Whiteland junior Brady Stanifer catches a pass in front of Columbus East senior Logan Christophel on Friday during their sectional semifinal game at Whiteland Community High School.
SCOTT ROBERSON | DAILY JOURNAL
Decimated by injuries and forced to reinvent itself on the fly over the course of the regular season, the Whiteland football team that ran out onto its home field to face Columbus East on Friday night in some ways bore little resemblance to the one that hosted the Olympians in the teams’ season opener back in August.
Somehow, the end result was very much the same.
The Warriors shook off an early Columbus East touchdown and controlled the affair for the balance of the night, methodically grinding their way to a 31-7 victory in a Class 5A sectional semifinal.
“We’ve been talking about three more feet since October started,” Whiteland coach Darrin Fisher said. “It’s not done in big chunks; it’s done in three more feet at a time, and boy, they’ve really — an undefeated October. You’ve got to win in October to earn the right to play in November, and that’s what we’ve talked about since Sept. 30. … I thought it was a complete game for us.”
Whiteland (6-3), which had beaten East 28-7 in Week 1, will travel to New Palestine next week for a rematch of last year’s sectional title game.
The Olympians (4-6) jumped out in front less than two minutes into the night, scoring on their fifth play from scrimmage when quarterback Ethan Duncan broke loose from midfield and outran the Warrior defense to the end zone.
That one shining moment was as good as it got for the visitors, however.
Landen Wood returned the ensuing kickoff 71 yards to the Columbus East 5, and Peyton Emberton ran it in on the next play to even the score with 9:44 still to go in the opening quarter.
“Football’s a game of momentum, and we had it there,” Columbus East coach Eddie Vogel said. “Then we let them return a big kickoff and get it down inside, and they scored on the next play and all the air kind of went out of the sideline a bit.”
Both offenses struggled for a while from there, with the rain clearly making an impact. Whiteland fumbled the ball away in East territory early in the second quarter, but the Olympians couldn’t capitalize, turning the ball over on downs at the Warriors’ 25-yard line.
Out of nowhere, Whiteland broke character midway through the second quarter and started taking to the air. Kevin Denham lofted a perfectly-placed ball up the right sideline for Brady Stanifer, who hauled in a 32-yard reception at the Columbus East 41. A 9-yard catch by Jakarrey Oliver advanced the ball into the red zone, and three plays later Denham connected with tight end Max Sullivan for a 10-yard touchdown with 2:10 remaining in the half.
Denham was 4 of 5 passing in the first half for 55 yards. He and Fisher both credited the Warriors’ four freshman ball boys with providing a steady diet of towel-dried footballs on a wet evening.
“We were looking to get some dry balls thrown in there on plays where we knew what was going to happen,” Denham said.
Whiteland received the second-half kickoff and took advantage quickly, going 61 yards in five plays. Quinn Warweg finished off the drive at the 9:35 mark of the third period, getting loose up the left side for a 35-yard scoring run to stretch the lead out to 21-7.
The Warriors’ defense made that cushion hold up without much trouble. Columbus East picked up just seven first downs on the night and didn’t have more than two on any possession.
”(Duncan) is very athetic,” Fisher said. “He’s a guy that we didn’t want to get loose on us … but other than that (50-yard touchdown), our defense played phenomenal. The story of the game was how our defense played.”
Gunnar Hicks stretched the Whiteland lead to 28-7 when he scored on a 16-yard run with 7:01 remaining, and David Mathis capped the scoring by knocking home a 30-yard field goal with 3:53 to go.
Warweg finished with 116 yards rushing to lead the Warriors’ attack, while Emberton and Oliver added 73 and 71 yards on the ground, respectively.
Next week, the Warriors will attempt to claim back-to-back sectional crowns for the first time since 2013 and 2014. Whiteland dominated last year’s matchup with the Dragons, 48-13, but it’s anticipating a much different game this time around.
“We can’t change much,” Denham said. “We’ve just got to put faith in our guys; I think we’ve got what it takes to win.”
