WACO stumbles to Bears

Things seemed to be changing for the WACO football team on Friday night.

With a playoff spot on the line, the Warriors fell behind 20-0 in the first half to Danville, but after halftime, something felt different for WACO.

On the first drive of the third quarter, WACO punched in its first points of the night, and after a turnover and another score, the Warriors seemed to have grasped all the momentum in the game.

Another Danville turnover put WACO in position to potentially wrest away the lead from the Bears, but a fumble turned the game back around.

?They can?t let one thing get them down,? WACO football head coach Chad Edeker said. ?We came out and played a great third quarter and had momentum. We were driving to go up 21-20 and fumbled, which happens, but you could see when they got to the sidelines that it was over. Their heads went down and they walked back to the huddle slowly. Danville went down and scored and we were

done.?

Danville capitalized with a touchdown, and WACO didn?t find the end zone again, as the Bears cruised to a 47-14 victory, ending the Warriors? season at 3-6 (3-4 in district play).

In the district standings, WACO tied with Danville and New London, and Danville took the tiebreaker to earn the fourth and final playoff seed out of the district.

?In life, it?s not always how you want to be,? Edeker said. ?I?m proud of them. They worked their tails off, but our records just haven?t shown it the past couple of years. We could use a few more kids out and have a few breaks, but these kids work hard. They are a joy to work with. It?s a shame we have to lose on a note like that.?

A short kickoff and big return for Danville set them up at the Warrior 28-yard line to start the game, and it took two plays for Danville to make it 7-0 on a 26-yard reception.

WACO and Danville traded possessions, until the Bears had another touchdown pass, this time from 38 yards out to make it 14-0 in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the only scoring came from a Danville 1-yard run, making it 20-0 at the break.

In the second half, the Warriors started moving the ball through the air effectively. After a couple of receptions from Colton Horak and Justyn Chalupa helped create opportunities in the run game, the Warriors ran the ball in with Jorge Chacon to put WACO on the board.

On the ensuing kickoff, Danville fumbled the ball, giving WACO a short field, which they took advantage of with a Bryce Achen 2-yard run.

On the next drive, Danville attempted a swing pass that ended up being ruled a backward pass. The Warriors picked the ball up and took possession at the Bears? 33-yard line, but WACO fumbled two plays later to give the ball and the momentum back to Danville.

After that point, the Bears put up 27 unanswered points to claim the victory and close the books on the careers for eight WACO seniors.

?Without the senior class, I don?t know where we would be,? Edeker said. ?If you take the eight of them, they?ve maybe missed four practices all year, and some of those are because they have fevers and we won?t let them come. They were there every night and they are going to be missed.?

Edeker noted that his team will be young next year, but he is hopeful the team can build off the experience many of them gained this year.

?We can build a ton,? Edeker said. ?(Junior quarterback Jackson Roth) is starting to throw the ball really well and (freshman running back/wide receiver Colton Horak) is going to be a capable running back. He moved the ball well, but we are going to be young next year. We are going to have to find a way to get experience quick.?