WACO football rushes to quarterfinals

MARTENSDALE — The WACO football team had a roadblock in its way in the Class 8-Player round of 16 on Friday night, but the Warriors simply ran right over it to earn a berth in the quarterfinals.

No. 7 WACO rushed for eight touchdowns in the second round thumping of Martensdale-St. Marys. The Warriors rolled to a 50-8 win.

“It all starts with our front five,” said head coach Chad Edeker. “Jonah Clark, Tim Willets, Taylor and Tyler Sutton and Drew Diers. Those front five do a great job at getting people out of the way.”

Simeon Reichenbach found the end zone twice in the first quarter and converted a pair of extra points to give the Warriors a 14-0 lead. Martensdale-St. Marys scored on a 60-yard run and converted on a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 14-8, but that was the last Blue Jay touchdown of the night.

WACO’s defense helped regain momentum when Drew Diers brought a Blue Jay runner down for a safety in the second quarter. A punt by Reichenbach pinned the Blue Jays down at their own 1-yard line, and on second down, Diers made the play to cut him down behind the line.

“They tried to run the second play and Drew made a nice play,” Edeker said. “Coach (Chayse) Roth made a great call and Drew made a great play for a safety.”

Diers had a pair of big plays in the second quarter. He also had a big interception that Coach Edeker says changed the rest of the game for the WACO defense.

“Drew got a pick that was sort of a gamechanger,” Edeker said. “One of their main routes was a slant to their two receivers on either side, and one of the first times they ran it, Drew dropped underneath it and picked it off.”

Isaac Oswald and Jon Rice both ran for touchdowns in the second, giving WACO a 29-8 lead.

The Warriors continued to torch the Blue Jays on the ground in the third quarter. Rice ran for two more scores and Oswald found the end zone once more as the points kept piling on in the third.

Neither team scored in the fourth quarter. WACO cruised to the finish line with the continuous clock rule in place, and the Warriors marched on to next Friday.

“This is super exciting,” Edeker said. “Our community is super excited. It's just been great, the texts we receive and the buzz in town is just fun.”

Reichenbach ran for 112 yards and two touchdowns in the win. Rice went for 61 yards and three scores. Oswald finished with 58 yards and two.

The WACO defense continued to drive opposing teams crazy. The Warriors picked off four passes on the day; two from Mason Miller and one each from Diers and Clayton Miller.

Miller’s interceptions give him nine on the year. That’s a new WACO school record for 8-Player and two away from tying the record from the Warriors’ eleven-man days.

WACO will be at home in the quarterfinals but the Warriors will have their hands full, as No. 5 Audubon (9-1). The winner of that game will move on to play at the UNI-Dome one week later.