CRASH ARRIVE LATE TO LOSE EARLY

Warriors advance to Conference Championship with a 52-14 win over the West Virginia Crash.

By Joel Renner

Lima Warriors Chief Staff Reporter

8/19/07 – LIMA, OH -- After about a twenty-minute delay to allow for all of the West Virginia Crash players to arrive, the Lima Warriors put on a special playoff version of their dominance for over one thousand of their beloved fans.

Justin Henderson and the Warriors beat the outmatched West Virginia Crash 52-14 Saturday, and while the star quarterback’s numbers were good -- 10-of-18 for 129 yards -- his performance was outdone only by the outstanding play of possibly the most prolific defense in the country.

Henderson knows all about the franchise history and falling apart in the playoffs.  He never struggled in this game and the Lima Warriors’ usual stingy defense came to play.  Henderson threw one interception during an array of deep passes.

“I want to say thanks to the fans for all of the support,” said Henderson, who improved to 7-4 in the playoffs. “We try to play good ball to attract fans and we’re here to give them a good show.”

The intimidating Lima defense was so good – or perhaps more accurately, West Virginia’s offense was so bad – that any of Henderson’s miscues didn’t stop the WFC North champions from advancing to the conference championship at Lima on Saturday.

“The defense takes a lot of stress off of our offense,” Henderson said.  “We get a lot of great field position and they play like ballhawks by flying to the ball and are everywhere on the field.”

A defense that yielded 2.1 yards per game, was unmovable again by driving back West Virginia -26 yards and completely taking away the Crash’ rushing game.

Lima’s initial drive was impressive as Henderson drove the Warriors 36 yards and at 10:06 in the first quarter, barreled into the end zone for a one-yard TD run.

Jason Bott led Lima defensively with eight tackles, two for loss, one sack and an interception. Brandt Huttis had two interceptions, including a 60-yard return for a touchdown with 12:07 left in the second quarter.  The Crash managed 79 total yards, but the Warriors are being noticed on the offensive side of the ball now as well as defensive.

“We’ve developed much as a team and we have a lot of camaraderie,” offensive lineman John Lance said.  “I don’t think it’s a far stretch to say that we have the best offense in the league.”

Meanwhile, Ryan Elliot made a 39-yard field goal and seven extra points and veteran Andrew Cleckley rushed for 59 yards and a TD for the Warriors (11-0).  Wisely, with Henderson mixing up his targets, Lima gave West Virginia (6-4) a steady dose of short passes that wore out the Crash.

That was most evident after West Virginia finally woke up and drove the field to a 69-yard touchdown catch by Kenny Davis with 3:28 remaining in the second period.  Then the Warriors went 58 yards on six plays, mostly victimizing the Crash’ linebackers underneath.  Myron Gregory juked for a 8-yard TD run to make it 42-8.

When Brandt Huttis intercepted West Virginia’s desperate lob for the second time in the fourth quarter, the Warriors could start thinking about Akron – the team they beat 28-0 in week two.

“We’re going to take the week off, but come Saturday we’ll be ready to play,” Lance said.  “Both Akron and we think that the other team has it coming to them and it will be a good game like last time.”

Until falling behind 35-0, the Crash looked like a team surprised to have made the playoffs after putting together a solid regular season and beating quality clubs.  Kenny Davis, who was a standout wide receiver for West Virginia State is an extremely talented athlete, but the Warriors held him to be a limited factor.  He leaped higher than two Lima’ defenders to grab a two-point conversion and caught a few catches in the Crash’s 98 yards receiving.  

“There's not enough excuses in the world to explain away a 52-14 shellacking, but it can't take away the fact that we have some great players on this team,” Crash center Jeff Warren said.

And while a few of the Warriors’ receivers had little impact, wide receiver Joe Butcher, who caught three passes for 95 yards and two TDs in the first meeting, had four catches for 84 yards and touchdown on Saturday.

Even when the Warriors’ receivers were double covered, the offense drove down the field as Henderson used check downs to the running backs for big gains.

“Our running backs have some of the best hands that I’ve ever seen,” Henderson said.  “It’s a big plus having them and it’s a great luxury having backs that can catch.”

This game took a far different shape than the previous meeting between the clubs.

The Crash never came close to the 206 yards receiving that they accumulated in a 49-20 Warriors’ victory in week seven in West Virginia.  The Warriors also got good field position from the tremendous special team’s effort and their only mishap of the night was Elliot’s miss on a 47-yard field goal that hit off the cross bar.

Elliot added another extra point to make it 28-0 following a 51-yard hookup on another long pass from Henderson to Joe Butcher.  Butcher ensued with his routine back flip celebration and brought the fans to their feet.

The Warriors practically handed West Virginia points when a fumble was picked up by Jerome Smith and returned 90 yards for a touchdown with 5:57 in the third quarter.  The two-point conversion failed and the Warriors still led 42-14.

Combined with many turnovers and three first downs – that’s right, three – and 79 total yards, it made for a futile game for the Crash, who won their first postseason game due to a forfeit from Southern Ohio.

"When we play Akron, the better team will deserve to go to the championship,” Parkins said.  “Our fans are fantastic and I really appreciate the support we have in Lima.  Next week we won’t have the competition with other events in the area since we’re playing an earlier game and I think the fan base will be amazing.”

Huttis got his second and third interception of the season and Pierre Jackson had three tackles and half a sack for the Warriors.  The Warriors never let up and Parkins never showed signs of being nervous in his tenth playoff-win with the Warriors.