Wolves, Warriors open season Friday

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

Attention football fans: The 2018 season is just one day away. The only catch is, if you live in Henry County, you?ll have to put in some drive time to get to either contest.

Both WACO and Winfield-Mt. Union will play in their first official games on Friday, Aug. 17, with both starting at 7 p.m. Both games will be non-district games.

It?s a particularly special game for W-MU, because it?s their first eight-man game in school history. The Wolves will be at Springville, a team that went 3-7 last season.

The Orioles were a balanced offense in 2017, gaining most of their yards on the ground but sporting a decent passing game as well. Quarterback Kyle Koppes, who will enter his junior year this season, passed for 1,062 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions last season, and he ran for 220 yards and four touchdowns.

The Orioles also return their top pass catchers. Senoir Zach March caught 42 passes for 604 yards and nine touchdowns last season. Junior Caleb Weber caught 16 passes for 428 yards and three touchdowns.

Springville lost its top rusher to graduation but returns it?s number two runner, Jacob Hungate. The junior is coming off a season where he ran for 327 yards and five touchdowns.

The W-MU offense will have to show up to give the Orioles a game. Springville?s defense had a few rough games in 2017, giving up 48 points or more in all seven of their losses, including a 64-40 home loss to WACO.

W-MU had a rough year on offense last season, scoring just 25 points throughout the year. Luckily, the Wolves return almost the entire offense as W-MU had just four seniors last season.

Junior quarterback Christian Gerot passed for 350 yards last year, throwing one touchdown and five interceptions. He also rushed for one of the team?s two running touchdowns.

His leading receiver by a long shot was Daunte Oepping, who will return for his junior year as well. He caught 17 passes last season for 153 yards and a touchdown.

Andrew Brady, who enters his sophomore season, was a breakout performer for W-MU on the ground last year. Brady ran for 294 yards with one touchdown, and also caught four passes for 60 yards to become the team?s second-leading reciever.

WACO will head to Janesville for their game. The Wildcats went 6-4 last season and put together a four-game winning streak in the middle of the year.

Janesville lost its biggest offensive performer last season to graduation. Peyton Meyer led the team with 1,358 passing yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions last season, and was also the second-leading rusher, running for 326 yards and two scores.

The Wildcats? second-leading passer was actually their top receiever. Spencer Hoff, now a senior, caught 30 passes for 734 yards and 13 touchdowns last year.

Janesville also lost its leading rusher, Dalton Woodyard, to graduation. Woodyard ran for 434 yards and eight touchdowns last year, and was also the team?s second-leading receiver with 20 catches for 247 yards and three touchdowns.

WACO went 4-6 last season, but the Warriors lost significantly less to graduation than Janesville did. Only three Warrior players were seniors last eyar, and although all of them played a key roll on the team, that means there is plenty of talent returning.

The most notable name is Warrior star Colton Horak, who has wreaked havoc on opposing teams for the last three years. Horak was the focal point of the offense last season, rushing for an astounding 1,222 yards and 18 touchdowns, while also catching 27 passes for 430 yards and six scores.

Fellow senior Nik Coble had a ton of success last year in the quarterback role. Coble threw for 1,402 yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions.

Another big time returner is junior Elijah McGohan, who ran for 416 yards and four touchdowns last season. Fellow junior Drew Kissell was the second-leading reciever for the Warriors, catching 18 passes for 348 yards and five scores.

WACO?s high-powered offense will look to take advantage of a less-experienced Janesville squad in what could be another eight-man shootout.