DeAndre Smart makes an athletic grab over a Wawasee defender during Friday’s win over the Warriors. (Photos by Nick Goralczyk)

SYRACUSE — Friday night’s gridiron matchup between NorthWood and Wawasee was, in a word, big. That’s saying something, given that the teams represent the Northern Lakes Conference’s two smallest schools. But the theme of Friday’s game was big: big plays, big hits, and big excitement. But the biggest thing about the game was NorthWood’s Trey Bilinski. The senior quarterback stands 6’4″ tall and was a, well, big problem for the Warriors all night.

Bilinski and the Panthers put on an offensive showcase to earn a 53-30 win over the Warriors. The victory left NorthWood sitting alone atop the NLC at 3-0 and moved the Panther to 5-0 overall, the program’s best start since 1996 when the team was 12-0 before falling in semi-state.

“That was a physical ball game, a really physical ball game,” stated NorthWood head coach Nate Andrews. “Wawasee’s got a bunch of really tough kids and, man, that was fun. That was a lot of fun. I’m sure for the fans it was up and down. There were peaks and valleys. A lot of good and a lot of bad.”

Go ahead and file Bilinski under the ‘good’ portion of Andrews’ quote.

Bilinski drove his team down the field on its first four possessions of the game and came away with six points each time. The senior hit Drew Minnich and DeAndre Smart on the team’s first two drives. Bilinski threw four touchdowns in Friday’s contest, all in the first half. He would tally 338 yards threw the air and rushed for a score as well. He now has 50 passing touchdowns in his career.

Two scoring runs from Tyler Smith kept Wawasee competitive in the first half. The Panthers led 30-14 at the break.

Though the Panthers held a two-possession lead, it seemed like less. The Warriors got the ball to start the second half and had a chance to cut into the deficit but were forced to punt. A converted third-and-18 pass from Bilinski on NorthWood’s first third quarter possession helped spark another scoring drive for the visitors.

After Wawasee scored on a 10-yard pass from Smith to Jacob Hand, the Warriors recovered an onside kick and drove down inside NorthWood’s 15-yard line, trailing 38-22 early in the fourth. In what could certainly be looked at as the game’s biggest turning point, the Panther defense denied the Warriors a fourth down conversion to steal the momentum back.

“It’s been a real key for us, with our offense, to keep teams on their heels,” Andrews explained. “Wawasee had our defense on its heels tonight with the way they got their 18-wheeler going. They ran the ball up and down the field but there were a couple of key stops that our defense had tonight. We couldn’t get off the field most of the time on third down. That’s not been an issue for us this year, but tonight it was. That’s a credit to Wawasee. That’s a good team. That onside kick really hurt. That was a big momentum swing. Credit to those guys tonight.”

Wawasee had its moments, but the team is not taking a moral victory away from Friday’s loss. The Warriors wanted a win and simply did not do enough to be the better team.

“We didn’t play physical enough,” said Wawasee coach Josh Ekovich. “That’s it. They were more physical than us. Their offense was more physical than our defense. We only had one turnover, but that hurt us. Our defense not being as physical as their offense was the difference tonight.”

Payton Bear and Brayton Yoder each had a rushing score for NorthWood and respectively tallied 80 and 60 yards on the ground. Smart had two receiving touchdowns. Bronson Yoder led the team with 127 receiving yards and also had a score. Dyland Brugh and Payton Bear led NorthWood with 10 tackles each. Brayton had the team’s lone interception.

Wawasee was led offensively by Tyler Smith’s 98 yards of rushing. Smith also had 87 yards through the air. Hand led the team with 42 receiving yards. Paul Mendoza had 42 yards on the ground, a touchdown and led Wawasee with six tackles as well. Alec Rosbrugh had Wawasee’s lone interception. Wawasee won the turnover battle with two takeaways but was out-gained in total yardage 546-322.

NorthWood, currently ranked No. 3 in Class 4-A, hosts Northridge next Friday. Wawasee (3-2, 1-2) travels to Plymouth in hopes of avenging a 66-7 sectional loss at the Rock Pile last season. The Rockies are hovering around average on paper at 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the NLC, but Ekovich knows this game is not about records or what’s on paper.

“They’re always good,” Ekovich said of next week’s opponent. “They’re Plymouth. They’re an NLC team, and we’re going to prepare like they’re the best team in the state.”

Plymouth rallied from 17-0 deficit to defeat Memorial 19-17 Friday evening.