Waukon football team has season ended with 24-20 quarterfinals loss at defending Class 2A State Champion North Fayette Valley

Facing their desired rematch with the only team to defeat them this season, the Waukon football Indians traveled to the home of defending Class 2A State Champion and fellow Class 2A District 3 leader North Fayette Valley Friday, November 6 to play in the quarterfinal round of the Class 2A State Play-Offs. The host TigerHawks had dealt the Indians a 48-8 blow in late September in District 3 play, but as this game played out there was little to no evidence of that early-season whitewashing, the game going down to the final minute before the Indians had their season ended by a 24-20 final result.
“Our staff was extremely proud of the way these kids responded in facing a team that had completely outclassed us the first time,” Waukon football coach Chad Beermann said. “Our season ended, but the ending was not because we were outplayed. We lost because they were just the better team that night.”
It was that final minute - especially the last 15 seconds - that proved to somewhat overshadow an otherwise classic high school football battle. Trailing by that 24-20 result, the Indians forced the host TigerHawks into a fourth-and-three situation with 15 seconds left in the contest. Although North Fayette Valley converted that fourth down, a holding call brought the play back and set up a fourth-and-long situation with just nine seconds left. However, the clock was able to wind down after the ball was set for play, the TigerHawks not having to run that fourth down play until time had ticked completely away, simply taking a knee to secure the Indian defeat but raising an abundance of questions on the legitimacy of the clock running down following the offensive penalty.
“That particular rule does not make sense to me, but the IHSAA says it was enforced correctly,” Coach Beermann said.
An inquiry to the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) by the Waukon coaching staff in regard to the penalty enforcement and running off of the final nine seconds of the game confirmed what had been enforced on the field, according to IHSAA Assistant Director Todd Tharp. “The penalty enforcement was properly enforced,” Tharp explained in an e-mail to Coach Beermann. “The game cannot end on an accepted penalty. If they did not reach the line to gain and you decline the penalty, it would be your ball. If they did make the line to gain (which did happen), you had no choice but to accept the penalty and replay the down. In regards to your scenario, the referee has the discretion to start the clock on the ready for play if he feels the offense is purposely trying to manipulate the clock. The rules state that the game cannot end with an accepted penalty. One untimed down is required to be played.”
Therefore, the fact that the penalty was not a dead ball infraction resulted in the officiating crew starting the clock once the ball was placed for play. North Fayette Valley simply did not have to run a play until those final nine seconds had ticked away, ensuring a kneel down on fourth down would simply end the game and not turn the ball back immediately to the Indians.
Prior to that head-scratching ending, however, a back-and-forth battle ensued that gave no indication of a previous 40-point margin between the two teams on the field. The first Indian drive of the ballgame provided evidence that they were not about to let North Fayette Valley pull off a repeat performance of the last time the two teams took to that same field. Senior quarterback Peyton Hesse picked up 28 yards with his legs on one play before hitting fellow senior Wyatt Wille for 23 more on a touchdown pass that saw the Indians hit the scoreboard first just over two minutes into the ballgame. Senior Colin Steiber muscled in the two-point conversion run for an 8-0 Indian headstart.
The host TigerHawks answered that first Indian volley on their first possession as well, staying with their bread-and-butter ground game to chew up a 75-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard touchdown run at the 6:36 mark of the first quarter. The Indians, however, turned away North Fayette Valley’s two-point conversion try, leaving them in front at an 8-6 margin.
The Indians didn’t find their next two offensive possessions to be quite as easy as their first, being turned away by North Fayette’s defense in short order each time. In between those two failed drives, the host TigerHawks continued to grind their way to their first lead, working the final five-plus minutes off the first quarter clock before the Indian defense forced them into a fourth-down situation. North Fayette Valley converted its only pass completion of the entire ballgame to pick up that first down, setting up a first-and-goal situation that was capped off with an eight-yard touchdown run just 30 seconds into the second frame. The TigerHawks missed out on the two-point conversion once again but held their first lead of the ballgame, 12-8.
After a second consecutive unproductive Indian possession, the Tribe looked as if it would return that favor, forcing North Fayette Valley into another fourth-down situation. A jump offsides bailed the TigerHawks out, but Indian defense redeemed itself soon after by forcing a fumble that was recovered by Steiber to set the Indians up near midfield.
Hesse found Wille to help fuel that newfound Indian momentum before Steiber capitalized on that fumble recovery by breaking free for a 21-yard touchdown run with just over a minute left to play before the halftime break. The two-point conversion was denied, but the Indians were back in front at a 14-12 margin that stood at the halftime recess.
Any momentum sparked by that Indian lead-grab just before halftime was nowhere to be seen in the third quarter, as North Fayette Valley controlled nearly 11 minutes of that 12-minute third frame, coming up short on a six-minute drive to start the second half before owning the final five minutes of the third period as well, with some help from Indian defensive penalties. In between those two TigerHawk possessions, the Indians were limited to just three plays before kicking the ball away once again for their only possession of the third period.
North Fayette Valley made its final drive of the third quarter pay off as the fourth quarter got underway, rumbling in from 14 yards out to snatch the lead away once again, just eight seconds into the final frame. The Indians denied a third consecutive two-point conversion, but the TigerHawks took another turn at the lead, 18-14.
The Indians got a big kick-off return from junior Tanner Mathis, setting the Indians up just over midfield. Hesse found Wille again to chew up about half of that remaining yardage through the air, with Steiber also again breaking free but being pulled down at the one-yard line. Senior Austin Hogan finished off that final yard, plunging in to return the lead back to the Indians at 20-18 with just over nine minutes remaining to play. The Tribe got two cracks at the two-point conversion following a North Fayette Valley penalty on the first failed attempt, but was turned away on both attempts to hold just that two-point margin.
Back to the ground game grind went the TigerHawks, piecing together another five-minute series, picking up a key fourth down along the way before finishing off the drive with a final one-yard blast that thrust North Fayette Valley back in front yet again with just over three minutes left to play. The Indians denied yet another two-point conversion, leaving the TigerHawk lead at just 24-20 and setting the stage for some final dramatics to determine which team was moving on.
Another Hesse-to-Wille connection made an early bid for the Indian cause, but the Tribe made it difficult on itself with a pair of penalties that put the Indians in a first-and-20 situation. Hesse found Mathis to chew up a majority of that extra challenge, but the Indians found themselves facing fourth down with just under two minutes left to play. One final effort at a Hesse-to-Wille connection to continue the drive just missed its mark, turning the ball back over to North Fayette Valley.
The TigerHawks went back to work to try and milk the final minute and a half off the clock, but the Indian defense did its job to force another fourth down situation, using up their final time-out in the process. With just 15 seconds left to play, North Fayette Valley seemed to pick up that first down with a run around the outside, but a holding call forced a replay of the down. While the Indians welcomed the replaying of the down, that replay only allowed the host TigerHawks to run off the final nine seconds before they knelt out the last play of the game to seal the 24-20 Indian loss and end to their season.
Despite the closeness of the game’s final score, there was much more of an advantage in the final total yards, as the TigerHawks racked up 399 yards in comparison to just 236 for the Indians. North Fayette Valley hammered out 384 yards on the ground, while the Indians’ usual advantage through the air yielded a season-low 89 yards.
“To have a chance to beat NFV, you have to be able to stand in the trenches against them,” Coach Beermann said. “Their offensive line averages 280 pounds, and our front five on defense averages 205.  Our kids battled them for four quarters, with very little rotation in our defensive line because we just don’t have depth at that position. We ran around 35 plays on offense, to their roughly 80, and we made them earn every yard.”
Hesse completed seven of his 14 passes for 89 yards and one touchdown, with Wille catching five passes for a team-high 71 yards and that lone Indian touchdown reception. Mathis caught the other two Indian passes for 18 yards. Steiber carried the ball a team-high nine times for 63 yards and a touchdown, with Hesse adding 53 yards on eight carries and Hogan adding 31 yards and the other Indian touchdown on seven carries.
Hesse paced the Indian defense with nine solo tackles, with Steiber and sophomore Mitchell Snitker each adding six solo stops. Miller was most helpful with a team-high 16 assisted tackles, with Steiber adding 15 assists, recording a fumble recovery, and joining fellow senior Joe Frieden in wrapping up one tackle each for a loss of yardage. Hogan and Wille added seven assisted tackles each, with seniors Haden Hammel and Dawston Regan each tallying six assists.
The loss ends the Indians’ 2015 season with a 10-2 overall record that included a 5-1 mark that tied them with North Fayette Valley and Dyersville Beckman for tops in Class 2A District 3. The Tribe’s only two losses of the season both came to North Fayette Valley, a team now making its third consecutive trip to the Class 2A State Semifinals and matching up against top-rated Spirit Lake this Saturday, November 14. Albia will take on Mt. Vernon in the other Class 2A semifinal contest.