Crimson Wave reach 4th straight MSFL Championship with win over Eagles

Whiting, IN – The Calumet College of St. Joseph Sprint Football team took down Midway in the Midwest Sprint Football League Semifinals 19-7 on Saturday evening at Ray P. Gallivan Field at Jeff Cain Stadium. 

The reigning two-time champions will now look to make it a three-peat as they face St. Mary-of-the-Woods on Saturday, November 15 at 2 p.m. CT in a rematch of the previous three title games. 

How it Happened 

The game began with CCSJ electing to kick off and on Midway's first play of the game, sophomore Elijah Tyson was able to come away with his fourth interception of the season.

On the ensuing drive, the Crimson Wave only picked up nine yards in four plays and from that point, the tone was set that defense would have a pivotal role in this outcome. 

Midway put together a drive in the first quarter that got them down to the CCSJ 2-yard line, but two penalties pushed the Eagles back to the 20. On fourth down they took a shot at the endzone but couldn't convert. 

It wasn't until the second quarter with 12:22 left that the first team scored in the MSFL semifinal game as Midway's Christian Carter completed a pass to Ayden Bauwens that went 58 yards for a touchdown.

CCSJ was able to answer back late in the first half with a 9-play, 52-yard drive capped with Jamall Warnell rushing for a one-yard touchdown. On the extra-point attempt unfortunately for the Wave the ball was fumbled, and a kick was never attempted. On a cold, rainy night that fell below 40 degrees, explains the six turnovers in the first half of play. 

Trailing at halftime for the first time this season, CCSJ responded exactly how they hoped. Senior Nino Barbosa started the second half with a 43-yard punt return starting the Crimson Wave drive on the Midway 35-yard line. First play of the drive Barbosa rushed for 12 more yards. 5 plays later and Zayne Guthrie connected with Tre Simmons for a 22-yard touchdown.

Later in the third quarter senior Jared Cuevas Cottrell came away with an interception, his second takeaway of the season. The Crimson Wave capitalized on the turnover and went 25 yards in seven plays to take a double digit lead. Warnell bulldozed his way at the goal line again for CCSJ, his 10^th rushing touchdown of the season.

With a comfortable lead Crimson Wave's defense continued to disrupt the Eagles, forcing two punts and two turnovers on their final four drives of the game. 

In a hurry up offense that helped Midway reach CCSJ territory with than two minutes to play, resulted in a fumble recovered by senior Joshua Tejeda. The Crimson Wave fumbled on their first play following the takeaway and the Eagles had another chance to score.

Midway took a shot at the endzone, but Tyson came away with his second interception to end the game.

CCSJ was able to hold off a high-powered, offensive threat in Midway to 256 total yards of offense. Coming into the game, the Eagles averaged 509.8 yards per game. The Crimson Wave were able to hold the Eagles to just 123 yards passing and 133 yards rushing. 

Head sprint football coach Jay Novak said the team learned Midway's brand of football in the regular season finale loss to the Eagles and adjusted coming into the playoffs. 

"Midway has done a remarkable job, and they stress their opponents because they took it to us last week," Novak said. "I'm proud of our guys and I'm proud of our defensive coordinator Sam Daniels for putting together a gameplan against these guys."

CCSJ actually had less passing and rushing yards than Midway, but it was five pivotal turnovers and 10 penalties for 120 yards that hurt the Eagles.

Crimson Wave Leaders

Quarterback Zayne Guthrie went 5-of-15 for 72 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Jamall Warnell had 11 carries for 56 yards and two touchdowns. Nino Barbosa had 18 carries for 22 yards while Kaydarious Jones had eight rushes for 14 yards. Jones also led all Crimson Wave receivers with three catches for 39 yards. Tre Simmons one catch of the evening was a 22 yard touchdown.

Defensively, Trevor Busse had 12 total tackles, nine of them solo, along with one interception. Joshua Tejeda had seven tackles, 2.5 of which were for a loss of nine yards. Tejeda also had 1.5 sacks on the evening with a fumble recovery.

Elijah Tyson had two interceptions and two pass break ups, Jared Cuevas Cottrell had seven tackles and one interception, and Alexander Dellaechaie had 1.5 sacks and five total tackles.

Up Next 

The 2025 MSFL Championship kicks off Saturday, November 15 at 2 p.m. CT. The game will be played at Jay Barrett Field at West Vigo High School in West Terre Haute, IN. The game will be streamed live on boxcast.tv.