The Goshen Warriors have gotten out to a 4-1 mark in the first half 2015, an important start considering that the program had dropped 14 of its last 15 games.

The Goshen Warriors have gotten out to a 4-1 mark in the first half 2015, an important start considering that the program had dropped 14 of its last 15 games.
By Chris Chaney
Sports Editor

“For us, we just need to get some wins to get some confidence. Once we get those wins, get that confidence, we’ll start rolling.”

Goshen head coach Ryan George’s words prior to the start of the 2015 season seem prophetic five weeks into his second year at the helm of the Warriors football program. At 4-1 and ready to unleash his team’s unique brand of offensive mayhem on the Southern Buckeye Conference’s American Division, George can revisit those preseason words knowing he was right and a few wins were all his team needed.

“I talked earlier that it was just about getting some wins and confidence,” George said. “We did that at the beginning (of the season) and then we had the (Bethel-)Tate game. We didn’t play that well, they did play well and obviously beat us. We learned a lot from that loss and we’ve applied it to our other two wins. We’re still growing, getting better each week, but we’re still a work in progress, still learning what it takes to be a good football team.”

George’s emphasis on a strong start to the season stemmed from the Warriors losing 14 of their previous 15 games dating back to 2013. Goshen opened this season with a 28-20 win over Ross and a 27-7 win over Hillsboro before a Week 3 loss to Bethel-Tate, 34-20, brought the Warriors back down to earth.

Applying those lessons learned in the loss, Goshen stomped Clermont Northeastern, 63-0, on Sept. 18 and came from behind to hand National Division leaders Williamsburg their second loss of the season on Sept. 25, 35-19.

Trailing 19-14 at halftime, George and his staff made some adjustments that allowed senior quarterback Isaac Hart to find more running room in the second half and create opportunities for the Warriors’ other playmakers to impact the game.

“Some of (the adjustments) were just getting the guys to do what we’re coaching them to do,” George said. “Our kids want to try so hard to do something that it gets them out of position. We tell them, ‘hey, just do what we’re coaching you to do so you’ll be right there in position to make plays.’

“We started doing that and in the second half, it was a different story.”

Goshen’s adjustments combined with some fatigue George noticed on Williamsburg’s behalf as a result of guys playing on both sides of the ball allowed the Warriors to outscore the Wildcats 21-0 in the second half.

Hart finished the game with 22 carries for 140 yards and two touchdowns. The senior signal caller has been the engine that fuels the Warriors so far this season, accounting for 952 total yards and nine touchdowns through the first half of the year.

“Isaac is the guy who makes us go,” George said. “He’s done a tremendous job. He provides good leadership and he just has a quality about him that our kids want to follow him.”

That leadership and accompanying big-play ability has made it easy for guys like Nathan Creech, Johnny Kube and Jimmy Strunk to shine when opposing defenses key in on Hart.

“Kube is just a hard-nosed football player,” George said. “He understands what he’s supposed to do and he gets the job done.

“Creech has done a good job for us and Jimmy Strunk has come on lately for us. He’s just a sophomore, but he works hard in practice and wants to do well. He’s stepped up and earned some more playing time and has done a good job.”

While that quartet leads the way on offense, the defensive side of the ball has impressed this season as well. With the exception of the Bethel loss, the Warriors defensive unit has only given up 11.6 points per game over the four other games this season. However, it was that loss to the Tigers that George points to as a turning point in the defensive philosophy.

“In the Bethel-Tate game we had 54 missed tackles and you shouldn’t even have that in a season,” the coach said. “We got on them pretty hard about that and they’ve responded well. When we’re playing well defensively, doing our job, the kids are making the tackles and we’re a good defense.”

When both sides of the ball are clicking for the Warriors, the team goal of “worst to first” in the SBC-American seems like a distinct possibility. Coming off a season in which Goshen failed to win a single divisional game, the red and white will get their first opportunity in 2015 on Friday, Oct. 2 at Norwood.

The Indians (3-2) are coming off of a 30-7 win over Batavia and will run a completely different offensive scheme than the Warriors past three opponents.

“All of these (conference) games are motivational after the season we had last year because we can say to our guys, ‘look what happened last year,’” George said. “Norwood provides a different beast than Williamsburg. Williamsburg runs a Wing-T and they’re pretty wadded up in there. Norwood is going to try to spread you out, so that’ll be a different challenge for us.”

George said that he feels his defensive unit is flexible and able to match up well with the differing offensive strategies teams will throw at them week in and week out.

The Warriors and Indians will kick off at 7 p.m. before Goshen has an out-of-conference date with Blanchester on Oct. 9. The final four games of the season for Goshen will determine their standing not only in the league, but in the region where they will look to clinch their first playoff berth since 2009.