Luke Adamiec is tackled by Joe Barron during Warsaw’s football game with Plymouth at Fisher Field Friday night. (Photos by James Costello)

WARSAW — After a thrilling come-from-behind win at Class 5A, No. 5 Michigan City in Week 2, Warsaw came up short of a comeback against visiting Plymouth in the two teams’ Northern Lakes Conference-opener at Fisher Field Friday night.

The Rockies took it to their hosts early, scoring on the opening drive and leading wire-to-wire to hand the Tigers their first loss of the year, 24-19.

“First and foremost, credit to them — they came out and punched us in the mouth and played really hard. They came to do a job, and they did it,” said Warsaw head coach Bart Curtis.

“But there’s enough credit to go around for them and enough blame to go around for us, for sure.”

Parker Davenport pursues Plymouth’s Ivan Winkle in the first half.

The big play proved an Achilles Heel for Warsaw throughout the night, and Plymouth’s first two scores came from 66 and 80 yards out as the Rockies jumped out to a 17-6 halftime advantage that they never relinquished.

Joe Barron connected with Seth Rundell for a 66-yard catch-and-carry to cap off a five-play, 80-yard game-opening drive, and — following a pair of Harrison Mevis field goals from 39 and 35 yards out — the Rockies widened their lead with an 80-yard run up the Plymouth sideline that pushed the visitors’ advantage to 14-6 following Adrian Cardona’s second successful point-after kick at the 3:42 mark of the second quarter. Warsaw went three and out on its next possession, and Plymouth closed the first-half scoring with a 39-yard drive that set up Cardona’s 29-yard field goal with just 12 seconds remaining before the intermission.

Warsaw finally found the end zone with a grinding, 77-yard drive of more than seven minutes at the start of the second half — a drive that featured a key fourth down conversion on a quarterback sneak at Warsaw’s own 32-yardline and culminated in Juan Jaramillo’s three-yard touchdown plunge at the 4:46 stop of the third. But the Tigers’ two-point conversion run failed, and the home team was still facing a 17-12 deficit.

The Rockies and their hosts traded field position over the next two possessions before Barron hit Seth Rundell just past the line of scrimmage, and Rundell broke two tackles for a 39-yard ramble into the end zone with 10:26 remaining in the game.

Caden Silveus celebrates his interception in the fourth quarter.

Plymouth got the ball right back when the Tigers fumbled the ensuing kickoff return, but Caden Silveus picked Barron off on a pass to Jake Reichard at the 9:27 stop of the clock and Warsaw capitalized with an 11-play, 86-yard scoring drive. With the clock winding down, Wyatt Amiss completed four passes on the drive, three to Luke Adamiec, who set up what was to be the final touchdown of the night with a 30-yard reception, then scored when the ball squirted out of a scrum at the goal line, and he recovered the fumble in the end zone with 5:10 to play.

“Wyatt threw the ball well other than that last one; he was under a lot of pressure. Luke Adamiec has great hands, made a catch down here to keep us in the thing,” recalled Curtis.

The Tiger defense stopped Plymouth’s next drive when they refused to bite on a fake handoff on fourth down, sacking Barron at their own 15 and driving him back to the 18-yardline with 1:59 on the game clock. But their last drive stalled out at the Tigers 34 when Amiss’ final pass attempt on fourth and 7 sailed out of bounds, setting off a celebration on the Plymouth sideline. The Rockies set up in the victory formation and wound down the game’s final minute, moving to 2-1.

“They’re a really fine team. They’re solid on defense. Not flashy, not fancy, but they’re a high octane offense and they exposed us for sure,” said Curtis.

Warsaw finished with 328 total offensive yards to Plymouth’s 402. Barron connected on 12 of 26 passes for 202 yards and two scores with two interceptions by Silveus and Adamiec, and Rundell hauled in five catches for 128 receiving yards. Amiss finished 6 of 9 passing for 69 yards, Adamiec pulling down four receptions worth 50 yards. The Rockies recorded 179 rushing yards led by Winkle with 123 yards in just nine rushes. The Tigers rolled up 259 yards on the ground in a balanced run game that saw Jaramillo finish with 59 rushing yards, Blake Marsh tally 52, Amiss record 26 yards and Keagan Larsh finish with 42.

Warsaw slipped to 2-1 with an 0-1 NLC start. They’ll look to bounce back when they travel to Elkhart Memorial next Friday.

Plymouth’s sideline celebrates in the final minute of their win in Warsaw.