At 6-4 and 6-3, respectively, Winfield-Mt. Union quarterback Jake Edwards and running back/receiver Cam Buffington play their game above their competition.
Literally and figuratively.
With 230 pounds packed onto his frame, Buffington, a linebacker on defense, can take care of enemy running games and really bother passing attacks.
With skilled help around those two, the second-ranked Wolves moved like a precision machine, and mowed down Montezuma, 70-20, Saturday afternoon, Sept. 16, in a Class 8 game at Badger-Gabriel Field. Wolves’ strong safety Cole Milks was one of those skilled helpers, leading his team with 10.0 tackles – 9 of them solo.
It was 42-0 with a mercy rule clock in effect by halftime. The Wolves found time to put up 28 more points in the second half.
The Wolves passed for 300 yards and rushed for 200 more. While statistics are cold, those eye-poppers indicate a certain level of dominance. Montezuma’s total yards: 187, with just 44 on the ground.
Buffington scored six touchdowns. He rushed for two, on 14 carries for 138 yards. He caught 8 passes for 246 yards and 4 more scores.
Numbers don’t tell you how swivel-hipped he is, how fast and how hard he runs, and how well he fakes.
Quarterback Jake Edwards fakes well, too. And he throws. He was 14-for-18, for 300 yards and 4 scores.
To Montezuma’s credit, the Braves never stopped trying to find something that might work, and scored 20 points of their own during the second half, after having a couple of promising drives stopped in the first.
W-MU received the opening kickoff and drove 55 yards in 8 plays to take the early lead.
The Braves answered when quarterback Brady Boulton hooked up with wideout Garrett Watts for a big gainer, down to the Wolves’ 22-yard line. But that drive bogged down and ended with a quarterback sack.
Edwards threw 49 yards to Buffington, and it became 14-0.
Watts picked up 9 yards on a reception and the Braves picked up a first down on a W-MU penalty. But a completion to tight end Cruz De Jong was wiped out by a holding call and Montezuma ended up turning over the ball on downs.
Edwards threw 44 yards to Buffington, and the first quarter ended with the Wolves leading 20-0, and frustration starting to mount in the Braves.
A bright spot for the Braves’ defense came early in the second quarter, when a long pass put the ball on the Braves’ 6. But Montezuma ripped the ball loose and recovered on the 2.
A Boulton long pass was dropped. The Braves wound up punting on that series, and so it went. Good end zone defense by Carter Michalek broke up a pass in the end zone, but it only delayed another W-MU score.
With 1:11 left in the half, the Braves had a fourth-and-one from their own 31 and were stopped. Two plays later, the Wolves were in the end zone. It was 42-0, and the mercy rule clock went into effect with 56 seconds left until the half.
The Braves had energy to start the second half. Kenny Criswell ran back the kickoff 70 yards and was ruled out of bounds on the W-MU one-yard line. Brett Plants scored the touchdown from there and ran a two-pointer to make it 42-8.
Earlier, Braxton Plants sacked W-MU’s quarterback.
Lars Taylor made a nice kickoff return to midfield during the second half. But Buffington intercepted a pass which led to a touchdown.
A long Boulton to Watts aerial put the Braves on W-MU’s 23. Plants ran it down to the 6, then Boulton and Watts hooked up for a touchdown. It was 62-14.
W-MU, up 70-14, put subs in on offense with 7:53 left to play. Luke Brennan came in at quarterback for the Braves and completed several medium range passes.
Easton Hudnut made a catch and Dane Strong had a good run. Luke Erselius got the touchdown on a four-yard run, and scoring was complete at 70-20.
The non-district game left Winfield-Mt. Union at 4-0 on the season.
Montezuma, 3-2 overall, now resumes its quest for a district championship, starting with BGM for homecoming on Friday, Sept. 22, at Badger-Gabriel.
Our thanks to Coach Al Rabenold, who sends messages my way during games so I can sound like I was there prowling the sideline.
There was a 30-minute delay for lightning at the start of the game. The storm moved on too quickly.
Come back later in the weekend, when we’ll have some photos, and quotes from Braves head man John Beck.
Score by quarters
W-MU 20 22 20 8 – 70
Braves 0 0 8 12 -20