Football: Wausau West dominates Eau Claire Memorial to improve to 5-2 on the season.

From the opening kickoff it was all Wausau West on Friday night in the Warriors' WVC game at Eau Claire Memorial. Luke Saari brought the kickoff back 85 yards to the Old Abe 3 yard yard and, two plays later, Miles Waldvogel would score the first touchdown of the night as Wausau West beat Memorial 41-0 in a game broadcast on Wausau Area Sports.

The Warriors dominated in all phases of the game and out gained the Old Abes 432-26 in total yardage. After the initial score that gave West the 7-0 lead, the Warrior defense stopped ECM with a 3-and-out to give West great field position at their own 43. The drive started with a 14 yard pass from Jackson Riley to Asa Richardt to put the ball in ECM territory at the 43. Waldvogel then ran 12 yards to the 31 for another 1st down and Marcus Heise finished the lightning quick 3 play touchdown drive with a 31 yard scoring run to put West up 14-0 with 8:37 left in the first quarter.

Later in the first quarter the Warriors would face a long field starting a drive at the 20. However, West turned the field position around quickly as Saari ran 27 yards to the 47 on the first play and 15 more yards were added on a personal foul-face mask penalty on the Abes. A 14 yard rush by Heise and a 9 yard run by Waldvogel put the ball on the ECM 15 where Riley hit Teagan Weller on a touchdown pass to push the West lead to 21-0 with 2:06 left in the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter the Warriors would drive 76 yards for another score. Marcus Heise would gain 36 yards to put West into Old Abe territory at the 35. A 14 yard completion to Finn Richardt gained another 1st down to the 22 and, 4 plays later from the 15, a middle screen to Waldvogel turned into the 4th West touchdown of the night and a 28-0 lead with 7:45 left in the 2nd quarter.

The 2nd half was more of the same as West as Kam Blasky intercepted a pass on the first play of scrimmage in the 3rd quarter to give the Warriors the ball on the ECM 36. On the next play, Miles Waldvogel had a 36 yard TD run called back due to a holding penalty but that didn't stop the Warriors. Waldvogel would gain 17 yards on the next snap to put the ball on the Abe 29. The drive would end with a 20 yard Riley to Marcus Koenigs touchdown pass and West led 35-0 with 9:03 left in the 3rd quarter.

The scoring would be completed with 4:28 left in the game as Luke Saari finished his big night with a 25 yard sweep to the end zone and the Warriors finished the 41-0 win. Saari finished the night with 124 yards on just six carries in addition to the 85 yard kickoff return. Miles Waldvogel picked up 83 yards on the ground and had 1 touchdown each rushing and receiving. Marcus Heise picked up 78 yards rushing on 7 carries and Jackson Riley was 6 of 12 passing for 90 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.

Wausau West improved to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the WVC and faces a big non-conference game with significant playoff seeding implications on Friday when the Warriors host Chippewa Falls for Homecoming. Chippewa Falls is 5-2 on the season as well after beating Superior 41-9 on Friday. The West-Chi Hi game will be broadcast live on the Wausau Area Sports YouTube channel Friday night starting with the pregame at 6:35 pm and kickoff set for 7.