Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 133, Number 41, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 14 October 2010 — Page 6

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• Advance News • Thursday, October 14,2010

Panthers thrash Warsaw 22-9 on Senior Night

By Sim Smut Correspondent NAPPANEE Coy Brown rushed for 186 yards and a touchdown and sophomore Derek Diemer added 77 yards and two scores as the NorthWpod Panthers pounded Northern Lakes Conference rival Warsaw 229 in a game that was not nearly as dose as the final score indicated. The Black Crunch defense held the Tigers to just three points and 138 yards of offense, with the lone Warsaw score coming on a fourth-quarter interception return by Cameron Fritzel, giving the North Wood seniors a victory in their final regular-season home game on an unseasonably warm night at venerable Andrews Field. The Panthers grabbed an early 7-0 lead by taking the opening kickoff and marching 72 yards in eight plays, all but 6 yards of the drive on the legs of Brown and Diemer. Brown took it the final 3 yards for the TD and Brendan Widner tacked on the PAT with less than three minutes gone in die contest. The Tigers responded

Panthers reclaim soccer sectional title over Lancers

By James Costello Sports Editor LAKEVILLE The Panthers needed just one goal Saturday to reclaim their title. Eddie Salinas scored a clean-up goal less than seven minutes in, and the North Wood defense made the lone strike stand up as the Panthers unseated last year's champion LaVille 1-0 in the LaVille Boys Soccer Sectional championship game to restore themselves as sectional titleholders Saturday at Newton Park. "It was a hard-fought game," said North Wood boys soccer head coach Brad Duerksen. "LaVille's a solid soccer team, give them a lot of good credit. They played hard, and we were lucky to put one in early and we were able to hold on." "We had a ton of opportunities," said LaVille head coach Kevin Christy. "We had a lot of pressure from their defense a lot of the day, and we put a lot of good pressure on them for the most part with the shots. What are you going to do? Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't. "It's a good team. It's hands down a good team, and they should do well and obviously they've done well all year." LaVille outshot NorthWood 12-9 but couldn't find the net as young North Wood goalie Kyle Dijkstra tallied 11 saves and

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with a drive into North Wood territory, but Panther senior defensive tackle Kyle Mishler stuffed a fourth-down run attempt by Warsaw's Tyler Adams to give the ball back to North Wood. Both defenses then took control of the game, with fire Tigers intercepting a Zac Coleman pass and North Wood forcing two punts by Warsaw. Finally, with four minutes remaining in the first half, the Panthers got a break when Warsaw punter Cameron Huffer shanked a kick that went out of bounds after just 10 yards, giving North Wood die ball at the Warsaw 37-yard line. A quick 12-yard completion from Coleman to Aaron Rhoade and a 21-yard run by Brown put the ball at the Tiger 4 and Diemer bulled over from there to give the Panthers a 14-0 lead after Widner's PAT split the uprights. After another Tiger punt, North Wood again moved into Warsaw territory but turned the ball over on downs on a sack by Tiger lineman Jeremy Lehman. The Tigers then mounted their only offensive threat of

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Photo by James Costello North Wood's Roman Ortiz-Prather dribbles the ball against LaVille's Kainen Norman during the LaVille Boys Soccer Sectional championship game Saturday at Newton Park.

the Panthers defense clogged up the lanes. "Kyle, he's a sophomore, and he came up big for us all night," said Duerkson. "He made some beautiful saves, and this is his first year of varsity. "He's been stepping up all

Sports

die nigjht, driving 54 yards in less than a minute to the North Wood 22-yard line. With seven seconds remaining in die half, Scott Smyth knocked home a 39-yard field goal and the Tigers were on the board but still trailing 14-3. Warsaw mounted another decent drive to start die second half, but it ended when Smyth's 51-yard field goal attempt was wide right. North Wood could do nothing offensively and was forced to punt, but Brad Troyer uncorked a mighty 57-yard boot that was downed at the Warsaw oneyard line by a diving Thayne White. Two plays later, White was at it again, sacking Tiger quarterback Jeremy Coppes in the end zone for a safety to increase the Panther lead to 16-3. The Panthers tacked on one more score in the fourth quarter on a tremendous 22yard rumble by Diemer, who appeared to be stopped at the line of Scrimmage before breaking loose and trampling several Tigers on his way to pay dirt. Warsaw had one last-gasp score on the interception return by See Panthers, Page A 7

season. We have a record number of shutouts. This is our ninth shutout of the season. The Lancers got off several quality shots, including several by forward Codie Highland. Fellow striker Jordyn Williams was injured early in the game and never seemed to fully recover. "He got an elbow to the nose, mouth early in the game," said Christy. "I know he had some after-

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DAT photo Panther running back Coy Brown (28) eludes the grasp of Warsaw's Josh Hueber (44) on his way to some of his team-high 186 yards rushing.

effects of that. I don't want to say concussion, but, yeah, you get hit in the face like that it kind of takes you out of the game a little bit." • NORTHWOOD 1, LAVILLE 0 At LaVille Boys Soccer Sectional championship First half NW Eddie Salinas 7th minute Shots on goal: LaVille 12, North Wood 9 Corners: LaVille 4, North Wood 3 Saves: Joey Vest (LaVille) 8, (North Wood) 11 Records: North Wood 12-4-4. LaVille 11-44 (Final)

Panthers recover to beat Bremen, advance to finals ByDocGbemot Staff Writer LAKEVILLE North Wood boys soccer skipper Brad Duerksen unloaded a stem, but G-rated halftime tonguelashing during the Panthers' first-round sectional tussle with Bremen Thursday. At the end of the speech, Duerksen required his team - then trailing 3-1 - to repeat, "We will win this game." Led by senior Ryan Lincoln's three-goal outburt, North Wool proved its coach and itself correct with a 4-3 come-from-behind victory at Newton Park. "We talked at halftime that we were going to win and we even made them say, 'we will win this game,' and they believed it," Duerksen said. "We got a quid: goal in the second half, in the second minute I believe, and that was big. Lincoln's third and final goal a high arcfog 25-yarder from just inside the left sideline in the 71st minute gave the Panthers their first lead, 4-3, and set off an emotional celebration. The big North Wood senior, assisted by Eddie Salinas, also tied the game at 1-1 and scored a critical goal on a rebound off the hands of laid-out Bremen goalkeeper Pedro Jimenez just 2 minutes into die second half. "Ryan Lincoln took the team on his shoulders which is what you want from your senior leader," Duerksen said. "He hit the last goal from the angle into the side netting. It was a beautifully angled shot." North Wood's only non-Lincoln tally came from a Connor Beckwith 61st-minute penalty luck following a Bremen foul in the box. Bremen, though, looked in control for the opening 40 minutes. Ellis Whitt used a North Wood defensive misplay at midfield to collect a breakaway goal in the sixth minute, and scored again from 12 yards to put the Lions up 3-1 in the 31st minute. Josh Brenneman sandwiched a penalty kick in between Whitt's goals to put die Lions on top 2-1. "We played a tremendous first half," Bremen head coach Mark Yoder said. "It was such a waste because of die way we played in the second half. It's a trend we've seen aU year; it bit us in the sectional. "We can't get up 3-1 on a team in die sectional and give them hope," he added. "We gave them hope. In the second half our game plan was to play the ball forward and we kept playing the ball backward and didn't dear the ball. We gave them way too many shots." • LAVILLE BOYS SOCCER SECTIONAL At Lakeville (Newton Park) NORTHWOOD 4, BREMEN 3 Halftime score: Bremen 3, North Wood i First half B - Ellis Whitt, 6th minute NW - Ryan Lincoln (Eddie Salims), 13th maMe B - Josh Brenneman PK, 29th minute B - Whitt, 31st minute Second half NW - Lincoln, 42nd minute NW - Connor Beckwith PK, 61st minute NW - Lincoln, 71st minute Shots: North Wood 16, Bremen 7; Corner kicks: North Wood 4, Bremen 4; Saves: North Wood 4 (Kyle Dijkstra), Bremen 4 (Pedro Jimenez); Raearte Bremen 4-9-3 (final), North Wood 104-2. , *7 \