag-happy officiating crew. Appropriately enough, the classic hit “Dirty Laundry” by Don Henley played over the loudspeakers at the end of the third quarter.

“They made the plays at the end to win the game,” said Jensen of the Panthers. “That was a hell of a catch by Linville. They are a good, well-coached football team.

“There were a lot of penalties tonight on both teams. Some of them helped us and some of them hurt us. But that is not what cost us the game. We had chances to win this game and we had self-inflicted wounds.”

“The thing now is how do we handle this? It’s a big, tough loss. How do we come back from it and what do we do next week.”

Rob Sullivan looks for room to run for the Tigers.

It was the NorthWood defense that made the difference in this one.

The Panthers only allowed the Tigers 138 yards of total offense. Warsaw rushed for just 18 yards against the quick, athletic and aggressive NorthWood front, which dominated the game. The 14 points scored by Warsaw tied their season low total.

“Their scheme up front and their aggressiveness gave us trouble,” Jensen said. “We did not pick up their blitzes early in the game.”

NorthWood took a 14-0 lead as they scored on a 19 pass from Bilinski  to Bronson Yoder on the opening possession of the game and a two-yard run by Tanner Cleveland midway through the second stanza. The Cleveland score was set up by a 48-yard run by Bailey Gessinger.

The Tigers got a huge score just before halftime. Quarterback Michael Jensen hit Jeremy David with a four-yard touchdown toss on a fourth-and-two play with just 42 seconds left until intermission. That throw capped a 39-yard drive that followed a NorthWood fumble.

Warsaw tied the contest at 14-14 late in the third period. Jensen lofted a 20-yard touchdown throw that Riley Rhoades made a spectacular catch on in the back corner of the end zone with 2:59 to play in the third quarter.

Warsaw looked like they were going to move in for a go ahead score in the final period after Zach Riley came up with a big interception at the Warsaw 34-yard line. The Tigers drove down to the Panther 30, but lost a key fumble with 7:01 to play.

“I was pleased with how our defense played tonight,” remarked Jensen. “They kept us in it.”

NorthWood outgained the Tigers 301-138 in total yards. Bilinski was 19-26 passing for 156 yards with Linville making 11 catches for 112 yards. Bailey Gessinger had 18 rushes for 109 yards.

Jensen finished 20-37 passing for 120 yards for the Tigers. Rhoades had 10 catches for 76 yards. Will McGarvey had 20 carries for 34 yards. Jensen had four rushes for a minus 28 yards, including losing 25 on a bad snap in the second quarter.

Jeremy David led the Warsaw defense with eight tackles. Drew Brock had 6.5 tackles, while Mason Faas had 5.5 and Brock Riley five.

NorthWood was penalized 12 times for 105 yards and Warsaw drew eight flags for 75 yards.

There was a fitting moment of silence prior to kickoff to honor the four outstanding local men, Charlie Smith, Scott Smith, Scott Bibler and Tony Elliott, who died in a tragic plane crash on Oct. 2 en route to the Notre Dame at Clemson football game.

NorthWood hosts Plymouth (7-1, 5-1) and Warsaw plays at Concord (6-2, 6-0) in NLC and regular-season finales next Friday night. Plymouth beat Goshen 31-17 and Concord clinched at least a share of the NLC title by downing Northridge 31-10 in league games Friday night.

Warsaw takes the field prior to hosting NorthWood Friday night. The Panthers topped the Tigers 21-14.