SYRACUSE – Unfortunately for Warrior fans, Friday night’s gridiron matchup between Concord and Wawasee went very similar to how most of the games in recent memory between these two have gone. Despite a fine effort from Wawasee, the Warriors were just not ready to run with one of the Northern Lakes Conference’s traditional powers as Concord would down Wawasee 27-7.

All of the scoring was done in the first half and it started early from the Minutemen. After receiving a short kickoff, Concord went to the air and completed a big pass which set the Minutemen up inside Wawasee’s 20-yard line. Two plays later Josh Emerson ran in it from 15 yard out. A botched extra-point snap left the Minutemen with a 6-0 lead not even a minute into the game.

Wawasee struggled to get its offense moving all night and that would allow Concord to have more opportunities. That showed in the final stats as the Minutemen totaled 334 yards on offense to Wawasee’s 146.

An interception by Wawasee’s Zac McKee halted Concord’s second possession but the Minutemen would add to their lead soon enough. After a stop by the Concord defense, the offense did its part with a 17-yard passing score from Jason Grooms to a wide open Matt Wilmore.

Wawasee finally woke up on offense after falling behind 13-0 as quarterback Tyler Smith broke off a 64-yard run to set the Warriors up inside Concord’s 10-yard line. Two plays later Smith would score on a sneak play behind a great lead block from center Harrison Shortill. Wawasee had given itself some hope with that drive, but the Warriors never got close to the end zone for the remainder of the game.

Emerson put his team 20-7 before the end of the first quarter with a 71-yard touchdown run. Grooms would connect with Emerson in the second quarter for a 34-yard score to give Concord a 27-7 lead, which would hold to be the final.

The second half was boring. Highlights included a missed field goal by the Minutemen and an earth-shattering hit from Concord’s Daniel Williams on Wawasee’s Rylan Kuhn. Kuhn had decided not to call for a fair catch during a punt return and Williams took advantage with a thunderous blow on the Warrior junior. Upon returning to the sideline, Kuhn was told by Wawasee special teams coach John Reutebuch told Kuhn to call for the fair catch next time.

Wawasee is still finding kinks to work out in its new offensive system, which is to be expected as the Warriors lost all of their offensive production from 2014. Friday’s contest just reminded that the Warriors and fans that Wawasee is not on Concord’s level yet, at least not athletically.

“They’re pretty fast,” said Wawasee head coach Josh Ekovich of Concord. “It’s just hard to catch them and we just don’t have that kind of speed. We didn’t have that speed last year either outside of Clayton (Cook). They did a good job of getting to the edge and when they did, they made us pay.”

When talking about the offense, Ekovich sees the biggest issue as just getting everything to click together.

“It’s always one thing,” Ekovich remarked. “If we have the blocks, then we make a bad read. If we have the right read, we miss a block. It’s tough, we still have some things to work on. The kids are young and still learning. But there are improvements being made every week and not all of them are ones that the average Joe will see. But we as coaches see them.”

Each week the Warriors have seen more and more young players come out of the woodwork to help the cause and week four was no different as McKee made a bigger impact and Will Geer saw time at quarterback. Geer threw a good ball and showed that he has a good understanding of the offense. Smith and Geer are both capable of helping the Warriors under center, which is a good problem to have seeing as Wawasee had no depth at the position behind Gage Reinhard last season.

Another young player to step up against Concord was freshman Dylan Hepler. Hepler started at cornerback and did a solid job, all things considered. He is the first freshmen to start a game for Wawasee since Rob McKibben.

Wawasee was led offensively by Smith’s 79 rushing yards. Michael Katzer added 34 yards on the ground. Emerson rushed for 117 yards for the Minutemen while Grooms was 7-14 for 125 yards and two scores. Stephen Possell led Wawasee on defense with 13 tackles.

Wawasee (2-2, 0-2) will travel to NorthWood (2-2, 0-2) next Friday. Concord (3-1, 3-0) will travel to Goshen (4-0, 2-0).