Julius Graber did a little bit of everything in Northridge’s 27-6 win at Wawasee Friday night. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SYRACUSE – Julius Graber has been a key cog in the Northridge football resurgence the past two seasons. The senior quarterback had been a complimentary component coming into this year. Graber will be getting a lot of compliments this weekend after his game against Wawasee Friday night.

Graber piled up 250 yards of total offense, scored two touchdowns, nearly returned an interception for another score and even averaged 36 yards per punt in the Raiders’ 27-6 win at Wawasee.

Evan Eshbach loads up a pass attempt.

After Northridge opened the game with a 28-yard field goal by Austin Flora, Northridge’s defense forced a three-and-out and got the ball back. Graber then led the Raiders right down the field, ending the drive with a 31-yard run to the corner.

Graber then led the Ridge offense on a very impressive drive, going 99 yards right through the Warrior defense. Graber ended the drive with a 17-yard run for a score, and with just four seconds gone in the second quarter, the Raiders were up 17-0.

“That was a great one,” Northridge head coach Tom Wogomon said of the long drive. “You talk about it, you can get as good, but you can’t get much better on that drive. Those are what I love to see. We had some great chunk plays. We had a couple nice long gainers but man, a 99-and-a-half-yard drive, you can’t have much to complain over.”

Northridge put the exclamation point on the victory with a long, grinding drive in the third quarter. After forcing Wawasee in to another three-and-out, Ridge ran off more than seven minutes of clock, finishing with a three-yard Tug Modglin touchdown plunge.

Northridge piled up 452 yards of offense, with Graber running for 185 yards and throwing for 71 more. Graber even intercepted a pass and nearly returned it for a pick-six just before the half, getting pushed out inside the Wawasee 10 after a long return.

Wawasee’s Josh Slabaugh (32) gets a hand in to disrupt a deep ball Northridge’s Aiden Berger (6) couldn’t reel in.

Modglin rushed 21 times for 118 yards and Cody Lacey added 66 yards on six carries.

“He’s happy and he’s tired,” Wogomon said of Graber. “You look at him, he’s the catalyst. He is a guy who is our motivator. I do want to say that if you ask Julius, he would say it’s nothing about him. He just wants to be the best teammate possible. And he’s one of those kids that is just a football player. He loves the game, he studies the game. He has worked so hard for this opportunity.”

Wawasee again failed to get much going in the first half, not getting into the Northridge red zone until the fourth quarter. In its lone trip, quarterback Even Eshbach found Dylan Hepler on a nice out route, then hit Kameron Salazar for an eight-yard touchdown pass.

Northridge really did a number on the Wawasee running game, holding the Warriors to just seven yards on 17 attempts. Eshbach was 20-33 for 151 yards, Gabe Moore leading with four catches for 42 yards and Hepler catching three balls for 40 yards.

Northridge improves to 2-1 overall, Wawasee falls to 0-3. The Raiders will host Plymouth and the Warriors will visit Concord next week.

Of note surrounding the game, Wawasee adorned special uniforms honoring the Indiana Army National Guard. Eight teams in the state of Indiana were selected to wear the special jerseys, Wawasee among the chosen. The green jerseys had American and Indiana flags, neon green and black numbers, a National Guard insignia on the collar and the backs of each jersey read “Go Guard”.

Wawasee enters Warrior Field Friday night wearing the Indiana Army National Guard uniforms.