Waunakee dominates Milton, keeps home win streak alive

Dennis Semrau  —  9/06/2008 8:21 am

WAUNAKEE -- The electricity was in the air and it wasn't just because it was the home opener for the local prep football team Friday night.

The Waunakee Warriors, fresh off a season-opening 29-15 victory at Oregon last week, were eager to show that they were ready, willing and able to carry on a winning tradition that is as impressive as any in the state.

Waunakee coach Pat Rice has led the Warriors to a 128-13 record for a .908 winning percentage spanning the past 11 years. That includes eight trips to the WIAA state semifinals, four berths in the state finals and two state championships.

The Warriors have also won nine conference titles in the last 11 years, including the last five in a row, and haven't lost a home game in 10 years.

But that wasn't what motivated the 65 players who dressed for their home opener against a Milton squad that one week earlier had stunned nearby rival DeForest 46-41 in a nonconference game.

It was Waunakee's turn to check out the new kids in the Badger South Conference.

And they were ready.

"Knowing that we have played so well and we have a lot to live up to make you have a certain pride in the program," Waunakee senior quarterback Keaton Smith said. "We want to keep that tradition going. Like the sign says out front, "Tradition never graduates.' We're going with that."

That certainly worked for the Warriors Friday night as Waunakee rolled to an impressive 41-0 rout of Milton.

Yet Rice admitted he didn't breathe a sigh of relief until time expired.

"We were still nervous at halftime," Rice said although the Warriors took a 21-0 lead at the break. "Our kids sat up and took notice when they saw film of what Milton did to DeForest last week. We didn't take anything for granted."

Waunakee was thoroughly prepared for a Milton squad that ran up 387 yards on DeForest and got three TD passes from quarterback Zach Fry to running back Hank McIvor. The Warriors abandoned their 4-4-3 defense for a 3-3-5 scheme and tried to put as much pressure on Fry as possible.

It worked to near perfection as Fry scrambled for his life most of the night. He was sacked six times for a minus 32 yards and held to 7-of-17 passing for 91 yards and three interceptions.

McIvor, who also returned a kickoff for a TD against DeForest, was held to four rushes for 21 yards and one catch for 24 yards. Waunakee negated his strength as a kickoff returner by using squib kicks on all but two of its kickoffs.

When McIvor went out in the second quarter with an ankle injury and never returned, the air went out of Milton's offense as well as its hopes to pull off its second straight stunner.

"When Hank went out, that took a lot of our explosiveness off the field," Fry said. "He's the fastest player on our team obviously and probably the fastest player on the field on any given night. It hurt us tremendously when he was out."

But Milton coach Jeff Bachinski said Waunakee was simply the better team.

"The wheels fell off today," Bachinski said. "We have a very good football team and I still believe we have a good football team. But Waunakee capitalized on a lot of mistakes and played a great football game."

That included a game-changing play when defensive back Andrew Weber picked off a screen pass from Fry that was intended for McIvor and returned it 46 yards for a touchdown with 7:12 left in the first half to give Waunakee a 14-0 lead.

The Warriors never looked back.

"We don't have just one player we can rely on," said Weber, who took his first career TD in stride. "We have a whole team we can rely on. Everybody made plays when they had to."

More importantly, Waunakee's constant pressure kept Fry guessing where the heat was coming from all night.

"They did a great job on defense. They blitzed their middles and did a lot of stunts to screw with our offensive line and what we'd been preparing for all week," said Fry, who showed a lot of class by waiting for Rice to finish his postgame interview before congratulating him for the stellar game plan.

"We had been preparing for a 4-4 and they switched to a 3-3-5 and we didn't know what to do."

Bachinski just shrugged when asked how difficult it was to play two of the best teams in the Badger North Conference back-to-back to open the season.

"That's a tough draw," he said. "But you've got to play the best to be the best and we played one of the best today."

Much has been made in the media and around town that the Warriors haven't lost a home game since falling to Verona in 1998.

But starting senior right guard Travis Triggs said that isn't what made him want to be part of the program since he was in kindergarten.

"I grew up with the program. I always wanted to be playing on Friday nights," he said. "The guys were all big. When ever I saw one of them my eyes lit up. I wanted to be like them."

Now, not only is Triggs like the former Waunakee players that he grew up idolizing, he and his senior teammates are vying to become the third straight senior class to finish their prep careers unbeaten during the regular season, .

However, Weber said that wasn't on the minds of the 28 seniors who are eager to make their mark this season.

"There is some pressure but once you get out there, you just get into the game," said Weber, who also converted all four of his PAT attempts and also converted field goals from 28 and 22 yards in the third quarter. "You don't feel the pressure from the previous years. You just want to make a difference."

While the home winning streak is now at 60 games and counting, Rice has been successful at keeping the pressure of his teams by focusing on the moment.

"Like I told the kids, our streak is whatever we're doing this year," he said. "It's cool that we've gone 10 years. But the reality is we just have to play snap by snap and really focus on what we're doing."

Waunakee accomplished its mission against Milton, forcing six turnovers and converting three of them into points.

"Milton is really a good, talented team," Rice said. "We saw what they did last week. Honestly, it's one of the biggest wins we've had. We've had some big ones, obviously. But this was a pretty special night."

Rice admitted after replacing 10 starters on defense and most of his starters at the skill positions on offense, the Warriors appeared tentative in their season opener.

But like Milton discovered painfully Friday night, what a difference a week makes.

"They played with more of a swagger than we had last week," Rice said of his squad that completely dominated the second half. "Last week, we had a lot of new guys who played a little like a deer in the headlights. This week we were home and played with more confidence."

Some things never change.

Dennis Semrau  —  9/06/2008 8:21 am