WACO football set to begin season against Central City

WAYLAND — The 2024 Iowa high school football season is now just a few days away.

While much of the state has another week until there’s football every Friday night, Southeast Iowa’s own WACO will begin its season this Friday against the Wildcats of Central City.

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For the second straight season the Warriors will compete in a “week 0” game. WACO downed Fremont-Mills last season in Des Moines. The Wildcats also competed a week early, taking on Winfield-Mt. Union in 2023.

This will be the second meeting between the two teams in the past two seasons. They did square off in a scrimmage last year.

WACO won big over the Wildcats in their lone head-to-head meeting back in 2022. The eventually state runners-up were 48-12 winners over Central City.

Last season, both teams held top 10 rankings by the end of the season. Both were also just one win away from the state quarterfinals.

This season, WACO returns a bit more than Central City. The Warriors bring back every leading major statistical player besides receiving.

Clayton Miller will take the offensive helm once again. He threw for 842 yards last season with 18 touchdowns. Miller was also the Warriors second leading rusher with 325 yards and five scores.

Louden Huisenga will come out of the backfield. The senior led WACO with 785 yards and 11 touchdowns last time around. He will be the highest returning receiver as well. Huisenga finished with 203 yards and five touchdowns catching as well.

Gage Samo (134 yards) and Isaac Rich (102 yards) also come back.

Defensively, Huisenga finished with a team high 54 tackles in 2023. He and Joel Meyer (46 total tackles) will be the highest returners

Central City meanwhile will have some new faces. Matthew Klostermann is the highest returning passer. He threw for just 52 yards last year. On the ground, Klostermann finished with a cool 634 yards and 10 touchdowns, the second most for the Wildcats.

Dashny Munyakazi (170 yards) is the next highest in the category.

Receiving wise, Klostermann leads the returners. His 92 yards were third best last fall.

Defensively, senior Nolan Gates finished with a team best 47 total tackles last season.

WACO and Central City are set to square off at 7 p.m. on Friday night as WACO High School.