Concord football avenges 2024's season-ending loss to Warsaw with sectional semifinal win
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MISHAWAKA ― There are only two things on Earth to which Craig Koehler can compare the feeling of celebrating a Concord football win: The birth of his children and marrying his wife.
The Minutemen’s season-ending loss to Warsaw in a sectional championship game last season was not avenged by Concord’s 38-7 regular season victory against the Tigers in Week 5 this year. And he knew that beating Warsaw when it really counted wouldn’t be quite as lopsided.
When the 11th-season Minutemen head coach ran to celebrate with his awaiting roster after beating Warsaw 45-28 in an IHSAA Class 5A sectional semifinal game Friday night, he felt the weight of a burden that had been following him since November 8, 2024, lift off his shoulders.
“They’ve been stewing for five or six weeks ― well, we’ve been stewing for 51 weeks,” Koehler said. “It’s hard to beat this stuff, and we’ve had some pretty damn good football teams.”
While Friday night’s win only punched the Minutemen’s ticket to a sectional championship appearance next Friday, Nov. 7, on the road against Fort Wayne North, senior quarterback Bo Brunner certainly approached Concord’s tilt against Warsaw as if it were a title contest. The Valparaiso commit finished the game with four total touchdowns, including three on the ground.
“I don’t really think about how big the stage is,” Brunner said. “I’m just confident in myself.”
Like it did Koehler, the Minutemen’s three-point loss to the Tigers to end last season kept Brunner up at night during the offseason. He used that heartbreak to not let it happen again in his senior season.
“Every day lifting weight and practicing in the summer, we saw a picture of Warsaw holding a sectional trophy,” Brunner said. “That motivated us every day. We were looking forward to this chance.”
The same goes for senior Char’rese Breveard, who said he has thought about last season’s sectional championship loss nearly every day since the night it happened. Beating Warsaw by 31 points in the regular season was not satisfying enough.
Breveard got his retaliation on Halloween night, rushing for a 91-yard touchdown with less than six minutes left in the fourth quarter to give Concord a 37-28 lead. The Ball State commit has many highlight-reel-worthy plays this season, and his latest was made possible thanks to a technique he has worked on with Koehler all season.
“Visualize it and make it happen,” Breveard said. “Sometimes, I’ll go off into a daydream visualizing myself getting a big run.”
Breveard may have finished with 170 rushing and receiving yards combined against the Tigers, but arguably the true play of the game may have been just one snap prior when senior Donovan Arnold forced a Tigers turnover on downs. They attempted a 4th-and-1 conversion from the Concord nine-yard line, but the four-year starter snuffed it out to keep the Minutemen ahead 31-28 with less than six minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
After the game, numerous local kids came up to Breveard asking for selfies together. He stopped to spend a brief moment with each one, which made Breveard realize that he has become just like those he used to idolize.
“Hopefully they come through the program and have a good career, too,” Breveard said. “With all the work I’ve put in, I’m just happy to have young guys look up to me.”
Breveard wasn’t even a teenager the last time Concord won a sectional title in 2018. Yet he remembers watching the Minutemen win back-to-back crowns from 2017-18, hoping he could someday be a part of that success.
Koehler was in just his third and fourth seasons as Concord’s head coach during that run, but he has been employed by the Minutemen for a quarter century this year. That’s what makes beating a team like Warsaw so impactful for him.
That’s what makes winning any game, whether in the regular season or the state tournament, special to Koehler. It’s what drives him to chase the first state title in program history.
“This was my first job out of college,” Koehler said. “I only know one way … Every game is the championship game.”
Kyle Smedley is a high school sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email atksmedley@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Concord football beats Warsaw to advance to IHSAA sectional final
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