DEFOREST — Keaton Smith spent more than 90 percent of his night looking backward to begin a play.

You would think a quarterback would rather look downfield a bit more. But the Waunakee senior insisted handing off to a stable of running backs 49 times and scrambling or kneeling three times himself didn't cramp his style.

"Absolutely not. All that matters is the 'W'. We didn't have to throw it. ... We went four quarters of physical football, and that was it," said Smith, who completed 2 of 3 passes.

With Jared from the Subway commercials among the overflow crowd, the Warriors served up a steady diet of running plays to post a 28-14 victory over DeForest between Northern Badger Conference heavyweights Friday night.

Despite coming up empty after chewing 5 minutes, 49 seconds off the clock on a tone-setting first series, Waunakee's ball-control offense — which churned out 241 yards on the ground — was set up on the next possession when linebacker Darren Anderson returned an interception 24 yards to the DeForest 17.

Two plays later, Kyle Acker, who finished with 127 yards on 23 carries, scored from 13 yards out to break a scoreless tie.

The Norskies (4-2, 3-1 Northern Badger), who defeated Waunakee in the third round of the playoffs last season, countered on the ensuing drive. DeForest lined up for a 20-yard field goal attempt, but after calling
a timeout, Tylur Lengfeld took a quick pitch to the right and scored from 3 yards out.

Waunakee (6-0, 3-0), though, marched 75 yards in 7:03 and scored with 20 seconds left in the first half when Smith found a backpedaling Austin Goetsch for a 13-yard TD pass.

"That was big," DeForest coach Mike Minick said. "You go into halftime tied or go in 14-7 down."

Change-of-pace back Kanha Mann, the fourth running back to enter the game for Waunakee, ran for all of his 71 yards in the third quarter, and put the Warriors up 21-7 on a 9-yard run on the opening possession of the second half.

"We thought if we scored another touchdown, that would put a tremendous amount of pressure on their offense to have to answer," Waunakee coach Pat Rice said.

It wasn't until 1:03 remained in the game that DeForest (4-2, 3-1) got back on the board. In the interim, Acker had scored another TD.

"That's a great team," Anderson, who also had two sacks, said of DeForest. "Us allowing 14 (points), I think their season average is 44 or something. That's a heck of a defensive stand right there."

Added Minick: "They controlled the ball real well — it was kind of the opposite of last year. ... They controlled the clock. They had the advantage."