STUART — Woodward-Granger piled up over 500 yards of offense in strolling to a 53-7 Class 1A District 8 win over host West Central Valley Friday.
The Hawks (5-1) are off to their best start since 2012, when they opened 11-0 en route to reaching the state quarterfinals. The Wildcats fell to 1-5 with the loss.
W-G went to the air 16 times, an unusual amount for a team preferring to run the ball. Trevor Simmons connected on 10 of those attempts for 180 total yards and three touchdowns.
The ground game was brutally effective, chewing up 353 yards on 49 carries, an average clip of 7.2 yards per try. The Hawks scored five times on the ground.
The scoring began when Kade Polich rushed in from 14 yards away, with Simmons adding a one-yard sneak later in the frame as the guests grabbed a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
Christian Husmann helped keep a Hawk drive alive early in the second quarter by taking a reverse on 4th-and-12 from the Wildcat 38 down to the 18. Simmons then found Dylan McCaulley on an 18-yard strike as the lead grew to 20-0.
A Jake Lego nine-yard run and a 43-yard McCaulley TD catch helped W-G enter the locker room with a 32-0 advantage.
A long TD pass put WCV on the board in the early moments of the second half, but Polich broke free for a 77-yard scoring jaunt on the next W-G snap as the scoreboard moved to 40-7.
Husmann collected a 47-yard TD pass from Simons and Dylan Bird added a five-yard TD dive later in the quarter to push the margin to 53-7, where it remained.
McCaulley caught five total passes for 93 yards and two TDs, with Husmann making two grabs for 61 yards and a score. Also catching darts were Dustin Harney (12 yards), Worth Henry (11 yards) and Carter Moran (three yards).
John McKeever’s seven tackles led the W-G defense. Garrett Burkhart had five tackles, including a sack and two stops behind the line of scrimmage, while Henry provided four tackles. McKeever recovered two fumbles, with three return yards, with McCaulley also falling on a Wildcat fumble.
Statistical information from WCV was not available.
W-G will host second-ranked and 2019 state runner-up Van Meter Friday in their regular season finale. Van Meter (6-0) was a 35-18 winner of Kuemper Catholic Oct. 2.
