Crescent-News.com - Strock gets first win with Napoleon

By BRUCE HEFFLINGER
hefflinger@crescent-news.com
NAPOLEON " Few wins are as sweet as your first. Tory Strock can attest to that.

The first-year Napoleon coach was a happy camper following a come-from-behind 14-7 win over Wauseon on Friday evening.

"I told the kids after the game that's why I wanted to be head coach at Napoleon," Strock said. "It's the type of guts you get with these kids. It came down to willpower and guts."

Trailing 7-0 after three quarters of play, the Wildcats had a first-and-10 on the Wauseon 39. On the opening play of the fourth period, Jason Brown lined up at wing on the left side, took a handoff from Andrew Keller and outraced the Wauseon defense around the right end for the tying score.

"I could sugarcoat it and say we never paniced, but I had a lot of different thoughts going through my mind thinking what would happen If we don't get this win," admitted Strock. "This win is so big in so many ways."

Napoleon stuffed Wauseon three plays and out following Brown's first TD and then put together an 11-play, 77-yard drive that ate up 5:19 on the clock.

The lone pass play on the drive was perhaps the biggest play of the game. Facing third-and-six at their own 27, Keller hit Clint Detmer with a 29-yard strike to put the Wildcats into Wauseon territory.

"That was the key play of the game, we bit on an out-and-up and let them get behind us," said Wauseon coach Mark Emans. "You can't let that happen in a varsity football game. If not, we'd be the one celebrating right now."

Napoleon then turned to the one-two punch of Brown and John Weaver to march the final 44 yards with Brown capping the drive with a 5-yard run with 4:12 remaining.

"Our line was pushing and controlling them the whole time and giving us holes," Brown explained.

The senior halfback finished with 131 yards rushing, with 106 coming in the second half. Weaver chipped in with 72 yards for the Wildcats, which bounced back from last week's disappointing 21-20 loss to Defiance.

"The coaching staff and players insisted we could run the football," Strock pointed out. "Late in a game like this Brown and Weaver just get better and better as the game goes on. They may be tired, but they have willpower and guts. I also thought our line grew up tonight."

But it was the defense that proved to be the difference. The Indians, which ran for 450 yards a week ago against Fairview, were held to just 147 yards on the ground against the Napoleon 3-5 defense.

"Our defense took it personal the way they were shoved around the second half last week," Strock said. "The defensive coaches had a great game plan and that combination with players that play hard is a formula for success."

It was all needed after Wauseon took a 7-0 lead into half on a 60-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Landon Schaffner to Colin Hughes at the 1:10 mark of the second quarter.

The Indians nearly doubled that advantage in the third quarter, marching down to the Napoleon 11-yard line before missing a 29-yard field goal on fourth-and-six.

"We want seven but we've got to get three or seven (points)," Emans said of coming up empty on the opening drive of the second half. "They committed to shutting down the run and I thought we threw the ball effectively. But they did a nice job manhandling us in the second half."

The Indians rolled up 94 yards through the air in the first two quarters, but Napoleon limited Wauseon to just 31 passing yards the remainder of the game.

"That's a scary offensive team," Strock said of the Indians. "They're not multi-dimensional, but with Hughes and Schaffner you have to be concerned with the run and that's when the passing game is dangerous."

The win moved the Wildcats to 1-1 on the season with a date at Bowling Green up in week three while Wauseon fell to 0-2 heading into its NWOAL opener at home with Swanton.

WAUSEON NAPOLEON
First Downs 12 15
Rushing Yards 41-147 36-213
Passing Yards 125 87
Total Offense 272 300
Passes Attempted 10 14
Passes Completed 5 5
Had Intercepted 1 0
Fumbles 3 1
Fumbles Lost 0 0
Yards Penalized 2-10 3-20

Wauseon 0 7 0 0 - 7
Napoleon 0 0 0 14 - 14

Wauseon - Hughes 60-yard pass from Schaffner (Simpkins kick).
Napoleon - Brown 39-yard run (Detmer kick).
Napoleon - Brown 5-yard run (Detmer kick).

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Wauseon - Hughes 14-80; Schaffner 20-56; Reynolds 6-10; Warnecke 1-1. Napoleon - Brown 21-131; Weaver 11-72; Keller 3-5; Hummer 1-5.
PASSING: Wauseon - Schaffner 5-10-1-125. Napoleon - Keller 5-14-0-87.
RECEIVING: Wauseon - Hughes 1-60; Douglass 2-37; Reynolds 1-16; Thompson 1-12. Napoleon - Detmer 3-65; Brown 2-22.