By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
Most look at Waterford’s 21-14 victory against South Milwaukee Oct. 24 in a WIAA Division 2 Level 1 football playoff game at South Milwaukee as an upset.
Wolverines coach Adam Bakken is not among the masses.
“I guess on paper it was an upset,” Bakken said. “I don’t view it, for our team, as an upset. I think there were two evenly-matched teams.”
The game did not look evenly matched in the beginning. The Rockets (8-2) led 14-0 at halftime before Waterford scored 21 points in the second half and advanced to Level 2.
Waterford (7-3) plays Waukesha West (8-2) at 7 p.m. tonight in a Level 2 playoff game at Waukesha West. West is ranked seventh in the state in Division 2 in the latest WisSports.net Coaches Poll. West defeated Greenfield (5-5) 35-0 Oct. 24 in a Level 1 playoff game at home.
The one-touchdown difference in the final score between Waterford and South Milwaukee might lead one to think spectators enjoyed a tight contest. That is not the case.
“We just had a couple of mistakes, offensively,” Bakken said. “I don’t think they played that much better. After their first drive, they didn’t really do anything the rest of the game.”
South Milwaukee tailback Ian Pribyl scored on a one-yard run in the first quarter to open the scoring. Rockets’ defender Mitchell Dess intercepted Waterford quarterback Dylan Malecki in the second quarter and ran 34 yards for South Milwaukee’s second touchdown.
At halftime, Bakken told Waterford the team needed a boost.
“We just told the kids we needed someone to give us a spark and get us going, and we came out right away and scored on our first drive,” Bakken said.
Malecki threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Johnny McCormick in the third quarter to put Waterford on the board.
“We kind of slowly got some confidence,” Bakken said. “The crowd was fabulous. Everyone was really into it and we just kept that momentum and put together two more scores and just locked them down on defense.”
Malecki threw a four-yard touchdown to Trace Hunsucker in the third quarter to tie the score and a 19-yard touchdown pass to McCormick in the fourth for the go-ahead score.
Defensively, the Wolverines limited the Rockets to 85 yards rushing on 36 carries and 178 yards passing.
Max Fisher led Waterford with 24 total tackles and Frank Pheifer tallied 19. Justin Dilley finished with 15 and Luke Engel finished with two sacks, two tackles for loss and 15 total tackles.
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