NAPPANEE —
Senior Ryan McKibbin has a little more experience at the quarterback position and it showed Friday night as the Concord Minutemen traveled to Andrews Field in Nappanee and posted a 28-7 NLC win over the NorthWood Panthers in high school football Friday night.
McKibbin completed 12 of 23 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns. He was also Concord’s best running option with 36 yards on five carries.
“The difference in the game was our kids made plays in the second half,” Concord coach Tim Dawson said. “NorthWood made the plays in the first half. They were running the ball on us. We challenged the kids at halftime to make some plays in the second half and they did.
“Ryan played a smart game. He did a good job of running our option. That is a part of our offense we need.”
Concord (3-0, 2-0 NLC) hosts Wawasee and NorthWood (0-3, 0-1 NLC) is at Goshen next Friday.
“It was the same thing we talked about all week,” NorthWood coach Scott Hoover said. “We moved the ball, but made some mistakes.
“We can’t make the big plays. This is our third game and we still don’t have a play over 20 yards. When you can’t make big plays it allows teams to put everyone in the box. That is also when you give up the interceptions. Plus we gave up another couple of bigs plays.”
Concord scored on a 20-yard pass play as McKibbin hooked up with senior tight end Franko House on a TD with 1:37 left before halftime and with junior wideout Adam Glanders on a 94-yader at 8:01 of the third.
House’s score gave the Minutemen a 14-7 halftime advantage and Glanders’ a 21-7 margin heading into the fourth period.
Glanders ran about a 15-yard route and McKibbin put the ball up high. Glanders went up and came down with the ball. He broke free of a couple of NorthWood defenders and outraced the others to the end zone.
“Adam just went up and took the ball away from the defenders,” Dawson said.
NorthWood took a 7-6 lead early in the second period when junior quarterback Will Kirkwood scored on a 1-yard run at 7:20. The TD capped a 16-play, 95-yard drive. The biggest play of the drive was a Kirkwood pass to sophomore Dominic Miranda for 18 yards.
NorthWood turned the ball over three times on interceptions. Senior Taylor Miller picked off two and senior DuWhan Alford one for the Minutemen.
“You can’t put all the blame of the quarterback,” Hoover said. “On one of the picks our receiver ran the wrong route.”
The Panthers moved the ball on the ground with 11 first downs. Freshman Tanner Cleveland ran for 45 yards on 17 carries, junior Blake Cleveland 39 on 11, junior Luke Edwards 31 on five and Miranda 23 on four.
“I didn’t know what to expect running the ball on Concord,” Hoover said. “Tanner is a shifty back and he’s hard to see. When he runs the ball on our scout team in practice I have a hard time seeing him.
“Miranda played better. We told the ball that we are not going to expect one of the younger ball the carry the workload this season. We are going to use a variety of backs.”
Glanders caught three passes for 117 yards and senior Dakota Simon seven for 46 for Concord.
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