Wahawk Athletics

WATERLOO, Iowa --- Waterloo East cloaked itself in black Friday night.

It hardly seemed like a gloomy color scheme, especially at the end of the game.

No, the Trojans were in a celebratory mood when time ran out at Waterloo Memorial Stadium, thanks to a 26-7 victory over crosstown rival Waterloo West.

East scored early, took a 19-0 lead into halftime and then tacked on an insurance score to put away the Wahawks, who are now 0-5.

For East, the outlook is bright. Beating West gave the Trojans a 3-2 record at the halfway mark of the 2011 season. They haven't been above .500 after five games since 1999. East also won for the third straight time. You have to fade back 16 years to find an East streak of that length.

And, the Trojans did all of that with a slightly different look - black pants, black jerseys (with white numbers) and black helmets stripped of the traditional orange logo.

The idea came from head coach Kody Asmus.

"Coach Asmus - I don't know what he thinks about," said quarterback Desmond Van Arsdale with a broad grin. "But it was nice, though."

Asmus saw plenty of nice things about Friday's victory that had little to do with football fashion.

"I think it puts us in great position, setting up the second half of the season," said Asmus, who led East to the playoffs a year ago with a 3-6 record.

"Obviously, three wins is great, but we were more focused on beating West. This has been a 365-day process for us, coming back and getting this game played. We kind of thought we let one get away last year. We really wanted to come out here, play well and just improve."

Twelve months ago, West beat East on a late field goal. Friday night, the Trojans took charge in the opening 24 minutes and the Wahawks never could catch them.

East scored on its first series, as Corshundus Love darted for a 3-yard touchdown. Love also tallied from seven out at the end of a 44-yard drive.

Van Arsdale found LeTray Reed deep in the right corner of the end zone for a leaping, 16-yard TD strike that set the halftime score.

West, by contrast, got inside the East 10 once. But a bobbled snap thwarted a field goal try from there.

The early going, though, was key.

"It was real important," said Van Arsdale, who ran for 85 yards and passed for another 156. "The last couple of weeks, we came out of the gate slow, and this gave us big momentum."

West coach Lonnie Moore, meanwhile, saw what East can do best.

"They have some great individual athletes," said Moore. "They did a good job with them."

East sputtered for awhile in the final half and West cut the deficit on Shawn Bowers' 4-yard touchdown pass to Alex Brown. Was a rally coming?

No, because Van Arsdale guided East 65 yards on the ensuing series. He covered the final 22 after running a sneak into the line and then bouncing outside for a big insurance touchdown with 2:21 left to play.

"I believe in our kids. I knew we were going to take it right down and make some big third-down plays," said Asmus, who watched East convert a pair of third downs on that drive.

While East carries momentum into the back half of the regular season, Moore said West will continue to hunt for answers.

"We'll be back at it," said the Wahawk coach. "We'll watch the film Sunday, and start all over and get ready for (Dubuque) Hempstead."

The game was delayed for roughly 20 minutes when West's Zach Newell suffered an apparent neck injury on the next-to-last play of the first half. Newell left the field on a stretcher.

Waterloo West   0 0 0 7 -  7
Waterloo East  12 7 0 7 - 26

East - Corshundus Love 3 run (kick failed)
East - Love 7 run (pass failed)
East - LeTray Reed 16 pass from Desmond Van Arsdale (Juan Martinez kick)
West - Alex Brown 4 pass from Shawn Bowers (Haris Hadzalic kick)
East - Van Arsdale 22 run (Martinez kick)

TEAM STATISTICS
                         West       East
First downs          16           14
Rushes-yards    32-126     36-192
Passing yards      162        156
Return yards        -24          34
Passes            14-26-0     6-13-0
Punts-avg.          5-37.8      3-41
Fumbles-lost        3-2         1-0
Penalties-yds      8-60       6-58

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
WEST - Dequayvious Martin 17-80, Bowers 11-27, Brown 2-6, Brandon Tovar 2-13
EAST - Van Arsdale 12-85, Aaron Taylor 11-36, Love 12-58, Nate Whitaker 1-minus 1

Passing
WEST - Bowers 11-23-0, 130 yards; Tovar 3-3-0, 32 yards
EAST - Van Arsdale 6-12-0, 156 yards; James Horton 0-1-0

Receiving
WEST - Zach Newell 2-14, Elliott Moeller 6-75, Brown 3-41, Martin 1-9, Skyler Capelle 1-10, Cody Carlson 1-13
EAST - Horton 2-59, Reed 2-22, Carl Clifton 1-60, Love 1-15

WEST SOPHS 30, EAST 6