The game looked ugly on paper but Portage coach Dave Schmitz only was concerned with how his players would react.

With winless Portage stumbling into its week 5 game vs. undefeated and perennial state power Waunakee Friday night, Schmitz wasn't expecting some miraculous upset, he just wanted to see his Warriors play with increased intensity.

At the end of the game Schmitz certainly wasn't happy with the scoreboard but was with what he saw on the field.

The host Warriors pounded Portage for 291 rushing yards and ran away with a 28-point second quarter as Portage fell 50-0 in the Northern Badger matchup.

Schmitz, however, said his players had a fervor not previously seen this season.

"It was inspiring because we've been waiting for our kids to play with a little bit more intensity and focus and passion and I thought we did that tonight," Schmitz said. "Now we can hopefully get to the next step and hopefully get a win next week against Baraboo for Homecoming."

Portage's offensive woes continued in week 5 as Waunakee held Portage to just 113 total yards.

Waunakee scored on its first two possessions of the game and Darren Anderson got the defense involved when he returned a fumble 35 yards to give Waunakee a 22-0 lead with 10 minutes, 32 seconds remaining in the first half.

Waunakee scored 21 points in a span of 4:50 during the second quarter.

Despite the stats and score, however, Schmitz came away pleased with what he saw.

"I had to see what I saw tonight because now we can take the next step and that's a good feeling. We've been waiting for quite some time for that," Schmitz said. "That's the nice thing bout playing a great team is it kind of forces your kids almost to play with more intensity and focus. Now if we can bottle that and play with that much energy from week-to-week, we'll be in pretty good shape."

Waunakee is ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press high school poll in the large school division and is tabbed No. 3 in the Wissports.net Coaches poll in division 2.

Waunakee continues to bully each opponent it faces this season. The Waunakee defense has allowed just 22 points in five games this season and has pitched three shutouts.

"Everybody's buying into their program, parents, kids and that comes with success," Schmitz said. "They're consistent. They do the same thing from fourth grade to varsity and all the coaches have bought in and they just get really good at it. They just do the simple things without beating themselves.

Portage 0 0 0 0 - 0

Waunakee 8 28 7 7 - 50

W - Goetsch 21 pass from Smith (Bezemek pass from Smith), 1st 04:17

W - Acker 5 run (Weber kick), 2nd 11:22

W - Anderson 35 fumble return (Weber kick), 2nd 10:32

W - Reda 20 pass from Smith (Weber kick), 2nd 06:32

W - Bezemek 3 run (Weber kick), 2nd 02:58

W - Wook 6 run (McCarthy kick), 3rd 05:52

W - Strauss 53 run (McCarthy kick), 4th 09:22

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs - P 6, W 14. Total Net Yards - P 113, W 385. Rushes-yards - P 30-44, W 36-291. Passing - P 69, W 94. Comp-Att-Int - P 5-13-1, W 6-7-0. Penalties-Yards - P 4-31, W 1-10. Fumbles-Lost - P 2-1, W 0-0.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: P - Biba 2-19. W - Strauss 3-70, Acker 9-66. PASSING: P - G. Koch 5-13-1-69. W - Smith 6-7-0-94.

RECEIVING: P - Robinson 2-52. W - A. Goetsch 2-45.

kmorales@capitalnewspapers.com

 

745-3512