New year, same story for the WACO Warrior football team as they beat Central City 49-0 on the road Friday. It’s the Warrior’s third win over the Wildcats in a calendar year. WACO wasted no time as Hayden Shelman plunged in from three yards out to start the scoring, with the game 7-0 Warriors after one. He was involved in both second quarter touchdowns, diving in from two yards out and tossing a scoring connection of 24 yards to his brother Kellen to put WACO on top 21-0. Third quarter, three more Warrior touchdowns. Hayden Shelman completed his hat trick of touchdowns on the ground with a 13 yard rush, Trey Edeker muscled his way in from a yard out and Levi Brown hauled in a four yard touchdown pass from Nick West to make it 42-0 Warriors as three. Conner Sizemore finished the scoring a one yard touchdown dive in the fourth. WACO head coach Chad Edeker joined the KCII Radio Coaches Corner to break down the Warriors win. “We had 19 different kids get tackles. Our defense was a big part of the reason we scored 49. In the second half, we recovered a fumble on their one yard line, Harley Larimore came out with it. The ensuing kickoff, Teague Pepper did a great job of getting down the sideline, busted his butt the whole way and jumped on the ball on the three yard line. I don’t know if we have ever had an onside kick travel to the three yard line. In the first half one of our touchdowns was set up by a blocked punt from Adam Stafford. Defense and special teams were a big part of it. It wasn’t like our offense was struggling. We didn’t punt. We didn’t have a lot of big plays, just consistent plays. We moved the ball the way we wanted and we were able to get five different kids into the end zone. Hayden Shelman scored several, Kellen (Shelman) scored, Trey Edeker got in, Levi Brown a junior tight end got a touchdown and Conner Sizemore, fullback got in. It was a good first game for us.”

WACO won the total yards battle 246-66, doubling up the Wildcats in first downs 12-6. Central City won turnovers 3-1. Hayden Shelman and Nick West combined to throw eight of 11 for 94 yards and a touchdown each. Shelman led on the ground with 93 yards. Raefe Davison caught three passes for 46 yards. He was also the leading tackler with seven stops, four for loss. Harley Larimore recovered a fumble. WACO is 1-0 on the year and gets ready for a rivalry matchup with Winfield-Mt. Union Friday in the Area Game of the Week on KCII3. Central City drops to 0-1.