Waunakee runs over Sauk Prairie - quickly - to earn prep football conference title

By Dan Larson, Sauk Prairie Eagle

On the sixth play from scrimmage Wednesday night, Waunakee’s Kyle Acker dove five yards up the middle for a touchdown.

On the ninth, Nick Jandt recovered a Sauk Prairie fumble that set up a Trent Cummings-to-Kyle Newhouse 43-yard touchdown on the 10th.

And on the 14th, Darren Anderson blocked Lucas Herbrand’s punt, allowing Mitch Severson to fall on it in the end zone to give the Warriors’ a three touchdown lead just over six minutes into the game.

"When they hit you," Sauk Prairie coach Scott Schutt said, "they hit you quick."

The Warriors didn’t stop hitting, either. And they cruised to a 49-0, Badger North Conference win at Sauk Prairie High School.

With the win, Waunakee (8-1 overall, 5-1 Badger North) earned a share of its 11th conference title in the last 12 years. Reedsburg, which beat Baraboo Wednesday, and DeForest, which earned a forfeit win over Mount Horeb-Barneveld because the Vikings suffered a flu outbreak during the week, both also finished 5-1 in the conference.

Waunakee coach Pat Rice said the Warriors didn’t want to waste any time getting started on earning the title.

"We wanted to come out and not give (Sauk Prairie) any kind of light at the end of the tunnel," he said of the early flurry. "They have some talented kids, and if you give them some hope, (it can hurt us)."

Acker made sure it would be an uphill climb for the Eagles. The senior halfback ran for all 61 yards of the first scoring drive, which spanned six plays and lasted just two minutes, 59 seconds.

That allowed the Warriors to take advantage on their first play after Jandt’s fumble recovery.

"We knew that they were probably going to have some numbers in the box to stop the run," Rice said. "And we thought that would be a pretty nice shot for us."

After Severson’s fpunt-block recovery made it 21-0 with 5:47 left in the first, though, the Eagles appeared poised to get on the board. Jordan Peters made a 27 yard catch along the right sideline, and Brendan Coy followed with a 28-yard run up the left sideline to give the Eagles a first down at the Warriors’ 20.

But on second-and-goal from the nine, quarterbrack Travis Breunig was pressured on a designed rollout and intercepted by Mitch VandenBrook on an underthrown ball to Riley Olson in the end zone.

"He was open enough, but (Breunig) was hurried so that’s tough," Schutt said. "I think a perfect ball scores, but (VandenBrook) had decent coverage."

Max Chamberlin made the interception pay off for the Warriors, bursting five yards for a touchdown to cap an 11-play, 90-yard drive — highlighted by a 33-yard run by Leo Musso and a 28-yard middle screen to tight end Austin Prusha — that made it 28-0 with 3:07 gone by in the second quarter.

And Kanha Mann and Acker both added touchdown runs in the half to make it 42-0 at halftime.

Sauk Prairie (3-6, 2-4) didn’t find the going any easier offensively in the second half, only moving the ball into Warriors’ territory on the final drive.

The Eagles didn’t have the ball much, though. They went three-and-out on the first series of the half, then Waunakee chewed up more than 7;00 of the third quarter thanks to a running clock because it led by at least 35 — and Oliver Kennedy.

Kennedy ran for 72 yards of a 12-play, 78-yard scoring drive that he capped with a one-yard plunge that gave the Warriors their final score with 1:44 left in the quarter.

Still, Rice offered praise for the way the Eagles competed in a game that had no playoff implications for them.

"I respect how they played the game tonight," he said. "They came out on the short end, but they played hard and I don’t think they have anything to hang their heads about."

Waunakee       21   21   7    0   —   49

Sauk Prairie      0     0    0    0   —    0

Waunakee — Acker 5 yd. run (K. McCarthy kick).

Waunakee — Newhouse 43 yd. pass from Cummings (K. McCarthy kick).

Waunakee — Severson punt block recovery in end zone (K. McCarthy kick).

Waunakee — Chamberlin 5 yd. run (K. McCarthy kick).

Waunakee — Mann 14 yd. run (K. McCarthy kick).

Waunakee — Acker 8 yd. run (K. McCarthy kick).

Waunakee — Kennedy 1 yd. run (B. McCarthy kick).

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs — W 17, SP 9. Rushing (Att.-Yds.) — W 39-319, SP 325-62. Passing yards — W 167, SP 92. Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int) — W 7-12-0, SP 6-20-1. Total offense (plays-yards) — W 51-486, SP 45-154. Penalties-yards — W 8-55, SP 5-35. Fumbles-lost — W 0-0, SP 1-1.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing (att.-yds.): W — Acker 8-134. SP — Brendan Coy 13-32. Passing (att.-comp.-int., yds.): W — Cummings 7-12-0, 167. SP — Travis Breunig 63-13-1, 53 Receiving (catches-yds.): W — Newhouse 2-77. SP — Jordan Peters 2-48.