Warasw’s Blake Burns and NorthWood’s Corbin Taylor battle for possession of the ball in a Northern Lakes Conference game in Warsaw Tuesday night. (Photos by James Costello)

WARSAW — Even playing out of his natural position, Warsaw sophomore Blake Burns finds ways to pressure defenses.

Still nursing a hamstring injury from the preseason, Tigers head coach Frank Courtois has pushed Burns from the forward position back into the midfield this season, and it was from there that the young player helped create both of his team’s goals in a 2-0 Northern Lakes Conference victory over visiting NorthWood Tuesday night.

“He usually plays at the top. He’s the most dangerous forward I’ve got, but he got injured at the beginning of preseason; he’s still not recuperated 100 percent so I’m holding him back,” explained Courtois of Burns.

“He creates havoc, and he gets some attention. I can’t wait for him to be back 100 percent.”

It was Burns’ shot on goal that led to Joaquin Juarez’s score in the 10th minute, the Tigers’ first of the night, when Burns got behind the NorthWood defense, and Panther keeper Micah Pippenger knocked down a point black shot but couldn’t keep ahold of the hard drive. Juarez cleaned it up near post at the 30:48 stop of the clock, giving the home team an early lead that it never relinquished.

“Our starting defender, his shoe blew out and we subbed in a guy who doesn’t usually play defense. He got beat, but that was asking a lot,” explained NorthWood head coach Brad Duerksen of Juarez’s goal. “We still didn’t clean the ball out of the box, and that needed to be done. It went off our keeper’s hands, and even when it goes off his hands we still need someone there to clean it up, so that was unfortunate.”

“I always tell the kids not to let them score on us first. As long as we get the first goal, we gain momentum, and it kind of makes everybody relax and start playing the game like they should,” said Courtois. “That’s why we always want to start with pressure.”

Warsaw’s Joaquin Juarez, right, Cole Voss, center, and Erick Ocock celebrate Juarez’s goal in the 10th minute Tuesday.

The pressure continued for Warsaw, which got an insurance goal roughly eight minutes later when Burns played a nice ball to Erick Ocock inside the NorthWood box, and Ocock caromed a shot off the post and into the back of the net to give the Tigers a 2-0 advantage in the 18th minute.

Those two scores in the first 20 minutes were part of a dominant first half by Warsaw that saw the Tigers register nine shots on goal to only one by the Panthers. NorthWood made some adjustments at the half and limited its hosts to just five more shots on frame while taking two of its own, the second a long free kick from Sebastian Guillen that Warsaw keeper Colton Wottring stopped in the nearside upper 90 to preserve the clean sheet.

“The first half, in the back we weren’t real organized. We lost a couple marks,” said Duerksen. “We did some things where our defenders dropped off a little bit more and kind of made them aware that they were playing a little bit of long ball over the top. So we just got a little more organized, told our three central midfielders to stay more connected, check back a little bit more. It was a much improved second half. I wish we had the first 20 minutes back.”

While Warsaw got two goals Tuesday, it wasn’t for lack of effort on the part of Pippenger, who recorded 12 saves in goal for the Panthers and made several other heads-up plays with Warsaw threatening.

“Micah did a great job, especially the second half. Just took control of the box and commanded it, wasn’t hesitant at all. So it was a very positive second half for our goalkeeper,” Duerksen said.

NorthWood goalie Micah Pippenger slides out to smother a ball while NorthWood’s Skyler Duerksen (23) and Kyle Luster look on in the background.

Warsaw moves to 8-3-2 overall and an even 2-2 NLC mark with just four matches left to play before sectional. The Tigers resume play at home versus Elkhart Central Saturday in an evening game scheduled for 5 p.m.

“They’re playing well,” said Courtois of his team. “Once they start working together, we’ll be a dangerous team to reckon with. They’re young. We’ll make some mistakes, but any sophomore and junior will make some. I think that once we start playing together, we’ll be dangerous to any team.”

NorthWood slips to 6-3-0 and 1-3 in the Northern Lakes league with its first loss in five games, a streak that has included four games over the past four days. The Panthers now look to Goshen in a home game Thursday night.

“What these guys have to start understanding and believing is we can play with anybody. We’re good enough,” said Duerksen. “Even though we’re a smaller school, we can play with anybody. Our worst loss this year is to Concord, 3-0, and tonight 2-0 so we’re in the battle.”