<p>Whiteland recovered from a pair of big first-half turnovers to regain the lead against Mid-State Conference rival Decatur Central. Another one in the fourth quarter helped do the Warriors in.</p>
<p>William Starks’ interception with 4:43 to go in a tie game set up the Hawks’ final touchdown, a 2-yard run by Kenny Tracy with 2:41 remaining, as the Hawks got the last word in a back-and-forth affair and skipped town with a 46-39 victory.</p>
<p>The Warriors (1-2, 0-1) had one opportunity to answer but turned the ball over on downs in their own territory.</p>
<p>Decatur Central’s late surge wiped out what had been an impressive third-quarter rally by Whiteland.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>Down eight at the half, the Warriors opened the second half with a defensive stop, setting up a 57-yard scoring march that tied the game up. Desmen Singleton collected his third touchdown of the night on a 13-yard run, and Dalton DeBaun picked up the two-point conversion on a sweep at the 6:35 mark of the third quarter.</p>
<p>Following another defensive stop, the Warriors went back on top late in the period when Brant Kunz hit Conner Albright for a 14-yard score. That lead held until Peyton Horsley tossed a game-tying touchdown to Kaleb Hicks from 3 yards out with 5:51 left in regulation.</p>
<p>Starks picked off Kunz a little more than a minute later, putting the Hawks in a position to steal it.</p>
<p>Two other giveaways hurt the Warriors severely in the first half. A fumble on the team’s second series was scooped up by the Hawks’ Christian Thomas and returned 25 yards for a touchdown. Later in the half, Tracy stripped Kunz, plucked the ball out of the air near midfield and took it the distance. That second defensive score put the visitors up 20-14.</p>
<p>Singleton had a pair of long touchdowns for the Warriors in the first half. The first, a 61-yard catch and run off a Kunz pass, tied the game at 7-7, and the junior’s 30-yard scoring run — set up by a 44-yard burst from Jaylen Dunlap — briefly gave Whiteland a 14-13 edge with 1:28 remaining in the first quarter.</p>
<p>Tracy’s fumble return got Decatur Central back on top by six early in the second, and he then pulled in a 30-yard scoring pass from Horsley to make it 26-14 with 5:17 to go in the half. Gavin Lutz’s 3-yard touchdown plunge got the Warriors back to within five, but the Hawks managed to tack on a field goal in the closing seconds of the half to take a 29-21 cushion into the break.</p>
<p>Whiteland travels down the road to face unbeaten Franklin next week.</p>
