WARRIORS HAVE BRIGHT DAY WITH DARK KNIGHTS

Warriors roll to a 67-0 win over local Delphos Dark Knights.

By Joel Renner

Lima Warriors Chief Staff Reporter

7/29/07 – LIMA, OH -- Lima’s defense is proving that they are very deep after different players have stepped up at various times this season.

While quarterback Justin Henderson buffed up his All Star numbers by running for one touchdown and throwing for another, top-ranked Lima’s defense dominated in a 67-0 victory over Delphos on Saturday.

“Before the season started, we thought that we were going to be in a rebuilding year,” Lima coach John Parkins said of the Warriors, who had a to replace key leaders and starters.  “ We didn’t really know how the players were going to react and things were going to pan out, but new players have stepped up.  Success breeds success and new players are going to continue to want to play for the Lima Warriors.”

Jeremy Bott led the rushing with 100 yards for the Warriors (9-0, 8-0 USFA), who with the exception of Cleveland have won every game this season by at least 25 points. The Dark Knights played tough all game while the Warriors tuned-up for the regular-season finale against No. 2 Motor City on Aug. 4 at Lima Stadium.

Former president Brock Hartman returned and helped rally the team with a Knute Rockne-like speech, before enjoying the game in the booth while co-hosting the live webcast with Aaron Matthews.  Hartman moved to Louisiana in a job change with Proctor and Gamble after last season and was pleased with everything he saw in his return.

“I feel like I have 45 sons out there,” Hartman said.  “This organization from top to bottom is a well-oiled machine and everybody is doing a fine job.”

The Dancing Damsels were another highlight of the night as they received a thunderous applause at halftime after they performed a new routine in front of approximately 900 fans that came to watch two area squads.

The Warriors, for the most part, were substantially low key on this day.  It was another impressive performance by a defense that came in with the league lead in fewest points allowed (4.8 per game).  Only two teams have scored more than six against Lima this season.

Lima intercepted Delphos’s Rodney Stinson five times – including a 60-yard interception return by Brandt Huttis to start the scoring for Lima– and never faced a serious threat from the Dark Knights (1-7), despite playing without stellar cornerback Yansey Donald, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury against Northwest Ohio in the previous home game at Lima Stadium.

The offense piled up 295 yards, though one interception and a running clock in the second half kept the score from being more one-sided before a large home crowd.

Henderson’s All-Star moment came with Lima in command early in the second quarter.

He rolled out of the pocket to the right and then found Joe Butcher streaking up the Warriors’ sideline by placing the ball right over the secondary for a 27-yard touchdown pass to make it 34-0.

“He had a couple of nice audibles out there that led to big plays,” Parkins said.  “He did what he had to do and James (Henderson) and Kaene (Runion) came out in the second half with similar poise.”

Henderson also powered in a one-yard rush for a score and completed 4-of-7 passes for 47 yards with one interception while his brother James threw for two touchdowns to Kaene Runion and Colt Browne in the fourth quarter to close the scoring.  Justin Henderson now has 17 TD passes and seven interceptions this season.

Bott gained 100 yards on five carries and averaged 20 yards per attempt. Glenn White, Al Golden, Porfirio Sutton and Jason Bott added crucial touchdown runs.  Golden, normally an offensive lineman, scored the first touchdown of his long and storied career on a seven-yard run up the gut with 9:21 in the second quarter to make it 40-0.

It was a repeat performance for Lima’s defense.  In the first week, Stinson passed for zero yards and the Dark Knights piled up only two yards – the second-least against Lima this season.  The Warriors won, 49-0.

Again the Knights never got going and finished with 16 yards – although they did have some solid passing plays and five first downs showed that Delphos has the potential to be a contending team.

The Warriors’ passing attack looked very in sync and the offense is peaking at the right time.

”Offensively we came out and wanted to get the passing game going,” wide receiver Bobby Huttis said.  “We knew that we could get the running game going from the first time we played, but we wanted to get the passing game in rhythm and everything set up for the playoffs.”

The Warriors’ defense lost a key starter and leader in Davey Settlemire to retirement last year.  The fill-ins and new players have been terrific in the 2007 season.

“Our defense did a great job handling the tempo of the game,” rookie defensive lineman Spencer Hall said.

First-year defensive back Ty Carpenter led the Warriors with two sacks, five and a half tackles –four for loss- and Eric Siefker added one sack and three tackles.  The Knights turned the ball over on an interception the first drive they had it and punted the ball away the second as Levi Wright picked up a backward bounce and scampered 24 yards to paydirt for the Warriors, resulting in the fourth-straight week that the Warriors have scored on special teams.

The win marks the first time that the Warriors have been 9-0 in franchise history and also locked up home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, including the United States Football Alliance championship game due to the Western Conference Champion owning the honor of hosting this season.

The Warriors scored on their first six possessions and then toyed with the Dark Knights the rest of the day.

It was fitting that the game ended in an interception by Bobby Huttis as tough play and tough breaks were the stories of the game for Delphos.

“It was nice to seal the deal, but my brother (Brandt) was mad because he said he called it and I apparently heard him say it,” Huttis said, joking after the game.  “If I’m going to get it, I’m going to get it.”