Tigers back on home turf

VERSAILLES — The Versailles Tigers christened their new turf field with an impressive aerial show on Friday night.

Versailles quarterback Korey Sheets completed 10 of 13 passes for 273 yards and four touchdowns, as the Tigers beat the Warsaw Wildcats 43-8.

Versailles coach Bob Ramsey knew that the community was looking for a big show with the new field and homecoming festivities both happening, and his Tigers did not disappoint.

“We felt the pressure all week, playing on this field,” he said. “The community was like, you can’t lose the first game on this new field, so the kids were getting tight this week and getting nervous about this game. It was fortunate we came out and got a big play on them early. That got the jitters out and got the momentum and kept it on them.”

Versailles (3-2) began the game by recovering its own onside kick. Three plays later, Sheets connected with Aaron Bolton on a 41-yard scoring pass and the Tigers led 6-0.

Warsaw moved the ball on its first possession, but the Wildcats were forced to turn the ball over on downs at the Tiger 21. That offensive frustration would be repeated throughout the game.

The Tigers struck with the passing game as the first quarter came to a close. Bolton got behind the Warsaw defenders, and Sheets hit him in stride for an 82-yard touchdown pass.

Sheets ran for the 2-point conversion and Versailles led 14-0 after one quarter.

The Wildcats got on the scoreboard with their first possession of the second,  courtesy of the pass.

Quarterback Logan Smith connected with Johnny Eierman for a 62-yard score, and Ray Hoover ran for the conversion, cutting the Versailles lead to 14-8.

After the teams traded possessions, Sheets went back to work with his arm. He threw his third scoring pass of the night to Bolton, this time from 53 yards out, ran in the extra point, and the Tiger advantage grew to 22-8.

Sheets got his fourth touchdown pass of the night just before halftime on a 24-yard screen pass to Kyle Sheets. That touchdown gave the Tigers quarterback 244 yards passing in the opening half.

“They ended up defensively putting 10 in the box,” Ramsey said. “They weren’t going to let us run the football. They were bringing a lot of heat. They were one-on-one out there with our best receiver, and we took advantage of that. We made some nice throws and catches.”

In the second half, the Tigers came out determined to run the ball and eat up time on the clock. Ramsey knew his team would have to make adjustments to run effectively.

“They weren’t going to let us run inside, so we started running outside,” he said. “Once we started having success there, they started moving people out, then we got the inside going. That was just an adjustment we had to make at halftime.”

A Warsaw fumble on the last play of a scoreless third quarter ended a possible scoring drive by the Wildcats.

Versailles took advantage of that turnover, marching 89 yards on 16 plays to increase the lead to 34-8.

Bolton capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run around the left side.

The Versailles defense got a big play on Warsaw’s next possession.

After two Wildcats penalties and two Tigers sacks pushed Warsaw back to its own 3-yard line, Versailles’ Brian Oetting blocked a punt out of the end zone for a safety and a 36-8 lead.

Eddie Stevenson completed the scoring for the Tigers when he raced 24 yards down the right sideline and vaulted into the end zone for a touchdown.