Published: October 11, 2008 12:15 am         

Panthers near perfection

NorthWood 54, Warsaw 24

A football coach can say his offense is clicking on all cylinders when it scores touchdowns on eight of its nine possessions.

Such was the case with NorthWood High School coach Rich Dodson after his Panthers defeated the Warsaw Tigers, 54-24, in a Northern Lakes Conference matchup Friday night at Andrews Field in Nappanee.

“The execution of our offense has gotten progressively better,” the coach said. “We can run the trap, the power I, the option and throw the ball. That makes us a tough team to defend.

“The offensive line has been a big key. Coach (Mark) BeMiller has done a great job with the line. They are hitting their blocks more decisively and when they do that the running backs can run more decisively.”

NorthWood (7-1, 5-1 NLC) kept its hopes of a conference title share alive heading into next Friday’s showdown at Plymouth. Warsaw (5-3, 3-3) hosts Concord next Friday.

“We got beat by a good football team and a good football program,” Warsaw coach Phil Jensen said.

“NorthWood’s offense is clicking and we had no answers for it. We knew we could not afford to miss opportunities, because NorthWood is a team that will make you pay for missed opportunities.”

The Panthers scored every time they had possession of the ball, expect when taking over on downs at the NW-22 with 1:24 left in the game.

The complexion of the game changed just before halftime.

NorthWood was leading 27-17 and the Panthers had the ball at the W-35. Skyler Titus, 6-3 (215) senior quarterback, tossed an incomplete pass, but the Panthers were called for offensive holding.

Rather than making it 3rd-and-18, Warsaw declined the penalty making it fourth-and-eight. Titus pitched the ball to 6-2 (189) senior Brandon Williams who tossed a 35-yard option pass to 5-9 (153) sophomore Derek Yoder. Williams booted the PAT and with :29 remaining in the half, the Panthers led 34-17.

“I was a little surprised Warsaw declined the penalty,” Dodson sad. “We tried to run the option pass a couple of plays earlier, but Warsaw moved a defensive end up too far and Titus held on to the ball.”

Jensen said, “I declined the penalty, because with NorthWood’s quarterback I would rather just give them one chance instead of two.”

The third quarter didn’t get any better for the Tigers thanks to 5-9 (175) Panther senior Danzele Johnson.

On NorthWood’s first play from scrimmage Johnson ran 43 yards for a TD and on the second scampered 52 for another score.

“We couldn’t stop Titus or Johnson,” Jensen said.

Johnson finished the game with 167 rushing yards on 12 carries. Titus completed 9 of 15 passes for 204 yards. He tossed a 66-yard TD to Williams at 4:28 of the first period, an 8-yarder to 6-1 (186) senior Brock BeMiller at 4:17 of the second and a 28-yarder to Williams at 9:25 of the fourth.

George Lopez, 5-10 (185) senior, added NorthWood’s other score on a 28-yarder run at 9:53 of the first quarter.

Andy Conrad, 5-9 (177) junior tailback, ran for 165 yards on 20 carries and scored two TDs for the Tigers.

Leaders for NorthWood’s “Black Crunch” defense were 5-10 (160) junior Christian Diemer with 12 “hits,” 5-9 (176) senior Reyd Garner nine, 5-11 (245) senior Austin Fink and 5-11 (182) junior Jon Sittler both seven.

Garner’s interception that setup Johnson’s 43-yard TD in the third was the only turnover of the game.