WACO has to settle for 2nd

CEDAR FALLS — A historic run for the WACO football team came to an end on Thursday morning at the UNI-Dome, as the second-ranked Warriors faltered in the Class 8-Player state championship game against No. 1 Remsen, St. Mary’s.

A flurry of early errors haunted WACO early, and the Warriors ran out of time in the second half of a 38-16 loss.

The Warriors couldn’t do anything right in the first quarter. WACO gave up two scores in the first period and had no first downs to show for on offense.

After a punt on WACO’s first drive of the game, St. Mary’s struck first. After converting a fourth down early in the 1-yard run by Brenden Fisch, the first of five touchdowns for him in the game. The two-point pass failed, but the Hawks led 6-0.

Later in the first quarter, St. Mary’s drove all the way to the 4-yard line. The Hawks nearly scored on a double reverse that saw Fisch run to the pylon, but Oleh Shtefanchuk stepped up and drove Fisch down at the one-yard line for a turnover on downs.

Unfortunately for WACO, the Hawks found a way to punch it in on defense.

On 2nd-and-4 from the 7-yard line, WACO’s hand off attempt was foiled as the St. Mary’s defense bursted through the line and stripped the ball from quarterback Isaac Oswald before he could get the ball to his back. Jaxon Bunkers of St. Mary’s scooped the ball up and walked it in for another touchdown, and it was 12-0 Hawks, a score that would last until the end of the first quarter.

Special teams struggles would lead to the next two St. Mary’s scores. WACO was forced to punt on back-to-back punt attempts, and both ended in disaster.

The first punt attempt happened in the first minute of the second quarter. Already deep in their own zone, the Warriors gave the Hawks an easy score after the long snap flew over the head of WACO’s Simeon Reichenbach, who was ready to boot it away.

The ball flew past Reichenbach’s head and WACO recovered at their own 3-yard line. That led to a 2-yard touchdown run by Fisch, which made it 18-0 after another failed conversion.

On the next WACO possession, St. Mary’s blocked a punt and recovered it at the WACO 8-yard line. Again, it was Fisch scoring, this time on a pass from Cael Ortmann. With 9:53 left in the half, St. Mary’s led 24-0.

“It was tough with those accidents,” Reichenbach said. “We tried overcoming them, and we did with some of them. But it's hard to win a game when you're making your own mistakes.”

WACO finally saw some holes open up while they were on offense. The Warriors drove all the way down the field on their next possession, getting to the 5-yard line on a 16-yard rush by Louden Huisenga. Unfortunately, Huisenga fumbled the ball away on the next play, and any WACO momentum was stifled.

“Momentum is such a big thing in high school football,” said WACO head coach Chad Edeker. “The two punts in a row killed us, and then we got the drive to the one. It just really got crazy.”

WACO’s only score of the first half came on an absolute bomb of a field goal by Reichenbach. He lined up from 48 yards out knocked one through just before half to cut it to 28-3 before the break.

WACO needed a stop to start the third to have any real chance at a comeback, but instead, St. Mary’s busted out its biggest run of the day. Fisch broke a few WACO tackles and sprung loose for a 62-yard touchdown run, which made it 32-3 after the two-point conversion.

St. Mary’s led 38-3 after another Fisch touchdown with 4:03 left in the third, but WACO wouldn’t go down without making it a little interesting.

“It's hard to come back from mistakes like that when you're down at half, but I think our guys battled back as hard as they could,” said Drew Diers. “Nobody gave up.”

The Warriors finally found the end zone with 1:51 left in the third quarter, as Oswald nailed Leichty on a 25-yard touchdown pass over the top of the defense to polish off a 65-yard drive. The two-point failed, but the lead was below 35, at 38-9.

WACO would get the ball back on a fumble recovery by Leichty, and the Warriors would punch in one more. Reichenbach found the end zone on a 1-yard run around the right side. His PAT succeeded, and with 10:14 remaining, the Warriors were back within three scores, at 38-16.

After St. Mary’s ate up much of the fourth quarter clock, WACO got the ball back with a chance to cut it down even further, but this time the St. Mary’s defense held. The Warriors started their drive at their own 13-yard line with 4:08 remaining, but it came up short when a 4th-and-1 from the 37-yard line was stopped before the sticks.

St. Mary’s took the ball over with 2:05 left. WACO would never see the ball again.

“ We did our best,” Edeker said. “There are things we could have done in the first half that would have made things better, but that's the way things go.”

Oswald finished the game 14-for-23 for 212 yards and a touchdown through the air. Reichenbach caught four catches for 60 yards, and also rushed for 35.

Shtefanchuk caught three passes for 52 yards on the day. Leichty caught three for 49 yards and a touchdown. Cody Graber and Mason Miller each caught two passes, and Huisenga finished with 33 rushing yards.

Diers finished the game with 12 tackles. Shtefanchuk had eight tackles. Reichenbach had one forced fumble and Leichty had a fumble recovery.

WACO ended its season at 13-1. The Warriors not only made it to the UNI-Dome for the first time since 2010, but played in their first ever state championship ever.

“We practiced for three and a half months, and I can't tell you one practice in that entire time that I didn't enjoy being at,” said an emotional Edeker after the game. “They're just great kids. It's fun to be with them, and I'm just sad it's over.”