Whiteland’s offense is built around running the sweep — spreading defenses out horizontally and then taking advantage of whatever vulnerabilities that opens up.
In that system, coach Darrin Fisher said, the fullback is the one who makes things go. In senior Jake Perry, he’s got a pretty good one.
“Jake Perry is a versatile enough back that he can run the ball inside, on the perimeter,” Fisher said. “He’s very versatile in the fact that he allows us to attack the field in all of its places. He’s an A-gap guy, he’s an off-tackle guy, he’s a perimeter guy. That’s what makes Jake Perry a really good running back in our offense — once they’ve decided how they’re going to defend our sweep, Jake can attack all of those areas.”
Perry rushed for 718 yards as a junior, averaging 7.9 yards per carry, and he closed out the year with four straight 100-yard games, including a 178-yard effort against Mooresville. Those numbers will likely go up this year as he becomes more of a focal point in the offense.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
But it’s not just his ability to run the ball that makes the 5-foot-7, 169-pounder so valuable. Fisher marvels at Perry’s ability to always make the right play even when he doesn’t have the ball.
“Everybody can be great when you’re just running the ball,” the coach said. “He’ll fake, he’ll block, he’ll pass protect; he’ll do those things. He’s not just a great player with the ball in his hand.”
Fisher says that he couldn’t draw a comparison between Perry and some of the other great backs he’s coached at Whiteland; rather, he says that the senior combines the positive attributes of many of the school’s career rushing leaders.
Perry remembers a couple that made an impression on him when he was growing up watching the Warriors.
“I remember as a little kid going to the regional game versus Cathedral and just seeing Luke Harris go out there and play,” Perry said. “He was one of those guys that, you’d see him go up the middle untouched, and then if he did get touched he’d still break the tackle. It was really something to look at.
“And then when I was a ball boy I saw Aaron Harris play, and watching Aaron Harris play was crazy because he just didn’t quit. He always gave it everything he had. And it was just something that, ‘Hey, maybe I can get to that point if I keep doing what they’re doing.”
The adjective that seems to come up most often as Fisher talks about Perry is “unselfish.” Team chemistry was an issue for Whiteland during an uncharacteristic 2-8 season last year, but Perry believes that all of the players have made an effort to get back on the same page this time around.
“Last year didn’t go as any of us planned, but I feel like over the offseason we really tried to grow together and get to know each other,” he said. “If we’re able to go out there and win, this whole team’s going to get attention and it’s going to be a whole lot more fun than just going out there and playing for ourselves.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”2018 schedule” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Date;Opponent;Time
Aug. 17;at Columbus East;7 p.m.
Aug. 24;Greenfield-Central;7:30 p.m.
Aug. 31;at Decatur Central;7 p.m.
Sept. 7;Franklin;7 p.m.
Sept. 14;Perry Meridian;7 p.m.
Sept. 21;at Martinsville;7 p.m.
Sept. 28;Mooresville;7 p.m.
Oct. 5;at Plainfield;7 p.m.
Oct. 12;Greenwood;7 p.m.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Four downs with … senior DL Alex Reed” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
1. Which opponent’s field is your favorite/least favorite and why?
“My favorite opposing field would have to be Franklin, because our student section charges the field after every win we get against them. My least favorite would have to be Martinsville, because every time they score they light off fireworks. That just lights a fire under your butt and makes you want to stop them.”
2. What other position would you play if your coach let you?
“I’d want to play running back, because being a big guy I never really got to carry the ball much. I feel like if I got to play running back, I’d be pretty solid just because I could keep driving my feet.”
3. Which school that is not on your schedule would you love to play against?
“I would like to be able to play New Pal again. I feel like we, as a team, did not play well against them last year. And I got an injury in the first quarter, which I would like to go back in time and not have that happen.”
4. What’s something about this year’s team that will surprise people?
“Our family. We are more of a family this year than I’ve ever seen in the past four years I’ve been with this team.”
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Scouting the Warriors” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Coach: Darrin Fisher (14th year)
Last season: 2-8; lost to Bloomington South 42-37 in Class A sectional opener
Key returnees: QB Iyan Pelfree, RB Jake Perry, OL Hunter Metheny, OL Avi Eblen and DL Alex Reed, seniors; DL A.J. Biel, DL Matthew Havens, LB Jacob Schultz, DB Jacob Brown, K Dalton Spangler and K Logan Beers, juniors; OL Ethan Myers, sophomore
Top newcomers: WR Dalton DeBaun, DL Ernie Powell, DL Lucas Rawlings, RB Melvin Taylor and DB Chase Valentine, sophomores
Outlook: Last year was by far the worst of Fisher’s tenure, and much of the offseason was spent repairing relationships that he says had become strained during a tumultuous 2017 campaign.
“I don’t think any of us were happy the way that the season went last year, and not just from a win and loss standpoint,” Fisher said. “All the kids kind of felt like the relationships were broken, and as a staff we really felt the same way. One of the things we had to set out to do was to fix those relationships within our program.”
By all accounts, that healing process has helped considerably — and the Warriors have plenty of talent to supplement the improved chemistry. Perry has shown some big-play ability, and he figures to become the focal point of Whiteland’s run-oriented offense.
Defense was an issue last year, but Fisher is hopeful that some staff changes and five returning starters — including linemen Biel, Havens and Reed — can form the foundation of an improved unit.
Notable: Even including an 0-3 mark last year, Whiteland is an impressive 37-13 in the month of October since Fisher became the head coach in 2005.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
