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Rainy-day loss for Dragons at Northwestern

ALBION — It didn’t go right from the start on Saturday for Warren in a 22-7 non-region football loss to Northwestern.

Technically, the start was Friday when the game was postponed to Saturday due to severe weather in the forecast. Crappy weather didn’t go away by game time 18 hours later.

“No excuses; we did not get the job done up front,” said Warren coach Mark Morelli, whose Dragons are 4-4 overall. “We have always said you need to adjust and adapt.”

Warren appeared to recover a Northwestern fumble early in the game, but “an inadvertent whistle” forced a replay of the down, said Morelli. “Three plays later, they scored the first TD of the game.”

That was the kind of day it would be for the Dragons, who were stuck in the mud, literally and figuratively.

But after Eric Dorr’s 18-yard touchdown reception from Northwestern quarterback Ryan Tewell, Warren actually took the lead late in the first half.

Sophomore Eric Dippold connected with senior Ben White down the left sideline with under two minutes left in the half, and White broke away for an 84-yard score.

Dippold became the second Dragon sophomore quarterback to throw for over 1,000 yards in a season. He finished the day with 203 yards passing, but completed more passes than Warren had rushing attempts.

“We could not get our running game going,” said Morelli. “When that happens to us, we struggle.”

Northwestern came in at 5-0 and leading Region 2 with Tewell having surpassed 1,000 yards passing. The Wildcats out-rushed Warren 246 to negative-7 on Saturday with the negative yardage on sacks of Dippold and a botched snap on a punt attempt that set up the final Northwestern score early in the fourth.

Warren’s defense did all it could. Northwestern’s Tewell hit Jordan Dohanic for an 8-yard score 20 seconds before halftime, and then hit Jake Kelley for the two-point pass play for a 14-7 lead.

Overall, the Dragons limited Tewell to 7-of-17 passing for 88 yards.

“Four times the defense came up with red-zone stops,” said Morelli.

Tommy Nyquist finished with 10 carries for 53 yards and Ethan Senz had two rushing attempts, but Warren tried to come back through the air. Dippold completed 15 of 32 passes with a touchdown and two interceptions. Warren turned it over three times and Northwestern didn’t have a turnover.

White caught 7 balls for 147 yards — one the long touchdown, and Nyquist 6 for 21 yards. Cayden Wright had the other two receptions, one a diving grab down the muddy right sideline.

“We will get back on the horse next week, get a regular season-ending win and gear up for a rematch with General McLane in the playoffs,” said Morelli.

Warren 0 7 0 0 — 7

Northwestern 6 8 0 8 — 22

First quarter

N–Eric Dorr 18 pass from Ryan Tewell (pass fails)

Second quarter

W–Ben White 84 pass from Eric Dippold (Pat Heffern kick)

N–Jordan Dohanic 8 pass from Tewell (Jake Kelley pass from Tewell)

Fourth quarter

N–Tewell 2 run (Tewell run)

Individual stats

RUSH: W–Tommy Nyquist 10-53; Ethan Senz 2-0; Dippold 5-(-25); Carter Pascuzzi 1-(-35). N–Lloyd Fountain 15-150; Gage Hanisek-Brockett 16-76; Tewell 12-20, TD.

PASS: W–Dippold 15 of 32 for 203 yards, TD, 2 INT. N–Tewell 7 of 17 for 88 yards, 2 TD.

RECEIVE: W–White 7-147, TD; Nyquist 6-21; Cayden Wright 2-35. N–Cam Perkins 3-41; Dohanic 2-20, TD; Dorr 1-18, TD; Kelley 1-9.

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