PLAINFIELD
In Whiteland coach Darrin Fisher’s view, senior running back Jake Perry is the embodiment of a true Warrior.
“We always talk about precision, passion and relentlessness around here,” Fisher said. “He’s the example I would put up, to practice as hard as he does, play as hard, lift as hard as he does and concentrate as hard as he does. He’s a good leader for his teammate.”
Friday night, Perry scored four touchdowns to lead the Class 5A No. 8 Warriors to a 35-27 over host Plainfield in Mid-State Conference action.
“He’s a good representative of how we want football to be played,” said Fishers, whose team improved to 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the conference. “He’s a physical runner. He can run between the tackles. He can make you miss. He can run over you. He’s got great vision.”
The 5-7, 169-pound Perry rushed for 163 yards on 19 carries, including TD runs of 29, 59, 4 and 2.
“The first half didn’t go quite as well as we wanted, but our O-line came out in the second half with a strong punch,” Perry said. “This game was a confidence booster. We needed to come back after that (loss to Mooresville) and turn a setback into a comeback.”
Junior Gavin Lutz added 94 yards on eight carries for Whiteland.
“Gavin had a great game tonight, too,” Fisher said. “Both are great examples of how we want to play.”
Logan Burdon, who rushed for 106 yards on 13 carries, scored Plainfield’s final TD with 13 seconds left and the two-point conversion by Burdon narrowed the deficit to eight points. Whiteland sealed it by recovering the onside kick.
Despite leading 14-13 at halftime, Fisher wasn’t pleased.
“We were not happy with our first half effort and execution,” Fisher said. “We weren’t very precise. When you play the brand of football we play, you have to be physical and you have to execute. In the first half, no one was happy with our precision, our passion. We weren’t relentless. We challenged ourselves at halftime. Plainfield did a good job of take things away from us in the first half. We had to make some adjustments, which I think we were able to do. I thought we made enough plays the second half to win. I think our defense really stepped up. It wasn’t a scheme adjustment, it was a physicality adjustment.”
Whiteland scored with 8:19 left in third quarter on Austin Kirkman’s 20-yard pass to Jaylen Dunlap to push the lead to 21-13. Burdon scored on a 3-yard TD run to narrow the Warriors’ lead to two with 11:13 left in the fourth quarter. However, Perry scored on a 4-yard run with 6:57 left and added his final touchdown with 4:35 to go.
Perry’s 29-yard touchdown run gave the Warriors a 6-0 lead with 10:31 left in second quarter. The extra-point kick failed. The Quakers (4-4, 3-3) then took their only lead at 7-6 on Tavian Gadia’s 15-yard run with 6:20 to go in the first half.
Whiteland went back on top 61 seconds later on Perry’s 59-yard run.
“I just got a good burst and took off,” Perry said. “My senior year I have to do something; I might as well make it memorable.”
Dakota DeBaun’s two-point conversion run boosted the lead to 14-7. Plainfield scored on Derek Keller’s 11-yard run with 2:05 left in the first half, but the Quakers failed to convert on the PAT.
