WACO drops road game

VICTOR - The WACO football suffered a close loss on Friday night at the hands of Hartwick-Victor-Ladora. The Warriors stuck close with one-loss H-L-V throughout the first half, but could never grab the lead in the second, falling 48-36.

After falling behind 8-0 in the first quarter, Colton Horak had the first WACO score on a 27-yard touchdown run. Matthew Leichty ran the ball in for two and it was 8-8 after one quarter.

H-L-V scored on a punt return touchdown early in the second quarter but failed to convert for two. WACO took their first and only lead later in the period when Horak scored on a 25-yard run, and Elijah McGohan punched in the two-point conversion to give the Warriors a 16-14 lead.

H-L-V scored the next 12 points of the game on back-to-back touchdowns but they continued to struggle on conversion attempts. Horak converted the hat trick on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Nik Coble at the end of the half. The two-point try failed but the H-L-V lead was down to 28-22.

The WACO defense stalled in the third quarter, and H-L-V burned the Warriors with another punt return touchdown. This time, H-L-V converted for two, and the lead was 36-22 after three periods.

The two teams traded scores in the fourth quarter. Coble found Kissell on a 22-yard touchdown pass, and Horak had a 12-yard touchdown run, but WACO's defense couldn't hold well enough to ever let the game get back to one possession.

Horak finished the game with 205 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, and added 105 yards and two scores on five catches. He led the Warriors in both rushing and receiving yards, totaling 310 yards from scrimmage.

Coble went 10-19 passing the ball, throwing for 159 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Kissell's one catch for 22 yards and a touchdown was second to Horak in the receiving category.

On the defensive side of the ball, Horak led again. He had 14.5 tackles, the only Warrior to reach double digits. Nolan Eubanks had 7.5 tackles and a fumble recovery, and Kade McKinney had a fumble recovery as well.

The Warriors are now 4-3 overall and 3-3 in the district. They'll host rival Winfield-Mt. Union on Friday, Oct. 5, at 7 p.m.