Waukon football team gives Class 4A Waverly-Shell Rock fairly strong first half battle before falling, 42-14, in top-five match-up

The start to the 2022 Waukon football season began with a rather large first step, as the gridiron Tribe traveled to the home of Class 4A top-five rated Waverly-Shell Rock Friday, August 26. Having been dealt a 45-6 loss in last year’s season-opener, and with the host Go-Hawks returning much more of their offensive firepower from that game than what the Indians were, the football Tribe ended up on the short end of a 42-14 final result.

With last year’s game finding the Indians in as much as a 28-0 early hole, there is a reason why the same people who have Waverly-Shell Rock ranked so high also have the grid Tribe ranked within the top five of Class 2A’s elite. That reason saw the Indians bounce back from what started as a 14-0 early deficit Friday to remain within just a one-touchdown deficit for some of the first half before allowing 21 unanswered points over the game’s remainder.

“Our kids just settled in,” Coach Beermann said of his team’s ability to rebound from that early two-touchdown hole. “W-SR had a tremendous speed advantage. We played better defense when we took better angles to their players. Offensively, it was just a matter of settling in and realizing we were going to need to be patient and take the plays that were there.”

The Indians are next scheduled to open their home schedule but remain against Northeast Iowa Conference foes when they host Decorah this Friday, September 2. The Vikings come off a 26-14 loss at home to Crestwood in their season opener this past Friday and were 15-0 victims of the Indians in last season’s early going in non-district play.

“Decorah comes in after a loss against Cresco,” Coach Beermann said. “I am sure their players will be dialed in for us. We need to improve tackling, and we need to improve our communication on both offense and defense.”

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