When fans have been used to seeing the Wildcats roll to easy victories over the past few weeks, a close game at Butler on Friday night may have come as a shock to several. But the 13-6 win, though not impressive, still propelled Warsaw to a 7-0 overall record, they maintained their #4 ranking in Class 2, but more importantly, their 5-0 mark in conference play also solidified their first championship in the Ozark Highlands Conference and their first outright conference title since 2009 when the Wildcats were still members of the Tri-County.
Butler received the opening kickoff and after two good runs by quarterback Kellen Long, the Bears quickly moved across midfield. The Warsaw defense stuffed a couple of runs on the next plays of the series, but after coming up big on third down, the Bears converted on fourth and long on a deep pass from Long to Kaleb Mallatt that put the ball on the Warsaw 6 yard line. With their backs against the wall, the Wildcats defense came up huge when a Butler fumble was recovered by Warsaw's Sean Reinertsern to end the Bear's early threat.
The Wildcats metriculated a drive downfield that was eventually halted on a turnover on downs right at midfield. However, coming back, the Bears returned the favor by giving the ball back to Warsaw after their defense got another stand to turn the ball over on downs and the ball was back in the Wildcats' hands.
On that drive, a Garrett Ferguson fumble on his own 32 yard line gave the ball back to Butler and that would end an ugly first quarter, 0-0.
The Bears moved the ball on their next possession but that drive was stopped when Shane Poyser came up with an interception inside his own 10 yard line to give the ball back to Warsaw. However, another turnover, this time an interception by Ferguson, put the ball back into the hands of Long and the Bears and they finally took advantage of the miscue when Xavier Wisdom found daylight thru the middle of the Warsaw defense and ran 41 yards for the first score of the night for either team. A penalty moved the 2-point conversion attempt back and it was unsuccessful but the Wildcats still faced one of their few deficits, 0-6.
It didn't take long for Warsaw to answer the call though. After a good return by Jayce Depriest, Ferguson found Drake Murrell running the seam. Murrell reeled in a catch that took every inch of his outstretched arms and rumbled into the endzone for a 35-yard touchdown catch. A bobbled snap caused the PAT to be blocked and the half ended with the Wildcats and the Bears in a good ol' fight, 6-6.
Warsaw received the second half kickoff and gave the ball back to the Bears after another turnover on downs. The Wildcats defense came through on fourth down, however, when Murrrell laid out to block the Bears punt attempt. He also came up with the recovery and the Wildcats were back in business at the 37 yard line of the Bears.
On second down, Josh Harvath gave Warsaw their first lead of the game when he hit the middle of the field, found the second level, bounced to his left and raced to a 35-yard touchdown run. Logan Gemes point-after-try was no good (just his first miss in his last 21 attempts) but the 'Cats grabbed the lead at 13-6.
The two teams clawed at each other for the final quarter of play, but no more scoring made the final and Warsaw escaped Bates County with the 13-6 win.
Harvath led the Warsaw offense with 133 yards on 13 carries and scored 1 TD on the ground. Ferguson added 54 yards rushing on 17 attempts and was also 6 for 8 passing for 70 yards with the 1 interception and 1 fumble. Depriest added 31 yards on 7 carries for the Wildcats.
Murrell hauled in 3 passes for Warsaw for 38 yards and 1 touchdown while Depriest, Jase Hubert and Charles Young had 1 reception apiece.
Murrell led the Wildcats defense with 7.5 tackles with 1 forced fumble and the blocked punt. Hubert came in with 4.5 tackles while Kendall Bagley had 3.0 with a quarterback sack. Reinertsen also came up with a critical fumble recovery and Poyser came down with the only interception for Warsaw.
The Wildcats will put their unbeaten record on the line once again this week when they host Midway for this year's Senior Night on Friday.
That game is set for a 7:00 PM kickoff at Randy Morrow Field on the campus of WHS and can also be seen live on BCE TV with Matt Dove and Drew Burdick as your hosts.
