WARSAW — The game-clincher in Warsaw’s win over East Noble didn’t go exactly as it was drawn up, but it certainly got the job done.

With the Tigers leading by a tenuous 10-7 margin and under five minutes remaining in the game, quarterback Josh West got creative when his blockers made a mistake. West broke left, then turned up the East Noble sideline for a 52-yard touchdown ramble that pushed the home team out to a 17-7 cushion with 4:35 on the clock. The Warsaw defense held the Knights to a field goal on the next possession, Luke Adamiec snagged an ensuing onside kick, Kane Dawson gave the Tigers a first down, and the orange and black ran out the game’s remaining seconds in front of a boisterous home crowd at Fisher Field.

“We didn’t block it right,” said a smiling coach Bart Curtis of the game-clinching TD. “We blocked the guy he was supposed to pinch off, and he improvised and broke a couple tackles and he was off to the races. So it looked a lot better than it was actually executed.

“He made a play. Been waiting for that. Been waiting for him to take ownership of this offense, and I think he did a little bit tonight.”

“The quarterback is a tough kid, and they just kept chipping away and eventually they just got to a point where — I’ll have to see the film — I just feel like our outside linebacker went to the pitch and didn’t do his job,” said East Noble coach Luke Amstutz.

“I felt like our defensive game plan was solid, and we really shut them down at most moments. We just can’t give them short fields and can’t miss an assignment against a team that knows how to execute.”

West finished the night with 100 rushing yards on 11 carries to lead all Warsaw rushers, but Dawson carried the mail with 79 yards on 21 rushes and a first quarter touchdown. The senior fullback capped off a nine-play, 44-yard drive with a 5-yard TD plunge up the middle at the 3:52 stop of the clock to give his team an initial 10-0 lead. After East Noble went three and out on the next series, Dawson broke free for another 49-yard touchdown run with 1:47 to go in the quarter, but the run was ultimately called back on a chop block.

The Knights responded with a 13-play, 79-yard touchdown drive of their own, however, when junior quarterback Bailey Parker score on a 3-yard keeper around the right side that cut the Tigers’ lead to 10-7 with Joe Painter’s extra-point kick at the 8:13 mark of the second, and the game remained nip-tuck until West’s long scoring run in the fourth.

“Here’s the thing — we handled adversity a lot better than maybe we did last week, and we got a little stronger as the game went on, which is a good trait for us,” said Curtis.

The Tigers took it to their guests early, too.

Eli Owen intercepted a Blake Swygart pass on the very first play from scrimmage to give Warsaw the ball at the East Noble 25, and although the Tigers couldn’t move the chains, Harrison Mevis’ 37-yard field goal at the 10:32 mark staked the home team to an early 3-0 advantage. All told, Warsaw’s defense picked Parker off three times, two by junior Blake Marsh.

“He’s a player. He makes plays,” said Curtis of Marsh. “He’s a competitor, two- or three-sport kid. Those are the kinds of kids you want out there.”

For his part, Amstutz didn’t feel Parker bore all the responsibility for his two interceptions. The junior signal caller finished the night 12-26-2 through the air for 113 yards, and he ran the ball 15 times for 110 yards, including his 3-yard score in the second stanza.

“Two of them probably aren’t even his fault. In high school football if you can’t run 5 yards and turn around and catch the ball, then you don’t deserve to win games,” Amstutz said.

“We’re not throwing it all over the yard. We probably threw it 15-20 times. We try to keep things balanced, and Bailey played a really good game. He threw a couple balls that weren’t great, and I’d love to see him throw the ball away a little bit more than taking some of these hits but he’s learning. It’s not on him at all. It’s on our team — and it starts with me — not valuing the ball. If we’re not going to value the ball we’re going to have a long season.”

Adamiec recovered a fumble at the Warsaw 23 late in the third period, but the Tiger offense wasn’t able to convert the opportunity into points as a 41-yard Mevis field goal attempt sailed wide right with 2:30 left in the frame. Warsaw’s defense has turned opponents over a total of 10 times over its first two games, six last week at Columbia City and four times Friday.

“That’s five a game. A very big deal,” said Curtis. “Some of them unforced but many of them forced. The kids played hard, I’ll tell you.

“Defense flew around and kept us in it, and we kept trying to mess it up and give it back. Defense kept bailing the offense out. A great win.”

While Warsaw was out-gained 267 yards to 204, the Tigers won the battle on the ground, finishing the night with 190 rushing yards versus 154 by the visitors. They move to their first 2-0 start in a decade and enter Northern Lakes Conference play at Plymouth next week with plenty of momentum.

“We will enjoy tonight for 24 hours just like we would mourn for 24 hours if we got beat. Then we’ll get back at it, and whoever is next we’ll start playing for it,” Curtis said. “Still got to take care of Warsaw first.”