PREP FOOTBALL: Concord overwhelms Goshen, cruises to win

Sep. 24—DUNLAP — One yard.

That's how much total offense Goshen had in the first half Friday against Concord.

A combination of a relentless Minutemen defense and three RedHawk turnovers led to stagnation on offense for the visitors. The offensive issues didn't let up much in the second half, allowing Concord to win comfortably, 37-7, over Goshen at Jake Field.

"Right now, there's no answers," said Goshen coach Tom Wogomon after the game. "I'll be honest: I have no answers, and that's the hardest part, as far as what we call for plays. It's almost like doing play calls by throwing a dart at the board and pulling a play out. Concord's just so physical, and when you play Concord, you have to play a physical brand of football to match that."

Goshen ran a total of 21 plays in the first half. They only picked up one first down, which came on an 18-yard pass from senior quarterback Quinn Bechtel to junior wide receiver Gage Worthman. Sacks and runs that went for negative yards ultimately pushed the RedHawks back to that single-yard gained through the first 24 minutes of play.

"We're not bad on that side of the ball," said Concord coach Craig Koehler of his defense. "We've got some dudes. ... We're not a bad defensive football team."

While Goshen (1-5, 1-3 Northern Lakes Conference) struggled to move the ball, the Minutemen found success with its rushing attack. After an early 38-yard field goal from senior Miguel Aguilar made it 3-0, Concord (3-3, 2-2 NLC) turned to the run game for its first touchdown of the contest.

Taking over at the Goshen 25-yard line following a RedHawk turnover, senior Titus Hackworth ran six times, gaining all 25 yards on the drive and capping it off with a one-yard scoring run. This put the home team up 10-0 with 2:42 to go in the first frame.

Concord continued to run the ball effectively two drives later. This time, it was junior Shamon Wells-Moore making the big play, as he burst through the line and sprinted 41 yards to the end zone, making it a 17-0 advantage for the Minutemen midway through the second quarter.

It was a breakout night for Wells-Moore, who finished with 151 yards rushing and the touchdown on 17 attempts. Coming into the game, the junior only had 22 carries for 53 yards and one score on the season.

"You could see it in practice — he's not bad," said Koehler of Wells-Moore. "He's got a little burst. And Titus was banged up; he got rolled up on during the Wawasee game (last week), so we weren't even sure if he was going to play. He didn't even practice until Thursday this week. ... We knew we were going to have to play Shamon quite a bit, and I'm happy for that kid. He's a hard-working kid. He doesn't complain. He's a good player."

Concord added one more score before halftime. After Bechtel had a pass intercepted by Minutemen senior Darian Decker, the Concord offense went 39 yards across six plays. On a 3rd-and-goal from the seven-yard line, sophomore quarterback Hudson Glantz connected with senior wideout Javion Sheppard for a touchdown pass. The extra point was muffed, giving the Minutemen a 23-0 lead at halftime.

A 24-yard passing touchdown from Glantz to junior Michael Campanello, followed by another short touchdown run from Hackworth made it 37-0 late in the third quarter, giving the game a running clock for the rest of the contest.

Goshen finally found some traction in the fourth quarter, going on an 80-yard scoring drive. It was capped off by a four-yard touchdown run from junior Laish Detwiller.

For the game, the RedHawks finished with 80 yards of total offense.

"Our guys keep on swinging and getting back off the mat, but man, it's tough," Wogomon said. "For me, I've been in this game for 30 years, and these 15- and- 16-year-old kids are left scratching their head, wondering when's it going to stop?

"Physically, we're not there yet. And until we get some time in the weight room and really begin to change the culture in the weight room, we're going to continue to struggle. And that's the hardest part for me: I don't know how you make up for physicality in the NLC. It is the essence of what high school football is, and the more physical team is going to be successful."

It's now two wins in a row for Concord, and Koehler notices his team improving with each passing week.

"We're getting better," Koehler said. "Like I said to our team: there's 40-plus year veteran coaches on our staff, and the core of our staff's been together a long time. We've seen enough high school football amongst our staff where you can kind of tell that we're getting better.

"We're just so inexperienced. And I hate to keep bringing that up, but we just have a bunch of guys who've never been under the lights, and now we've got six games under our belt."

Both teams resume NLC play next week, as Goshen welcomes Plymouth to town, while Concord visits Northridge.

------

CONCORD 37, GOSHEN 7

Goshen — 0; 0; 0; 7 — 7

Concord — 10; 13; 14; 0 — 37

Scoring Plays

First Quarter

C — (8:24) Miguel Aguilar 38 kick

C — (2:42) Titus Hackworth 1 run (Aguilar kick)

Second Quarter

C — (7:55) Shamon Wells-Moore 41 run (Aguilar kick)

C — (0:36.2) Javion Sheppard 7 pass from Hudson Glantz (kick missed)

Third Quarter

C — (7:36) Michael Campanello 24 pass from Glantz (Aguilar kick)

C — (2:30) Hackworth 3 run (Aguilar kick)

Fourth Quarter

G — (8:15) Laish Detwiller 4 run (Andeyv Martinez kick)

Austin Hough can be reached at austin.hough@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2360. Follow him on Twitter at @AustinHoughTGN.