Tyler Smith looks for room to run for Wawasee Friday night. The quarterback rushed for over 200 yards and three touchdowns in a 38-14 win at Elkhart Memorial.

ELKHART – Tyler Smith had felt the pain of a hip pointer the last couple of weeks.

The Wawasee quarterback went out Friday night and made sure to put the hurt on Elkhart Memorial.

Smith led the way as the Warriors picked up a much-needed win by crushing the Crimson Chargers 38-14 in Northern Lakes Conference action.

Wawasee, which came out on fire en route to beating Memorial for the sixth straight time, snaps a four-game losing streak. The Warriors improve to 4-4 overall and go to 2-4 in the NLC. Memorial falls to 2-6 overall and sits at 0-6 in league play.

Smith, who suffered a hip pointer versus NorthWood three weeks ago,  looked fine Friday night. The elusive senior signal caller set the tone from the start as the Warriors came out on fire. Smith rushed for three touchdowns, all in the opening half, as Wawasee rolled to a 35-0 early in the second stanza and put it on cruise control the rest of the contest.

“It feels great,” said Smith, who rushed for 214 yards in the dominating victory. “We’ve been right there in all of those games the last four weeks. We’ve just been saying we need to right the ship. We wanted to come out tonight and put the pedal to the metal and prove a point that we’re still here.”

Noah Wadkins is bottled up by Memorial. Wadkins rushed for two touchdowns for Wawasee.

The Warriors proved a point right from the opening kickoff. The Warriors went 65 yards on the opening possession of the game in just six plays. Smith capped the drive, which was all running plays, with an eight-yard touchdown run just 2:15 into the game. Noah Wadkins, who rushed for two scores and over 100 yards, had a big 33-yard jaunt on the opening drive.

“We knew that we were going to get the ball and we just wanted to score right away,” noted Smith.

The Warriors defense then answered the bell. Gavin Barker recovered a fumble on Memorial’s first drive near midfield. Wadkins made it 14-0 with a one-yard plunge with 3:56 to go to cap the second scoring drive. Smith broke free for a 39-yard scamper to set up the touchdown.

Smith put his team in complete control less than two minutes later. The shifty 6-1, 185-pounder kept the ball on a sweep, cut down the sideline and raced 88 yards to pay dirt for a 21-0 lead. The Warriors made it 28-0 on a one-yard touchdown run by Smith with 10:58 to play in the second quarter and Wadkins raced in from 31 yards out to make it 35-0 with 8:22 left in the half.

Memorial scored before intermission on a three-yard pass to Andrew Goodman from Nathan Williams with just nine seconds to play.

The Warriors got a 22-yard field goal from Brayden Johnson in the fourth quarter to make it 38-7. Memorial tallied a touchdown on a 42-yard run by Mark Brownlee with 2:07 left in the game for the final.

The Warriors, who had been their own worst enemy the last month with untimely penalties and key turnovers at critical times, were focused Friday night. Wawasee forced three turnovers and had none and had just six penalties to 10 for the hosts.

Brayden Johnson prepares to boot a field goal for the Warriors.

“I think how we played tonight was a reflection of the practices we had this week,” said Wawasee coach Josh Ekovich. “We came out tonight guns blazing. We played hard and we executed well in that first half. We got a little complacent up 35-0, but you will have that.

“This (a win) was something that we needed. Our kids earned it. This should give us some momentum going forward into the final regular season game next week and then the sectional. We still did not play a complete game, but we took advantage of their turnovers.

“Tyler was running harder tonight. He’s had that hip pointer the last couple of weeks and it was good to have him back and running like that tonight.”

Wawasee started the season 3-0 before tough NLC losses to Concord, NorthWood, Plymouth and Warsaw the last four weeks.

The Warriors piled up 390 yards rushing and 476 yards of total offense in the win. Smith ran for 214 yards on 18 carries and bulldozer Wadkins picked up 121 on 18 totes of the pigskin. Smith threw for 86 yards with Paul Mendoza having three catches for 54 yards.

Derek Smith also had a fumble recovery and Jacob Hand an interception for Wawasee.

Williams was 14-32 passing for 128 yards and ran for 82 yards on 18 carries to lead Memorial. Brownlee had 16 rushes for 79 yards and Nathan Grose seven receptions for 98 yards for the Chargers.

Wawasee hosts Goshen (6-2) and Memorial plays at Northridge (1-7) in the NLC and regular season finales next week. Goshen beat Plymouth 7-2 and Concord topped Northridge 31-19 in league action Friday night.

The Warriors then play at Northridge and Memorial hosts Class 5-A No. 3 Mishawaka (7-1) in first-round sectional games on Oct. 21. Wawasee edged the Raiders 21-20 in double overtime in Syracuse back on Sept. 2.

Lineman Bryce Woody gives a lift to quarterback Tyler Smith as the two celebrate a Smith touchdown Friday night.