Wawasee defenders Nathan Katzer (25), Maclain Herr (52) and Stephen Possell (58) converge on Elkhart Memorial’s Andrew Goodman during Wawasee’s 20-7 win at Memorial Friday night. (Photo provided)

ELKHART – Not mincing words, Wawasee football head coach Josh Ekovich wasn’t bashful in stating his team’s 20-7 win at Elkhart Memorial Friday night was rather bland.

“We were just average in a lot of ways, just vanilla,” Ekovich said of the performance which put his club at 5-3 this season and 3-3 in the Northern Lakes Conference. “We faced a lot of adversity this week. I was more interested in seeing how we would handle some of the changes.”

One of the major changes for the Warriors was at quarterback, where a banged up Gage Reinhard did see action, but split repetitions with all-purpose threat Clayton Cook. Reinhard was just 3-10 passing for 24 yards, but found Sam Clark for a 12-yard score with just a minute to go in the second quarter. Cook, on the other hand, was perfect on all five of his attempts, but went for just 23 yards.

Cook impacted the game in other ways, rushing for 80 yards and a touchdown and also had a 70-yard punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter that put Wawasee up 13.

Wawasee as a team was outgained by Memorial 235-205, but did gain 158 yards on the ground, including 53 from Nathan Katzer, who also added an interception on defense.

“Our defense was bend, don’t break,” Ekovich said. “The defensive line played pretty well. They got some good looks.

“Memorial’s defense played pretty solid. They didn’t give up any points against NorthWood last week that scored 42 today. They played pretty good against us.”

Memorial was led by Zach Hawkins, who had 74 yards rushing and scored the Chargers lone touchdown on a one-yard dive in the second quarter. Memorial falls to 1-7 on the season, its only win coming against winless Goshen in week three. The Redskins will visit Wawasee next Friday night with the Wooden Indian trophy on the line. Wawasee has won the past four games against Goshen, and moved its winning streak against Memorial to four.