Warsaw Football: McCormick, Turnovers Stop Tigers
KENDALLVILLE – East Noble quarterback Andrew McCormick carved up Warsaw a year ago with huge plays thanks to his ability to both throw and run the pigskin.
On Friday night, he made history repeat itself to power the Knights past the Tigers.
The dual-threat McCormick, who has committed to play at Indiana State University, was the difference maker time and time again as East Noble topped Warsaw 28-7 in a non-conference matchup.
The Knights, who improve to 1-1, scored the final 21 points of the contest to beat the Tigers for the third straight year and for the fourth time in five meetings.
Warsaw, which hurt itself big time with three turnovers, drops to 1-1.
“They are good and he (McCormick) is as good as advertised,” said Warsaw coach Phil Jensen. “They are explosive and he just picked us apart and used that run-run option to hurt us too.”
The Tigers simply did have an answer for McCormick when they needed a stop. The 6-1, 200-pounder, who threw for 452 yards and six touchdowns in a 47-42 win over Warsaw in 2016, used his running skills and short passing game as a lethal combo Friday night.
McCormick threw a pair of short touchdown tosses and ran for another score. He finished 16-24 passing for 223 yards and ran for another 93 yards on 23 carries.
Warsaw, which was outgained 433-223 in total yards, gave up a pair of backbreaking touchdown drives in consecutive possessions.
The Tigers tied the game at 7-7 on a 25-touchdown toss from Tristan Larsh to Trevor York with just 1:45 to go in the opening half. McCormick then drove his team 80 yards in just over a minute, hitting Hayden Jones with a 12-yard scoring strike with just 37.8 seconds left before halftime for a 14-7 lead.
“We just left them too much time,” noted Jensen. “And that was huge right before half, knowing that they would get the ball to start the second half.”
The Knights really answered the bell on the opening drive of the second half. After a pair of penalties set the hosts back to begin the drive, they went 80 yards in 20 plays. McCormick capped the drive, which took almost seven minutes of the clock, with a three-yard touchdown pass to Chevy Wright. East Noble converted on a a third and 13 play and a third and 16 play in the drive.
“We just can’t give up those long plays on third downs like we did in that drive,” said Jensen.
Warsaw then turned the ball over on its next two possessions as Larsh threw an interception and then lost a fumble.
The Knights added a final score when Kaiden Hershberger danced 32 yards with 3:38 left for the 28-7 final.
“You can’t turn the ball over against good teams and we shot ourselves in the foot tonight,” remarked Jensen. “But I thought that overall Tristan played a great game. This was just his second start at quarterback.
“I feel very good about how we played them physically and intensity wise tonight. We just have to clean things up and execute. Those are things that we can fix.”
The Warsaw defense did stop the Knights on a pair of fourth down plays in the opening quarter. Unfortunately for the Tigers, they gave the ball back to the hosts on a fumble at the East Noble 23 following one of those stops.
The Knights took a 7-0 lead late in the second stanza on a nine-yard keeper by McCormick. That capped an 82-yard scoring drive by East Noble.
Warsaw running back Will McGarvey, who had 136 yards rushing in the season opening win over Columbia City and is closing in on 2,000 yards on the ground for his career, did not play the first quarter Friday night. Jensen said that it was a “coaches decision” as to why the senior was held out for the opening period.
The Tigers had three turnovers to none for the Knights. East Noble ran 70 plays to just 45 for the Tigers and had a 24-11 edge in first downs.
Larsh was 7-10 passing for 69 yards and had 13 rushes for 85 yards. McGarvey had 13 carries for 52 yards. York and Zach Riley each had three receptions.
Lane McClone, who missed the opener due to an injury, had a huge night on defense. The senior linebacker piled up 17 total tackles for the Tigers. Riley had 9.5 stops and Andrew Owens six.
Warsaw hosts Plymouth to open Northern Lakes Conference play next Friday night. The Rockies, who beat East Noble 22-18 in week one, improved to 2-0 by routing Hammond Morton 50-19 Friday night.
East Noble hosts Huntington North next Friday night. Huntington North sits at 0-2 after a 49-6 loss to Eastbrook Friday night and have been outscored 84-6 in its first two games.