Photo Courtesy of Reel Smart Highlights

Friday night the WACO Warrior’s bid to spoil Belle Plaine’s Homecoming celebration was stopped by a fourth quarter Plainesmen push as BP got the win, 34-24. WACO went up first, thanks to a big play 50-yard touchdown throw from Hayden Shelman to Casey Coakley. BP would score just before the end of the first quarter to trim the Warrior lead to 7-6. In the second period, Niles Reichenbach connected on a 30 yard field goal to put WACO up 10-6 and the lead extended to 17-6 when Trey Edeker found the end zone on the ground from 15 yards out. The home team countered with a 34 yard touchdown run before half to pull within 17-14 at the break. The Plainesmen started the second with the football, and they retook the lead on a 36-yard touchdown pass at 20-17. The seesaw continued with the Warriors back on top on a two yard Trey Edeker plunge at 24-20. The final two scoring plays would belong to BP as a 20 yard touchdown pass gave them the lead for good at 28-24 and a late pick six sealed WACO’s fate. Saturday, Warrior head coach Chad Edeker talked about the game flow, key plays and players. “Third play of the game, Hayden Shelman hit Casey Coakley on a deep ball right down the center. We played well in the first half, we were able to move the ball on the ground. We got a field goal out of Niles Reichenbach. I do think we played better (than the week before). We were ready to play early. We were playing good defense. We gave up 20 most of the game, except for that last drive. When you were sitting there (during that last drive) it felt like death by 1,000 paper cuts because they kept running the ball and they’d get six, they’d get four, they’d get six. Now for us it’s a matter of finishing games. A lot of these guys don’t have experience in close games. Unfortunately, we came up on the bad side but, next week we’ll come up on the right side. We have to be ready to go, we get to play at home, we’ll have a great crowd.”

Belle Plaine won total yards 284-254, including rushing 169-148, first downs 14-12 and turnovers 3-1. Shelman finished with 194 total yards, including 106 throwing on eight of 17 for a touchdown and two interceptions, with 88 rush yards. Edeker had 10 carries for 61 yards and two scores. Coakley was the leader with three catches for 61 yards and a score. Sam Meyer had 10 tackles and an interception to lead the defense. WACO drops to 3-2 as Belle Plaine improves to 2-3.