By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
The fortunes of the Elkhorn Area and Waterford Union High School football teams are headed different directions after Waterford’s 14-0 Southern Lakes Conference victory on a rainy evening Sept. 18 at Elkhorn.
The Wolverines (5-0, 3-0 SLC) remain undefeated, and are one SLC victory away from becoming eligible for the WIAA Division 2 playoffs.
“It’s good that the kids have put themselves in that position this early,” Waterford coach Adam Bakken said. “It’s a goal for everyone – to become playoff eligible.
“Hopefully we can check that off the list and keep improving, and try to be in the position at the end of the year for another conference championship.”
The Elks (1-4, 0-3 SLC) are winless in conference play and must run the table in their remaining four games to advance to the Division 3 playoffs. The Elks and Wolverines shared the SLC title last season with Burlington and Wilmot.
“Every game is a playoff game,” Lee said. “That’s the scenario we’re living with. We have to win four games in a row to make the playoffs.”
Lee said the major difference between this season and last season is the Elks beat Delavan-Darien in SLC play. Elkhorn beat the Comets last season and lost to the Comets this season.
The Elks lost to Waterford and Wilmot last season and this season. Elkhorn beat Burlington, Badger, Union Grove and Westosha Central last season, and those are the four remaining opponents on the Elks’ schedule this season.
Waterford plays Westosha Central (0-5, 0-3 SLC) Friday at home in the Wolverines’ Homecoming game. Elkhorn plays Union Grove (4-1, 2-1 SLC) at home.
The contest between the Elks and Wolverines can be summed up quite simply. Waterford ran 19 more plays on offense than the Elks and its defense limited Elkhorn to less than 100 yards of total offense.
Waterford rushed for 282 yards as a team and passed another 50 more. The Wolverines scored their first touchdown in the second quarter on a two-yard Ben Michalowski touchdown run and Tony Ray extra point.
Waterford’s big play offense did now allow itself to be hampered by weather. Quarterback Sam Allen threw a 33-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Keller in the third quarter for the Wolverines’ second touchdown.
“We’d move the ball, and then we weren’t able to finish many drives,” Bakken said. “We rushed the ball really well – that wasn’t a problem. We just didn’t convert into points some of our drives.
“That’s something we’ve got to work on. That’s got to change.”
Lee said the Elks accomplished some specific goals against Waterford.
“We went into the game saying we have to limit our turnovers and we have to play four quarters of football,” Lee said. “Even though we lost, those two goals were certainly met, and we didn’t meet them the previous two weeks.”
Defensively, Bakken said the Wolverines forced Elkhorn to be one-dimensional. Elkhorn rushed for 99 and passed for -3 yards.
“We just loaded up the box and challenged them to get to the edge and challenged them to throw the ball,” Bakken said “When teams can only do one thing, it makes it a little easier to shut them down.”
Lee said Waterford is one of the SLC’s best teams this season. Waterford will qualify for the playoffs for the fifth straight season under Bakken with one more conference victory.
“I really think they will be one of two teams that win the conference,” Lee said. “If they lose again I’d be very surprised.
“They’re talented. I think they were picked by several teams to win the conference this year.”
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