ELKHART — For the second straight week, a valiant effort from the Memorial football team came up just short.

Wawasee scored 14 first-half points and then held on by its fingertips in the final five minutes to edge Memorial 14-9 in Northern Lakes Conference action Friday at Charger Field.

“We’re improving each week, but we’re being hurt by the little things that are hurting us and costing us chances at wins,” Memorial coach Bill Roggeman said. “We’re getting real good play from our defense and our offensive line stepped up in the second half and opened some holes. But we have to find a way to close it out and get a victory.”

Trailing 14-6 in the fourth quarter, the Chargers had a fourth-down touchdown pass from Blake Kramer taken off the scoreboard by an illegal shift penalty. Roggeman then sent his field goal unit onto the field and senior Tommy Kendall came through with a 30-yard kick straight through the uprights to make it 14-9.

After forcing a Wawasee punt, the Chargers took over at their own 45 with just over three minutes remaining.

Kramer led a drive that reached the Warrior 34, but his fourth-down completion to Nathan Troutman came up 4 yards short of a first down with just over a minute to play and the Warriors were then able to run out the clock.

“You have to give Memorial a ton of credit for the way they came through tonight,” Wawasee coach Tom Woggomon said. “They played hard and fought to the end, even though they could have easily given up when it was 14-0. Coach Roggeman deserves a lot of credit for the resolve his team has shown the last two weeks.”

The Wawasee running game dominated the first half, as the Warriors’ big offensive line opened holes for halfback Derrick Sorenson and fullback Gabe Rhodes.

Rhodes opened the scoring on a 26-yard run in the first quarter and added a 1-yard rumble for a score midway through the second quarter. Rhodes’ second score was set up by a 12-yard Memorial punt.

The Crimson Chargers’ offense finally got rolling on their first drive of the second half, going 80 yards in 11 plays and pulling within 14-6 on a nine-yard touchdown run by junior Kane Rickey. Kramer, rushed hard all night by a blitzing Wawasee defense, was 4-of-5 on the drive for 44 yards.

Memorial, which falls to 0-8 on the year, has its last shot at a regular-season win next Friday at Northridge. Wawasee is now 4-4 and 3-3 in the NLC.



Wawasee 14, Memorial 9

Scoring by Quarters

Wawasee 7 7 0 0 — 14

Memorial 0 0 6 3 — 9

School — Scoring Play

First Quarter

W — Gabe Rhodes 26 run; kick blocked.

Second Quarter

W — Rhodes 1 run; Clayton Cook pass from Gage Reinhard.

Third Quarter

M — Kane Rickey 9 run; kick blocked.

Fourth Quarter

M — Tommy Kendall 30 field goal.

Officials: Tommy Tykes, Chuck Poynter, Chadd Davis, Jeremy Bonk, Dennis Groning.



Team Statistics Wa Me

Net yards rushing 193 80

Net yards passing 54 118

Total Yards 247 198

First Downs 12 14

Fumbles-Lost 3-1 1-1

Penalties 10-85 5-40

Individual Leaders

Wawasee: Rushing — Derrick Sorenson 23-117, Gabe Rhodes 13-77. Passing — Gage Reinhard 4-11-54. Receiving — Clayton Cook 3-44, Rhodes 1-10.

Memorial: Rushing — Kane Rickey 12-39, Blake Kramer 5-36. Passing — Kramer 18-34-118, 2 int. Receiving — Nathan Troutman 5-49, Dimetri Chatman 6-42, Caleb Platz 2-19.