Adam Howe
Sports Editor
Warsaw's Josh Harvath and the rest of the Wildcats offense unleashed some pent up frustrations when they went on the road and dismantled the Eldorado Springs Bulldogs, 37-8 last Friday night.
The conference win left them yet still unbeaten in the Ozark Highlands with a 3-0 mark.
Harvath, a sophomore running back, flew by the hat trick, accounting for four touchdowns, all coming on the ground en route to running for 154 yards.
As a team, the Wildcats (4-2, 3-0) amassed 360 yards of total offense, their best output in at least three weeks.
The Bulldogs won the coin toss and uncharacteristically elected to receive and the Warsaw defense went to work.
After a minimal gain on first down, the Wildcats bottled up Landon Murry, Eldorado Spring running back, but a personal foul on the green and black awarded the home team a new set of downs. A steady dose of Murry moved the ball downfield, but the defense came through with a big stop on fourth down, turning the ball over to the offense.
Facing a third down, Harvath tallied his first score on a 43 yard touchdown run and Logan Gemes came on to split the uprights to give Warsaw the 7-0 lead just past the midway point of the opening period.
Later in the quarter, Garrett Ferguson kept the snap and scampered in for a 1 yard scoring run and after Gemes was good on another PAT, Warsaw led 14-0 at the end of the first.
On their first possession of the second quarter, Harvath struck again, this time on a 7 yard run. Gemes was perfect once again and the Wildcats extended their lead to 21-0.
Warsaw had the ball to end the first half with an opportunity to add to their margin, but chose to take their three score lead into the half.
"We were working to get into field goal range there, but a couple of miscues and a penalty set us back," said 'Cats head coach Ryan Boyer.
The Wildcats received the second half kickoff and that drive penetrated the red zone of Eldorado Springs, but on fourth down from the Bulldogs' 14 yard line, Warsaw coaches decided against bringing on Gemes for a 32 yard field goal try. Instead, the offense was stopped and turned the ball over to Eldo and the rest of the half went uneventful with the Wildcats still clinging to the 21-0 shutout.
"We were confident in our offense's ability to get the first," Boyer commented. "Obviously it didn't happen, but as a team, we learned from it."
The flow found it's way back early in the fourth when Harvath scored his third touchdown of the night on an 8 yard run. The snap was botched on the PAT, but Gemes was able to pickup the ball cleanly and race to the left pylon to convert the 2 point conversion for the 'Cats to put them up 29-0.
Warsaw increased their lead halfway through the final frame when Harvath notched his fourth touchdown run, this time on a 51 yard run, pinballing his way past Bulldogs defenders. Another fumbled snap on the PAT put the ball in Ferguson's hands, he rolled right and found a wide open Noah Siebert in the back of the endzone for another 2 point conversion to make it 37-0 for the Wildcats.
Eldorado Springs put a late score on the board on amongst several defensive substitutions when Murry rolled across the goal line on a 2 yard run and Aidan Rotert converted the 2 point try for the 37-8 final.
Harvath paved the way for the Wildcats offense with 154 yards on 15 carries while accounting for 4 of their touchdowns.
"Josh ran the ball hard all night," Boyer said. "We were proud of how well our team blocked for each other."
Jayce Depriest rushed 9 times for 69 yards and Ferguson had 14 attempts for 57 yards and 1 score. He also finished 4 of 6 passing for 64 yards.
Jase Hubert hauled in 1 pass for 28 yards, Drake Murrell had 1 catch for 23 yards and Gemes caught 2 ball for 13 yards.
Gemes was also a perfect 3 for 3 on PAT's.
For the Warsaw defense, Harvath also led the way with 8.5 tackles. He was followed closely behind by Murrell with 7.5. Sean Reinertsen and Riley Taylor each had 5.5 tackles. Devon Boul recorded 4.5 tackles and Gemes had 4.
Warsaw will look to keep their perfect record in the Ozark Highlands Conference this week when they host the Butler Bears at Randy Morrow Field on the WHS campus. That kickoff is set for 7:00 PM and can also be viewed live on the web on BCE TV via www.citylinktv.com.
