Wawasee’s Josh Slabaugh falls on a fumble in Friday night’s game against West Noble. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SYRACUSE – There’s unlucky. Then there’s what is shaping up to be the 2018 Wawasee football team.

Likely missing a lot of its toes heading into Saturday morning, Wawasee shot itself in the foot time and time again while West Noble took the extra chances and ran with a 22-7 win Friday night at Warrior Field.

Wawasee had numerous opportunities fall into what will be a very grouchy and note-filled Wawasee film study, seeing chances on offense melt into wasted possessions or defensive stands that West Noble willed into extended drives and points.

Jonathon Konieczny sprints downfield after picking off a pass.

Wawasee’s defense created five turnovers, none of which resulted in points. One, a blocked field goal by Parker Young, had the ball bounce into Young’s lap in stride. With a convoy of blockers leading the way, somehow the turf monster that came with the new field turf at Warrior Field decided to make a tackle, tripping up Young without a Charger player within 20 yards of him. Young later blocked a second field goal, but the drive stalled when Steven Hauntz was ruled down on a stretch on fourth down the official deemed was a yard short of the line to gain.

The Warriors also caused two fumbles they recovered, one inside its own five with West Noble driving, and the other on a fake West Noble punt that was going the other way for a long gain. A fifth turnover, a Jon Konieczny interception, had the Warriors inside the West Noble 25, but a snap over quarterback Evan Eshbach’s head on third down was recovered by the Chargers, leaving the score 9-0 late in the third quarter.

Wawasee had two key drives end with snaps over Eshbach’s head on third down, and were just 4-11 on third down on the night and failed on both of its fourth down tries.

“That’s what this group is doing right now is developing the right attitude and the will to want to win,” said West Noble head coach Monte Mawhorter. “It’s their mentality, and they expect to go out and play well. Yes, we are 2-0, but I couldn’t be more happy with them in how hard they are working. They are still a young group that will make its fair share of mistakes, and they haven’t figured out the leadership yet, but they are going in the right direction.”

The Warrior defense, which bent but didn’t break for most of the night, had its share of ups, but when West Noble had to make a play, it seemed to do it. A pass into the slot to Steven Loy on third and long got West Noble to Wawasee’s 15, which the Chargers had Kyle Mawhorter find Trevor Franklin for a nine-yard passing score late in the second quarter.

Gabe Moore stretches to try to intercept a pass.

West Noble was also facing third and long in its first drive of the fourth quarter, and after Wawasee thought it stopped the drive after Mawhorter’s pass went errant, the Warriors were called for roughing the passer. An additional personal foul call on the play moved West Noble inside Wawasee’s 10. Lost in the shuffle of the sequence was Wawasee head coach Mike Eshbach yelling for timeout, which wasn’t granted, and Brandon Pruitt plunged into the endzone from two yards out while most of Wawasee’s staff was 10 yards onto the field pleading with the officials.

The Chargers weren’t just taking what Wawasee gave them, but created its own fortunes. A safety early in the first quarter opened play when the Chargers swallowed up Eshbach trying to escape the rush. Big Chase Stoner scored a defensive touchdown for the Chargers after Dylan Hepler fielded a punt and lost control of the ball in the scramble, with Stoner picking up the gift and bringing it to the house.

“You have to trust them,” Mawhorter said. “Part of our job as a coaching staff is to trust that the kids can make the right decisions sometimes on their own. They made plays tonight. We have the right group to do that. There were a few times tonight where we didn’t make a play call, we let them do it. One of the fake punts we didn’t call. They saw it. That’s what this group is starting to develop.”

Pruitt was the workhorse for West Noble, rushing 35 times for 151 yards and a score. Gavin Wolferman added seven catches for 114 yards.

Wawasee wasn’t able to establish much of anything on the ground, rushing 24 times for just 17 yards. Eshbach did throw for 231 yards, finding Hauntz five times for 74 yards while Hepler and Josh Slabaugh both broke 70 yards receiving.

Damien Rodriguez made nine stops, two for loss and Keyan Peete had five solo tackles before leaving the game with an ankle injury.

Wawasee (0-2) will try to right the ship next Friday when it host Northridge in the Northern Lakes Conference opener while West Noble (2-0) will take on Eastside in a Northeast Corner Conference matchup.

Wawasee’s Isaiah Tipping stuffs West Noble’s Trevor Pruitt.