By Chris Bennett
Sports Correspondent
The Waterford Union High School football team will not lack motivation when it hosts Wauwatosa West at home tonight in a Level 1 WIAA Division 2 playoff game.
“We’re going to focus on the fact that they don’t think going 8-1 and being conference champions means a whole lot,” Wolverines coach Adam Bakken said. “We’ll see how that works out for them.”
Bakken said representatives from Wauwatosa West voted the Wolverines a four seed Oct. 17 at the seed meeting for the eight-team bracket that includes Waterford.
The Wolverines (8-1) are seeded third. Greenfield (7-2) is seeded second after winning the East Division of the Woodland Conference with a 5-1 record.
Waukesha West (7-2), ranked ninth in Division 2 in the latest Wissports.net Coaches Poll, is the No. 1 seed.
“(Wauwatosa West) voted us a four seed at the seed meeting, so they don’t have a whole lot of respect for what we’ve done,” Bakken said. “We are certainly looking forward to (the game).”
The winner of tonight’s game plays Oct. 30 in a Level 2 Division 2 playoff game against either Greenfield or seventh-seeded Union Grove (6-3) at the site of the highest remaining seed.
Wauwatosa West finished 7-2 overall and went 4-2 in the West Division of the Woodland Conference.
Speculation might lead one to believe Wauwatosa West voted Waukesha West, Greenfield and Greendale, seeded fourth, as the top three teams in the eight-team bracket. Greenfield and Greendale are also members of the Woodland Conference.
The Trojans beat South Milwaukee 26-7 Oct. 16 at home in their regular season finale. Offensively this season, Trojans’ quarterback Rayvon Bartlett Jr. passed for 503 yards. Running back Kobe Vines ran for 894 yards and Paris Howell rushed for 811.
“Offensively, they put some points on the board,” Bakken said. “Their backs look athletic. They’ve got some nice size. They don’t do a whole lot on offense, but what they do they do pretty well.”
The Trojans averaged 25 points per game on offense and allowed an average of 14 points per game on defense. Three teams on the Trojans’ schedule finished with records above .500, and Wauwatosa West lost to two of them.
Waterford lost its regular season finale 14-7 Oct. 16 at Lake Geneva Badger. The loss forced the Wolverines to share the SLC title with Badger. A win against Badger and Waterford wins the SLC outright.
“It was a great game to get us prepared for the playoffs,” Bakken said. “We would have liked to have come out on top. After looking at film, we’ll find some ways to improve and clean up our mistakes.”
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