The West Branch Warriors Football team first played the Louisville Leopards in 1967. The Leopards won their inaugural meeting 14-8 at Louisville Stadium. Louisville would go on to defeat West Branch in 5 straight meetings through the 1971 season.
The two schools would not meet on the gridiron again until the Leopards joined the Northeastern Buckeye Conference in 1990. West Branch gained their first victory over Louisville 35-15 in the first league meeting between the two schools. This kickstarted one of the NBC’s best rivalries during the 90’s as each team won five games a piece in the series.
The 1994 game played a key role for both team’s playoff hopes. The Warriors 26-21 defeat of the host Leopards propelled them into the postseason where they would go on to win the 1994 Division III State Championship. As a result, one of the most prolific teams in Louisville Football history missed the playoffs.
From 1999-2010 West Branch lost 12 straight meetings against Louisville. The Leopards squeaked by the Warriors 7-6 in 2001 to hand West Branch their only loss in conference play. Louisville fell to Northwest 10-0 the week before so the two teams shared the NBC crown with a record of 6-1 each. The Leopards would go on to win 6 league titles during the decade.
West Branch broke their losing streak against Louisville in 2011 and also defeated the Leopards in 2012 en rout to their final NBC Title. The Leopards returned the favor with back-to-back shutouts of the Warriors 48-0 in 2013 and 51-0 in 2014. Louisville won the final five meetings against West Branch including their final league matchup in 2017 before the NBC disbanded. The Leopards lead the all-time series 26-7 which includes a 13-4 record at Louisville and a 13-3 record at West Branch.
Carter Rode ran for a pair of touchdowns and threw a 51 yard touchdown pass to Austin Cummings, but Louisville fell to visiting West Branch 28-22. Vince Fehn forced a fumble that was recovered by Blake Davis on defense for the Leopards.
Max Hartline ran for 174 yards on the ground and scored 3 total touchdowns to lead the Leopards to a 38-21 victory over the host Warriors. Colton Jones also ran for a score and threw a touchdown pass to Bryce Zuppe.
The Leopards scored 3 touchdowns in the final 7:48 to down the Warriors 34-20. Jake Adams threw 3 touchdowns, Alec Jones caught a pair of scores, and Rahzul Young ran in 2 TDs.
Connor Zwick recorded 352 total yards of offense & scored 5 touchdowns to lead the Leopards past the Warriors 51-0. Louisville out-gained West Branch 422-42 in the first half.
Ben Schmucker threw for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns and also ran for 2 touchdowns to lead the Leopards past the Warriors 26-6 on October 13, 2006. Louisville’s defense held West Branch three times inside the redzone.
Jon Aljancic accounted for 297 yards of total offense and Brian Beatty scored 3 touchdowns as Louisville shocked West Branch with a 31-0 halftime lead in a battle of undefeated state-ranked squads.
Garrett Robbins ran for two touchdowns and passed for another and Trevor Hostetler also recorded a pair of scores as the Leopards JV squad downed the Warriors 33-0
The Leopards amassed 436 yards of offense led by Chad Neff’s 226 passing yards and 94 rushing yards. Louisville’s defense held the Warriors off the board for their 12th straight victory in the series.
Gary Whaley’s three touchdown passes helped build a 29-0 Leopard lead as the Louisville defense shutout West Branch until late in the fourth during a 29-12 victory back on September 27, 2002.
The Leopards defense forced six turnovers en rout to defeating the West Branch Warriors 18-13 on October 25, 1996. Leif Erickson provided the game-winning fourth quarter touchdown.
