Ryan O’Leary: Fisher, Warriors go down swinging

INDIANAPOLIS

Like any red-blooded American kid coming of age back in the early 1990s, I loved playing “Tecmo Super Bowl.” Despite hailing from New England, I always played with the Buffalo Bills — I couldn’t pass up the chance to roll with that offense featuring Thurman Thomas, Andre Reed, James Lofton and Jim Kelly (sorry — “QB Bills”).

I lived or died with big plays and consistently rolled the dice. Chuck it deep, over and over. Do what the other guy would never expect you to do. And never, ever punt.

On Saturday night, Darrin Fisher took a similarly bold approach in his first state championship game appearance. Sure, his team ended up punting three more times on the night than my Bills would have — but Fisher generally made it known from the jump that if Whiteland was going to go down, it was going down swinging.

After Maalik Perkins returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, the Warriors immediately followed up with a successful onside kick. When they scored later in the first quarter on a David Mathis field goal, Fisher dialed up another one.

It didn’t work the second time, but no matter. The tone had been set.

Whiteland had no intentions of playing tentatively. At. All.

“We said all along, we’re going to attack,” Fisher said. “It was on the attack all the time in all three phases. We were going to be as aggressive as we could possibly be. We were here to win.”

No matter where Whiteland was on the field offensively, it seemed to be four-down territory. Facing fourth and 10 at after the early onside kick recovery, the Warriors swung for the fences with a deep throw to the end zone. On their next possession, they lined up to go for it again. They were set to go for it a third time, on fourth and 1 in their own territory, during the second quarter before a (fairly questionable) illegal substitution penalty forced Fisher’s hand.

And while Valparaiso’s offense was difficult to stop all night, racking up 442 yards of offense, Whiteland kept pace with a barrage of big plays.

When the Vikings scored a go-ahead touchdown just 1:19 left in the first half, the Warriors answered right back 61 seconds later when a Kevin Denham throw beat a gambling Valpo defender and landed in the arms of Gunnar Hicks, who took it in for a 34-yard touchdown. Hicks totaled 95 yards on three catches. Running backs Slate Valentine and Peyton Emberton broke long runs of 48 and 34 yards, respectively, on misdirection plays.

For most of the night, Whiteland countered every Viking punch with a haymaker of its own, and the result was one of the most thrilling high school football games I’ve ever witnessed in person. About the only thing it was missing was another Warrior miracle on the final play.

“That was two lions in a cage right there,” Fisher said. Both groups going at it as hard as they could go. One group had to make a play at the end, and I’ve got to give Valparaiso the credit. They made the plays on the last drive when they needed to.”

Regardless of the result, nobody can say that Fisher shrank or shied away from the moment on Saturday.

Whiteland has had championship-caliber teams in the past that never made it to this stage — just within the last five or six years, the Warriors have had the misfortune of running into historically great New Palestine and Cathedral teams at the height of their powers.

So when his championship window finally swung open, Fisher made every effort to take advantage. He didn’t wait for a win to come to him and his team. He went after it.

“All we thought about was winning this football game,” he said. “Nobody has spent one minute of effort thinking about anything else other than winning this football game.”

That’s what you’re supposed to do. Let it all hang out, and if the other side happens to get you, so be it. As they say on the poker circuit, “no gamble, no future.”

The Warriors took more than their share of gambles on Saturday night.

Win or lose, the Tecmo player in me couldn’t help but respect it.

Ryan O’Leary is the sports editor for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].