Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
INDIANAPOLIS
As the Whiteland defense came off the field angry with itself for letting Decatur Central score just before halftime, it was quickly interrupted by a shout from the coaching staff.
“It’s only seven points!” the Whiteland coaches yelled. “We’ve still got the lead, and we’re getting the ball to start the second half!”
The Warriors listened, then promptly proved their coaches knew exactly what they were talking about. Whiteland took nearly five minutes off the clock to start the third quarter, then finished off the drive with a 9-yard Peyton Emberton run to build the lead back to two scores. Emberton later added another score, but the Warriors’ defense didn’t need it. Whiteland shut down Decatur Central and earned a 28-7 win on Friday night at Devere Fair Stadium, the Warriors’ first win over the Hawks since 2015.
“We wanted to be 1-0 in the conference,” Whiteland coach Darrin Fisher said. “They have won or shared the past four conference titles, and we’ve shared it with them but haven’t won it outright. But (Friday) was just a step; it was the most important game because it was the next game.
“I told our kids competitive toughness was going to matter. When you go on the road in this conference, it is extremely difficult to win. Mentally, you have to block out the noise; emotionally, you have to be able to respond and not react and physically, you have to hit. I thought we did all three of those things.”
The Warriors (3-0, 1-0 Mid-State) hit well enough to physically dominate the Hawks (1-2, 0-1), who never really got their ground game going because they couldn’t get on the field. Decatur Central made a point to try to take away Whiteland’s outside running, but other than a 56-yard touchdown run from Nyrius Moore-Smith, the Warriors were perfectly content to run through the tackles and keep the clock rolling.
“That’s our M.O.,” Fisher said. “We make our living running the sweep, but they did a good job taking it away, so we had to run the ball between the tackles. The offensive line did a phenomenal job, and fullback Devon Armstrong did a great job opening some holes.”
The only real negative for the Warriors was the fact that they left multiple scores on the field because of some errors with the field goal unit. A dropped snap in the first quarter kept Whiteland from scoring early, and a blocked field goal later on meant the Hawks still had a faint hope until Emberton’s second score finished the job.
But against Whiteland’s defense on this night, it didn’t really matter how many chances Decatur Central got; the Warriors weren’t letting more than one score past them.
“They had a hard time moving the football against us, and when we needed a big play, we got one,” Fisher said. “We got good pressure, and I thought we tackled well tonight.”
Whiteland hosts fellow unbeaten Franklin next week in another big conference showdown.
