KENDALLVILLE —
There was plenty of credit to go around as the Concord Minutemen celebrated a 38-35 win in the opening round of the Class 4A high school football sectional Friday night at East Noble.
A big share of the credit has to go to sophomore kicker Ryan Tepe, who calmly booted a 33-yard field goal with :11 left in the contest to give the Minutemen the victory and the chance to continue on the tournament.
Concord (8-2) will host the Northridge Raiders (2-8) in a sectional semifinal next Friday.
The Minutemen almost didn’t make it to next Friday after letting a 35-14 lead at the end of the third period slip away.
Concord trailed most of the first half before junior quarterback Trevor Wilmore tossed a 3-yard touchdown pass to classmate Adam Glanders with 0:02 left before halftime.
Concord deferred after winning the toss before the game and senior Desomond Love took advantage of it by returning the second half kickoff 81 yards for a score. Love bobbled the ball before picking it up at the C-19 and streaking down the far sidelines untouched.
East Noble tied the score 14-14, only to have the Minutemen score 21 unanswered points before the end of the third. Glanders caught an 8-yard TD pass from Wilmore at 5:31, senior DuWhan Alford scored on a 27-yard run at 2:45 and Wilmore added a 3-yard run at :14.
East Noble then rallied with 21 straight points of its own.
The Minutemen got the ball back with 3:03 left in the contest at their own 18. Concord moved the ball down the field with big plays on a 14-yard catch by senior Dakota Simon from Wilmore to go with catches from senior Frank House of 19 and 16 yards. Concord drove the ball to the EN-16 before the East Noble defense stiffened.
After timeouts by both teams, Tepe lined up for the game-winner.
I have been struggling with my kicks,” Tepe said. “My placement had been off. Coach Dawson talked to me about it. My plant foot was off on the first one.”
It was the first game-winning field goal of his career.
“During the East Noble time out coach (Tim) Dawson told me it was up to the special teams,” Tepe said. “It’s hard to calm down in a situation like that. I managed to block the first attempt out of my mind.”
The Concord defense had a hand in the win forcing four turnovers. Junior Michael and Alford recovered fumbles while senior Taylor Miller and Alford added interceptions.
Alford rushed for 112 yards on 23 carries and Wilmore 83 on 22.
Wilmore completed 15-of-31 passes for 192 yards. Simon had four pass receptions for 101 yards, House four for 43 and Glanders five for 34.
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