Warren Central holds off Center Grove 12-7 for berth in Class 6A title game vs. Carmel

It was going to take a nearly perfect game to beat a senior-led Center Grove High School football team, galvanized for four years by the loss of a former classmate.

Warren Central’s performance on Friday night in a 12-7 Class 6A semistate game might not have been perfect. It wasn’t always pretty. But the eighth-ranked Warriors earned a spot in the 6A state championship with an old school, three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-turf effort.

“Perfectly ugly,” first-year Warren Central coach Jayson West joked. “But holding Center Grove to seven points, you have to be kidding me. I don’t think anybody’s done that all year.”

Warren Central (10-3) has a week off before it plays sixth-ranked Carmel (10-3) in the state championship at Lucas Oil Stadium on Nov. 30 in a matchup of Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference rivals.

The Warriors did it with a flawless defensive performance and just enough offense. Center Grove came in averaging more than 40 points a game and had been held to fewer than 20 points just once all season.

But the Trojans (11-2) managed just 186 yards of offense on Friday, including 62 from the normally vaunted wing-T attack. Warren Central consistently kept Center Grove’s running backs from turning the corner on the outside and the defensive line — led by Max Hernandez, Darion Howard and Noah Purdue — caused havoc in the Center Grove backfield.

“We wanted to set the edge on containment,” said the 6-3, 245-pound Hernandez, who also kicked field goals of 46 and 32 yards. “We wanted to blow up the blocks and not allow them to come to us. Blow up the blocks, blow up the blocks, blow up the blocks and be relentless. We wanted to let our linebackers flow free and make plays.”

Warren Central took advantage of a short field after stopping Center Grove on a fourth-and-1 play, going ahead 12-7 with 5:22 left in the third quarter on Hernandez’s 32-yard field goal.

Center Grove drove to the Warren Central 2 on the ensuing possession, but was turned away when Willie Wesby knocked down Calvert’s pass in the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 6 with 10:33 left.

At that point, a field goal could have cut the Warren Central lead to 12-10. Center Grove coach Eric Moore said he thought the Trojans needed a touchdown that late in the game.

“We were playing to win the game, not to try to stay close,” Moore said.

A fumble by Warren Central gave the Trojans one more shot, starting at their own 42 with 3:33 left. But a fourth down pass from Calvert to Lane Morris was one yard short of a first down, at the Warren Central 39.

The Warriors ran out the clock, and then celebrated a berth in the state championship for the first time in four years. They also met Carmel that year, winning 42-36 in double overtime.

It’ll be familiar surroundings for West, who was hired at Warren Central after leading Lawrence Central to a state championship last season.

Did he think he’d be back so soon?

“You don’t imagine it, but you expect it when you go to a school like this,” West said. “These kids have always believed they could get there. There’s something to them, which is why it’s pretty cool. There’s no better place for high school football.”

West got his coaching start as an assistant under Moore at Center Grove and the two shared a long embrace after the game. It was a tough ending for the senior Trojans, who had dedicated their high school careers to Tyler Genneken, a former classmate and teammate who died of leukemia four years ago.

“That group of kids is very special to him,” West said of Moore. “They are overachievers, like we are. I love him dearly. I was lucky to have great coaches in my career and as a young coach that’s all you can ask for.”

Moore was upset that his team didn’t execute better offensively, especially in falling into a 9-0 hole in the first half. But one night doesn’t diminish what the team meant to him.

“This isn’t the worst thing that’s ever going to happen in your life,” Moore said. “Hopefully this will prepare you for bad things that happen, but great character will always see you through and they do have great character. That’s why you play the game.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.