By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
Linebackers David Bansemer and Nick Salazar helped put the perfect exclamation point on the Waterford Union High School football team’s 24-17 overtime victory Sept. 4 at home against Southern Lakes Conference foe Wilmot.
Bansemer and Salazar stopped Wilmot’s ball carrier on the Wolverines’ three-yard line on fourth down and one yard to go on the final play of overtime, and made certain Waterford’s fourth-quarter comeback counted.
“Bansemer made a good read and got him at the line of scrimmage,” said Waterford football coach Adam Bakken, who said Salazar was also in on the play, along with much of the Wolverines’ defense.
The Wolverines (3-0, 1-0 SLC) play the Demons at Burlington Friday in a SLC game. Burlington (2-1, 0-1 SLC) lost 28-27 Sept. 4 at Badger in a SLC contest.
“It was a heck of an effort,” Bakken said of Waterford’s performance. “They never showed any signs of quitting, and that carried into overtime.”
Waterford forced overtime with 10 points in the fourth quarter. Wilmot (2-1, 0-1 SLC) possessed the ball first in overtime and did not score.
Waterford took over at the Panthers’ 25-yard line. The Wolverines turned to running back Anthony Miller, who sat out a few series with an ankle injury earlier in the game.
Miller carried on a fullback trap and gained eight yards. With the ball on the five-yard-line, the Wolverines fed Miller twice more on fullback dives, and he scored on a three-yard run.
A Tony Ray extra point gave the Wolverines the lead for good.
“He just ran really hard,” Bakken said of Miller. “He’s a strong kid, a tough kid.”
Miller rushed for 64 yards on 13 carries.
Waterford trailed 17-7 early in the fourth quarter after a two-yard touchdown run from Wilmot quarterback A.J. Frisby.
“We were only down 10,” Bakken said. “We’ve got enough weapons on offense. We can score on a couple of big plays at any time. We’ve had a number of big plays this year already.”
Ray hit a 31-yard field goal and cut the Panthers’ lead to 17-10. Sam Allen then found Dyln Ross for a 31-yard touchdown pass. Ray’s extra point tied the score at 17-17.
Bakken said Allen found Ross after the Wolverines fumbled and recovered on third down, and faced fourth down and 13 yards to go for a first down.
Waterford led 7-0 in the first quarter on a six-yard touchdown pass from Allen to Ross and an extra point from Ray.
Wilmot responded in the second quarter with a four-yard Frisby touchdown run. Robert Brent converted the extra point and tied the score 7-7.
Brent kicked a 23-yard field goal for the only points of the third quarter. Wilmot led 10-7 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Allen finished 10 of 24 for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Ross caught six balls for 113 yards and both of Allen’s touchdowns. Waterford finished with 298 yards of total offense.
Ben Michalowski finished with 16 tackles, Bansemer 14 and Salazar with 12 for the Wolverines’ defense.
Waterford and Burlington shared the SLC title last year with Wilmot and Elkhorn.
“They’re scoring a lot of points,” Bakken said of the Demons. “They’re going to be ready to go after a one-point loss to Badger. That game could have gone either way.
“We’ve got to play really solid defense and not have any breakdowns. They’ve got skills guys all over the place.”
Bakken said the Demons appear to be bigger this year, and are playing improved defense. Burlington is averaging 33.7 points per game this season, according to statistics at wissports.net.
Quarterback Cal Tully has thrown for nine touchdowns and rushed for four. Receiver Nick Klug has 17 catches for 282 yards and four scores.
“We knew these first few weeks in conference were going to be against two really tough team
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