Nappanee Advance-News, Volume 135, Number 49, Nappanee, Elkhart County, 8 December 2016 — Page 10

• Advance News • Thursday, December 8, 2016

Page A10

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Sports

Run, from Pago A 7

NLC championship already sewn up, NorthWcKxi avoided a letdown on the road in Plymouth, taking care of business against the Rockies, 43-12, in a contest that had all the makings of a classic trap game. "I point to the end of the season where we knew we were a really, really good football team. We were undefeated; we had an opportunity to play Warsaw at home who was really good at the time. It was a 5-2 team, and we had the opportunity to clinch the outright NLC championship with a win against Warsaw, but Warsaw knew that they had an opportunity to ruin ours and at least force a tie with themselves if they win and we took care of business in the first half and probably played the best half of football of any team in North Wood history," said Andrews. "We knew it then, but it only solidified matters the next week when it would be a typical trap game for most good teams. We already clinched the Northern Lakes Conference, and we had to go on the road to Plymouth at The Rockpile at a place and a team that ended our season last year and took care of business. So after those two back-to-back to close the regular season, we knew we had a chance." "Not being able to beat Concord for a few years now and then coming in and really taking it to them in our home-opener, that was a really good sign for us early on. Then, like Coach said, that Warsaw game just really proved how good we were," Bilinski said. "Clinching the conference title that game and then having to go next week to Plymouth in a really easy game to lose focus and we have to go play a tough Plymouth team on the road, we really could've rolled over and taken a loss that week. But we prevailed, and I think that really helped us going into the playoff."

Playing in a championship atmosphere in the Warsaw game gave the Panthers a little postseason preview before sectionals had even started, and a road game at The Rockpile in Plymouth gave them a taste of playing in the kind of hostile territory teams inevitably end up traveling to in the playoffs. Minnich even drew comparisons directly between those two match-ups and two teams the Panthers eventually played in the state tournament New Haven at regional Nov. 11 and at Lowell in the semistate round the following week. "If s weird because I would almost compare that Warsaw game to the New Haven game. We were home against a very skilled team that is bigger than us, and I think we just dominated them," Minnich said. "Then that Plymouth game, they were different types of games, but I think that goes back to that Lowell game. At a very tough place to play, ground and pound-style of game, and we came out and we got the win. And I think those two wins made us so we were ready for those other two wins in the playoffs." While the team may have finished a win short of a perfect season, the legacy of this group should be a lasting one. These Panthers left a huge pawprint on the program and the community at large, and they've set a benchmark future North Wood football teams can aspire to. "I really hope that impacts the younger generations of football players," Bilinski said. "I definitely know that growing up and watching other guys play in front of me, it was always really cool to see those guys winning games and stuff like that. I just really hope that we can impact the younger generations... to make them keep wanting to play. They see us make a run like that, and they say 'I want to be a part of North Wood football now. I

want to continue my football career.'" "We beat some really good teams, and even though we did eventually lose, I think the accomplishments that we had throughout the season a team that's accomplished that much. That just means a lot to me personally, and to, I know, the community and the coaches, especially the players," said Minnich. "Nobody settled. I think that's the big thing that nobody settled. Just because we made it this far, nobody can settle and we have to keep grinding and keep working hard. And I think with Coach Andrews being the head coach, there's no way they're going to settle." Any success next year's team enjoys will owe something to this year's group. And who knows? A lot of things have to line up just right for a run like this one. But as for the Panthers, they're hungry and they believe. "It's certainly early for that, but I do know this. At our season-ending team meeting, we rehashed our goals this season," said Andrews. "We had a lot of process goals, and one of our end goals was to be 2016 state champions. So I asked the group how they really felt about that: 'lf you can think back to the summer time when we wrote those on the board, how many of you firmly believed that that was reachable, doable, possible?' And I saw two or three hands go up because I asked them to be honest. I kind of had a feeling where they were at, and I kind of knew. And the amazing thing is, I said 'Gentlemen, if we put that goal up for next season, our ultimate goal for 2017 was to be state champions, how many of you can see it, smell it, believe it and know that it's possible?' And every hand in the room went up. That tells you how far we've come."