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Dream season comes to an end
Winfield-Mount Union football team eliminated in state semifinals
CEDAR FALLS — The 2023 Winfield-Mount Union football season has been one to remember. The Wolves reached new heights this fall, going unbeaten, achieving a No. 1 ranking in Class 8-Player and making the UNI-Dome for the first time since 1999.
Unfortunately for the Wolves, the magical year that was came to an end on Wednesday, as an injury-riddled WMU team fell to Bishop Garrigan 34-20 in the Class 8-Player state semifinals.
Despite coming in with a handful of major players banged up from previous playoff games, the Wolves came out fighting early. The WMU defense shut Bishop Garrigan down in the first quarter, forcing two turnovers and scoring off one of them.
“We told our kids in pregame, 'don't wait to be great,'” said Wolves head coach Scott McCarty. “I thought they did a really nice job of that.”
The Wolves punted on their first drive, but the defense forced a fumble on the ensuing Bishop Garrigan possession. Cole Milks forced a fumble and Carter Loyd fell on top of it to give the Wolves the ball at their own 39-yard line.
On the very next play, Edwards found Loyd on a 39-yard pass down the sideline. Loyd reached out to make a one-handed grab at the 4-yard line, and that set up Buffington for two-straight two-yard rushes, the second of which into the end zone.
The Wolves led 6-0 after the failed 2-point conversion attempt, and they would get the ball right back with another turnover. Bishop Garrigan quarterback Tate Foertsch overshot his man on long pass play, and Milks was right there to pick the ball off and bring it all the way back to the Golden Bears’ 35-yard line.
“I saw the ball up in the air,” said Milks. “I said, 'I can go get this.'”
The two teams traded punts late in the first quarter, but WMU drove down to the 7-yard line, and had a 3rd-and-2 coming up in the first play of the second period. Buffington capitalized by punching in his second score of the game on the very next play, and although the 2-point conversion failed again, the Wolves were up 12-0.
Bishop Garrigan finally broke through later in the second period. With just under 6 minutes on the clock, Foertsch hit Drew Lappe for a 24-yard touchdown pass, and the lead was cut to 12-6 despite another failed 2-point try.
WMU responded on the next drive when quarterback Jake Edwards began to heat up. He found Buffington on an 18-yard pass, which set up a 31-yard touchdown pass to brother Abram Edwards, who sprung open on a double move.
“They were biting hard on the corner,” Edwards said. “We faked the corner into a post, and I happened to be wide-open.”
This time, the 2-point try was successful, as Jake found Abram open again to stretch the lead to 20-6, where it would stay until halftime.
Although the Wolves led by two scores at the break, it wasn’t all peaches on the WMU sideline. Milks, Buffington and Lane Genkinger were already nursing hampering injuries, and Loyd was knocked out of the game in the first half. With many others banged up on the field, the Golden Bears took advantage, turning to their power running game in the second half.
“We're just trying to play our game, no matter if we're banged up or not,” Buffington said. “We're trying to represent the town. Trying to do everything we can.”
And although the Wolves were able to grit out defensive plays here and there, Bishop Garrigan was clearly gaining ground on the Wolves’ defense. That was ever-so-clear on the first drive of the third quarter.
With Loyd on the bench and Milks playing hurt, Foertsch was finally able to make some completions downfield. The Golden Bears scored on the opening drive of the quarter, converting a 4th-and-8 at the Wolves’ 30-yard line on a pass from Foertsch to Justin Bauer, and cashing in on a 5-yard touchdown run from star running back Caden Roethler on the very next play. The 2-point conversion was good, and all of the sudden it was a six-point lead, at 20-14.
“Injuries are part of the game,” said Coach McCarty. “You can't control them. I wish you could, but you can't.”
Roethler, who was relatively held in check in the first half, began to eat up yards in a big way during the third quarter. After the Golden Bears took over possession on an interception at their own 15-yard line, Roethler sparked the next drive with a 21-yard pick up, and tied the game up on a 7-yard touchdown run.
Although the Wolves were able to stop the 2-point try, WMU was clearly hurting on defense, especially against the run. To add on to that, Jake Edwards was injured during the drive, adding another major player to a growing list of hobbled players.
Every WMU player who was hurt found themselves either on the field playing through pain, or working frantically with the trainer to get back in, as the team scrambled to try and stop Bishop Garrigan’s comeback bid.
“It shows that we have heart, and it shows that we love playing for this team no matter what,” Milks said. “We love playing for our community.”
When the fourth quarter started, the two teams were knotted at 20-20, and Bishop Garrigan had the ball. The Golden Bears marched down and scored on a 10-yard rush by Roethler, and after another missed 2-point try, Bishop Garrigan led 26-20.
The Wolves threw one last haymaker on the first play of the next drive. With 9:52 showing on the clock, Jake Edwards hit Buffington on a screen pass, and Buffington took it 31-yards down the sideline, all the way to the Golden Bears’ 26-yard line. His ankle, however, was rolled up on by a Bishop Garrigan defender, and he was on the bench with the trainer for the rest of the drive.
Bishop Garrigan got a strip-sack three plays later, and WMU couldn’t stop Roethler and the Golden Bear offense from scoring again. Roethler scored on a 4-yard touchdown run, and punched in the 2-point try to give Bishop Garrigan a 34-20 lead with 6:34 to go.
“Conditioning is what our program has been founded on for a long time, and in the third and fourth quarter, winning battles,” said Bishop Garrigan head coach Marty Wadle. “We did a good job of that tonight.”
The Wolves eventually ran out of time to come back, and it was Bishop Garrigan that earned a spot to next Thursday’s Class 8-Player championship game.
The loss was the last game for seven WMU seniors. Loyd, Milks, Buffington, Kael Johnson, Eli Miller, Jarit Tapia and Abram Edwards all played their last games in a WMU uniform.
“I was raised around these kids,” said an emotional Buffington after the game. “I love those guys to death. No matter how hurt I am, I'll go battle for them every day of the week.”
Jake Edwards threw for 212 yards and one touchdown in the loss. Abram Edwards led the receivers with five catches for 81 yards and a touchdown. Buffington had two catches for 49 yards. Loyd had two catches for 42 yards. Max Edwards caught a pass for 20 yards. Milks had two catches for 17 yards, and Genkinger caught a three-yard pass.
In the run game, Buffington ran for 36 yards and two scores to lead the Wolves.
Defensively, Buffington led the way with 12.5 tackles. Miller finished with 8.5 tackles. Johnson had 7.5 tackles. Milks finished with six. Cooper Buffington and Jake Edwards finished with 4.5 apiece, a dn Abram Edwards and Nicholas Sparrow each had four.
Roethler finished the night with 181 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Overall, Bishop Garrigan ran for 285 yards.
When all was said and done, WMU won 11 games on the year, matching their total from 1999. The Wolves won their first district championship since 2015 and advanced to the semifinals for the third time in school history.
The year before the current senior class came into WMU, the program had won just two games in its last three seasons. In all four years, the Wolves won a total of 25 games.
“As good as they are at football, they're better young men,” Coach McCarty said. “We've got some elite football players in that group, and we've got some elite young men.”
Bishop Garrigan will play Bedford in the Class 8-Player championship next Thursday morning.
