It will be dueling Warriors tonight in Victor when WACO travels to meet HLV in their 8-man season opener. WACO is coming in to tonight off of a 2019 that saw them finish with a 4-5 overall record. They lost a big 13 player senior class from a year ago including do-it-all star Nik Coble. Coble put up video game-like numbers under center last season at 146 of 269 through the air for 2,425 yards, 26 touchdowns and six interceptions. His yards total was fifth in Iowa, his touchdown total 10th. On the ground he was also the team leader with 847 yards on 127 carries and 25 touchdowns. His 51 total touchdowns were second in the state, his 3,272 total yards, fourth. The Warriors also lost their top four receivers from last year including Jaden Williams who accounted for 56 catches, 962 yards and seven scores. Will Edeker is the eire-apparent at quarterback. A season ago he was 19 of 36 for 321 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions. On the ground John Rice is the leading returner after 16 carries for 33 yards last year. Rice and Kolton Connelly are the only returning receivers to account for a catch last year. The WACO defense also lost their top six tacklers last year that accounted for 312 stops. Landan Provino is the leading returner with 18 tackles.
HLV comes into the game ranked No. 15 in 8-man football in the first poll of the year. They were 8-3 a season ago. HLV lost nine seniors from last year’s team. Sam Cheney, one of those seniors, was the leader under center going 58 of 107 for 956 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions. HLV will turn to Marcus Kolesar who was three of five passing in spot duty for 65 yards and two touchdowns. The defense also lost leading tackler Kody Timm who accounted for 76.5 stops last year, 10 tackles for loss and four sacks. They will look to Beau York who had 68 tackles and three sacks in the last season. The HLV ground game returns leading rusher Marcus Kolesar after his junior campaign of 1,362 yards and 19 touchdowns. York is the leader of the receiving corp with 20 catches, 376 yards and five touchdowns last year. This week, WACO head coach Chad Edeker talked about preparing for HLV. “We come out, we’ll want to control the ball and run the ball more. We’ve been more physical this week in practice. We’re looking to have games in the 30s, not the 60s. Defensively, we want to make teams drive the length of the field to score and take time off the clock.”
These two teams met a year ago with HLV squeaking out a 45-42 win in Wayland. Action begins tonight at 7p.m. in Victor.