By Jennifer Eisenbart
Sports Editor
Waterford’s offense did everything it was supposed to on the football field Friday night at Delavan-Darien, and the result was a 44-22 victory over the Comets.
That said, head coach Adam Bakken thought his team wasn’t as crisp on the defensive side of the ball.
“We played really well offensively,” said Bakken of the win that moved Waterford to 6-1 on the season and 6-0 in the Southern Lakes Conference. “Having Alex (Thomaschek) back helped. Ryan Danbrea did a really nice job at quarterback.
“We gave up too many yards, too many big plays,” he added about the defense. “I wasn’t very pleased with the defensive execution.”
The positives for the Wolverines came in the form of 38 unanswered points, including a pair of touchdown runs by Thomaschek, who had missed the last two weeks with an injury. He finished with seven carries for 58 yards, while Kody Azarian had 80 yards on 16 carries – also with two touchdowns.
Using a “running back by committee” approach, quarterback Ryan Danbrea also had 50 yards, while Jake Bauer finished with 48. Bauer and Tom Benko scored the other two rushing touchdowns.
“We were able to put some points on the board and move the ball,” said Bakken. Also a highlight was linebacker Yanni Skapinakis, who picked off Delavan quarterback Danny Supernaw twice – one of which he returned for a touchdown.
But the Comets finished the same number of first downs as Waterford – 15 – and had 332 yards of total offense to 363 for the Wolverines.
“Their quarterback is very good,” Bakken said. “They did some good things offensively that we didn’t do a good job of taking away.”
The end result was a win, though, something Waterford needed to keep pace with Badger – who destroyed Union Grove 61-12. The two teams will enter tonight’s game at Waterford (7 p.m. kickoff) with the SLC title at stake for the second year in a row.
“Basically, it comes down to who executes the best, who doesn’t turn the ball over,” Bakken said. “Both teams like to run the ball. They’re obviously very talented.
“If we execute the way we’re capable of, and control the clock and keep their offense off the field, we should be successful, or at least put ourselves in position to win at the end of game.
“It should be a good game,” he added. “I’m excited about Friday. Hopefully we’ll have a good crowd there.”
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