The WACO Warriors took their first step to reaching the UNI Dome on Friday night, as they corralled Central City by a final score of 39-16.

After a bit of a slow start that included three punts combined between both teams, WACO was able to put together the first scoring drive of the night, capped off by a three-yard Trey Edeker plunge to make it 7-0. However, Central City responded on a nine-play 65-yard drive that ended with a Matthew Klostermann touchdown pass to tight end Kinnick Weis from six yards away. The Wildcats would convert the two-point conversion to take the lead. WACO proved they had an answer before halftime, scoring on a six-play 56-yard drive that saw Louden Huisenga find the end zone from 28 yards away to make it a 15-8 Warrior lead at half. The third quarter was when the Warriors made their money, scoring on three drives in three plays or less. The first was a Trey Edeker two-yard plunge set up by a 42-yard pass from Clayton Miller to Isaac Rich to get them inside the Wildcat five. Edeker went for the nightly triple on the following drive, running away from the Central City defense for a 68-yard burst of a touchdown run. The final score of the quarter came when Miller found Rich again from 40 yards out to push their lead to 36-16 at the end of the third. A 23-yard Niles Reichenbach field goal would cap off the scoring for the night for WACO, as their huge third quarter propelled them to a first round playoff victory.

Unofficially, WACO was headlined by Clayton Miller’s 4/9 night through the air for 82 yards and a score, while Louden Huisenga and Trey Edeker finished with a combined 244 rushing yards and four TD’s to lead the Warriors on the ground. Miller finished with two interceptions defensively, while Edeker had a sack. Central City was led by Matthew Klostermann’s 26 carries for 113 yards and two total touchdowns, while Kaleb Walker threw for 43 yards on six completed passes.

WACO Head Coach Chad Edeker joined KCII Sports on the postgame show to talk about the first round playoff win. “That was a big win for us. It didn’t go like I thought it was going to. I thought we were going to be able to throw the ball a little bit better than we did and we weren’t able to, but boy we ran the ball well. We got after it and did a nice job. That’s a kid over there, Klostermann, had 1,800 yards on the season, and we did a great job of shutting him down,” Edeker said.

WACO Seniors Clayton Miller and Louden Huisenga also joined KCII Sports postgame to talk about what the team did well against the Wildcats. “We didn’t run the ball as much [earlier in the year]. We tried passing more, and now we can run the ball. Our O-Line has improved a ton, and I give it all to them. They set up all the blocks and I just run,” Huisenga said. “Came out in the third quarter and we noticed that their corners were playing up a lot, so we adjusted and made some good plays off of that. Isaac Rich got those and ran one down the field and got tackled at the one, and the other he made some guys miss and went into the end zone,” Miller said.

With the win, WACO moves on to the second round of the postseason toting an 8-1 record, while Central City has been eliminated from the playoffs at 6-4. WACO Warrior playoff football will return next Friday night on KCII, as the Warriors take the field in the second round of postseason action.