By DAVID VANTRESS

For the Northwest News

MISHAWAKA — Bring on Warsaw!

The Carroll High School football team punched its ticket for the Class 6A Sectional 2 championship Friday night with a dominant 35-7 win over Penn. The Tigers will meet the Chargers at Carroll this Friday night for the 6A-2 sectional championship, after the Tigers defeated Elkhart, 14-9.

The Chargers (10-0) got on the board first in this one, Braden Steely capping off a 16-play, 79-yard drive with a 1-yard run. The drive consumed 4:47 and gave Carroll a 7-0 lead.

That would remain the score until Penn (7-3) tied it with 2:11 left until intermission on Kingsmen quarterback Nolan McCullough’s 1-yard run set up by an interception.

If the Chargers needed a wakeup call, Penn’s tying TD was just that.

Carroll scored twice in the final two minutes of the half for a 21-7 lead. First it was sophomore quarterback Jimmy Sullivan running to a 25-yard TD, and bowling over a Penn linebacker at about the Kingsmen 5 in the process.

All in a night’s work, according to Sullivan.

“He got in my way, so I had to run him over,” Sullivan said with a smile.

The Kingsmen went three-and-out and the Chargers wasted no time getting to pay dirt again. Starting at the Penn 37, Carroll needed just three plays to score on a 22-yard pass from Sullivan to Camden Herschberger.

The two scores coming just over a minute apart stunned Penn, and the Kingsmen never seemed to recover.

Carroll added second-half scores on another 1-yard run by Steely and a 14-yard TD pass from Sullivan to Jayden Hill.

On the night, Carroll amassed 348 yards of total offense, a balanced mix of 177 rushing and 168 through the air. The Charger defense limited Penn, meanwhile, to just 114 yards.

Carroll head coach Doug Diman said the Charger defense was the difference in the game. “They played extremely well, continued to play hard, and gave the offense a chance to get rolling,” he said.

Sullivan said the Charger defense set the tone. “They definitely won us the game,” the Carroll signal-caller said.

Sullivan completed 17-of-26 passes for 201 yards and two TDs. He further cemented his status as a dual-threat QB with 15 carries for 62 yards and one of the most notable TDs of the season.

Nathan Starks had 15 carries for 82 yards. Herschberger led the Carroll receivers with seven carries for 81 yards and a TD. Hill had four catches for 90 yards and a TD.

On defense, the stingy Chargers were led by Justin Anderson and Solomon Oduma with five solo tackles each. Two of Oduma’s tackles were for loss and he also had a sack.

Warsaw, meanwhile (8-2) defeated Elkhart, 14-9 in the other Class 6A Sectional 2 semifinal last Friday night.

Friday night’s sectional championship game at Carroll is slated for a 7 p.m. kickoff.