ON TO THE FINALS!!!!

Waukon football team earns return to State Championship game with 38-21 win over PCM-Monroe, will face CL/G-LR this Friday in title tilt

Anyone looking for the true definition of a team win would have certainly found it at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls Saturday, November 14 in the Waukon football Indians’ Class 2A State Semifinals victory, 38-21, over undefeated and third-seeded PCM-Monroe.

Getting significant contributions from all aspects of the game, and from players most often in the spotlight as well as those stepping up to shine bright in the moment, the second-seeded Indians battled through the loss of perhaps their most heralded player to fight off a late Mustang charge and seal the victory. After losing three-year starting senior quarterback Creed Welch to a leg injury just over three minutes into the second quarter, the Indians went on to finish that drive for a 24-7 lead, watched that lead dwindle down to as little as just a 24-21 edge, but then finished the game with two final scoring marches and a pair of late interceptions to advance to the Class 2A State Championship game for the second consecutive season and for the third time in the past four seasons.

“The kids showed a tremendous amount of heart in finishing out the game,” Waukon football coach Chad Beermann said. “We played good defense against a really talented and physical team. Offensively, the run blocking from the offensive line of (seniors) (Brennan) Sweeney, (Sawyer) Krueger, (Joe) Schwartz, (Walker) Hermeier and (Tanner) Kiel along with (juniors) (Braden) Hemann and (Lincoln) Snitker really opened holes for (senior) Ethan (O’Neill) and (junior) Pat (Hennessy) and helped us wear down PCM a bit as the game went on. And some big plays on special teams allowed us to control field position. We got all sorts of contributions from kids across the board.”

Facing a Mustang team that had shut out six of its 10 teams faced this season and outscored opponents by an average of 54-6 throughout the season, the Indians held PCM-Monroe to well below half its scoring average while scoring more than six times as many points as the Mustangs have allowed, on average, this fall against an opponent list ranked last among Class 2A’s 54 teams when comparing strength of schedule. Indian defense held PCM-Monroe to a little over half its season average of 420 yards of offense with just 244 total yards in Saturday’s game, limiting the Mustang run game that averaged nearly 300 yards per game this season to just over half that as well with 168 yards. PCM-Monroe’s three touchdowns in the ballgame accounted for nearly one-third of its total offensive yards.

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