By RYAN WALKER
Mississsinewa entered into Ossian and left with a stunning 23-21 win over No. 10 in 3A Norwell Friday night.
The Indians (1-0) bullied the Knights in the third quarter, controlling the ball and making crucial situational plays on third and fourth down that ultimately determined the game.
Norwell came into the season with question marks all over the field with a senior-heavy 2022 class that graduated, and it showed on the field in week one.
“I thought the effort was good. What I don’t like is that we don’t seem to be mentally focused,” Norwell head coach Josh Gerber said after the game. “A lot of times, we’re running guys out late on special teams. One time we had 12 guys on the field on special teams, stupid penalties, and missed tackles. These little things, we’ve got to finish these plays, and we didn’t do that. We’ve got to be a little bit more disciplined and a little more focused, and we just didn’t have that tonight, and that cost us.”
Mississsinewa, in the first half, seemed to be dusting off some of the early season kinks, having four fumbles on snaps. The Knights had forced the Indians to lose 15 yards on their first two possessions.
Meanwhile, Norwell handled its own business on its first drive of the season. Newly named junior quarterback Drew Graft, who was in a competition in the offseason with junior Alex Fojtik for the job, led his team down the field and scored on a keeper for 10 yards.
The Indians had a keeper of their own to respond in the second quarter, but a late touchdown on a dime from Graft to Trace Moser with 26.1 seconds in the half kept the Knights ahead 14-7.
After the game, Gerber said he liked what he saw from Graft in his first start, showing leadership and making good decisions — except on one.
On the first drive in the second half, Graft fired a pass toward the middle of the field that went too far and into the hands of Indians’ defensive back Deakon Dilts, who darted up and down the right sideline for a 64-yard pick-six.
“I thought he did a really nice job for the most part,” Gerber said of Graft’s night. “He sailed one on the inside a little bit on the pick-six. Other than that, I thought he did a good job leading the team in his first varsity start. I felt like he was pretty decisive.”
After the interception, Mississinewa held Norwell in check for the rest of the night.
For the game, the Indians held possession 13 more minutes of game time than the Knights. In the second half, they secured about 17 of the 24 minutes.
Mississinewa took its first lead of the night in the third quarter by Mason Reel, who kicked a 23-yard field goal to make the score 17-14.
On the next drive, the Indians made one of their key plays of the night when they stuffed Graft in the backfield on a fourth and two play late in the third quarter to regain possession at their own six-yard line.
Mississinewa’s offense drove the length of the field and eventually scored with six minutes left in the fourth quarter. The Indians converted on three third-down situations, along with the final play on fourth and goal at the one-yard line by Quaderer for his second rushing touchdown of the game.
The Knights also contributed all four of their penalties in the second half, most on that drive, and couldn’t make a stop defensively.
There was controversy on the fourth and goal play, as the Knights had defenders around Quaderer short of the goal line, but he powered his way through. Many of Norwell’s coaching staff were furious with a potential 12-men on-the-field penalty that was not called and would have negated the score. Gerber did mention the call but won’t make an excuse for it, especially with how the drive went.
“We had a chance to stop him on fourth and goal down there, I mean, they had 12 guys on the field, but it doesn’t seem to matter because we didn’t tackle him anyways,” Gerber said. “These little things — we’ve got to finish these plays, and we didn’t do that.”
On the ensuing possession, Norwell was on the brink of going four-and-out. Graft had three Indian linemen swarming him in the pocket, which forced him to roll to his left and escape the pressure. Graft then ran up near the line of scrimmage and fired a pass over a leaping defensive back to Trey Bodenheimer, who took it to the house and sparked new life for the Knights, now down by two.
Mississinewa, though, still had magic left. The team took the entire 5:02 off the clock with three more third-down conversions. One of them was a pass that dropped out of the hands of wide receiver Jaxon Ott but scooped up in the air for Prince Fortney on a 24-yard gain.
The Knights will travel to Delta for a 7 p.m. kickoff Friday, Aug. 25.
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NORWELL 21, MISSISSINEWA 23
At NORWELL
Score By Quarters
Mississinewa 0 7 10 6 – 23
Norwell 7 7 0 7 – 21
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
N—Drew Graft 10-ran run (De Leon kick), 8:30.
Second Quarter
M–Nolan Quaderer 8-yard run (Reel kick), 5:19.
N—Drew Graft 27-yard pass to Trace Moser (De Leon kick), 26.1 seconds.
Third Quarter
M—Deakon Dilts 64-yard interception (Reel kick), 10:27.
M— Mason Reel 23-yard field goal, 5:10.
Fourth Quarter
M—Nolan Quaderer 1-yard run (kick no good), 6:07.
N—Drew Graft 63-yard pass to Trey Bodenheimer (De Leon kick), 5:02
Team Statistics
MISS NOR
First Downs 21 14
Rushes-Yards 54-155 35-115
Yards Passing 121 157
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) 9-17-0 7-16-1
Penalties-Yards 6-46 4-55
Fumbles-Lost 5-0 0-0
Punts-Average 1-18 3-30
Time of Possession 29:43 16:41
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Mississinewa: Ah’lijah Monday 30-141, Jaxon Ott 4-17, Ian Newsom 4-17, Nolan Quaderer 16-(-5). Norwell: Timothy Bonjour 23-80, Drew Graft 8-24, Trey Bodenheimer 4-11.
Passing: Mississinewa: Nolan Quaderer 9-17-0 121. Norwell: Drew Graft 7-16-1 157.
Receiving: Mississinewa: Prince Fortney 2-38, Andrew Monday 2-29, Jaxon Ott 1-15, Kallen Quaderer 1-7, Ah’lijah Monday 1-6. Norwell: Trey Bodenheimer 4-107, Trace Moser 3-50.
