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Lake Park can’t stop Waubonsie Valley’s offense

It was an admission that should have future opponents of the Waubonsie Valley football team shaking in their shoes.

“We have so many weapons that we have stuff in the bag that we haven’t even pulled out yet,” said Warriors coach Paul Murphy after watching his squad post a 49-28 Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division defeat of visiting Lake Park on Friday night. “We haven’t had to show everything.”

What the Warriors (4-0, 1-0) have shown so far has been pretty darn impressive. The 49 points they scored against the Lancers (2-2, 1-1) matched their scoring average on the season while rolling up 490 total yards, 399 on the ground.

Austin Guido continued to shred opposing defenses as he ran for 223 yards and 4 touchdowns, but with the Lancers crowding the line of scrimmage, Murphy gave a peek into that aforementioned bag of tricks by unleashing tight end Troy Fumagalli, who earlier in the week made a verbal commitment to the University of Wisconsin.

While Guido scored the Warriors’ first two touchdowns, the first on a 75-yard sweep on the game’s third play and the second on a 16-yard burst up the middle, Fumagalli caught three passes on Waubonsie’s next scoring drive, including an 11-yard score as he ran unimpeded through the Lake Park secondary.

Fumagalli added a 7-yard TD catch from Dylan Warden three plays after hauling in a 64-yarder and accounted for all 5 of Warden’s completions, for 91 yards.

“With teams hunkering down for our run, it opens up the play-action pass and Troy was starting to find the seams,” Murphy said.

Lake Park coach Chris Roll was well aware that Waubonsie’s offensive diversity had the potential to cause his squad some difficulties.

“They put teams in a tough position; that quarterback, running back, tight end combination is so tough to defend,” Roll said. “As much as you try to tell the safety to stay home you have to respect their run so much it opens up other things.”

Murphy and the Warriors defense had their own share of worries with the Lancers offense — “When you score 49 and don’t feel in control, that’s a very uneasy feeling,” Murphy admitted — thanks to the aerial abilities of quarterback Zack Gehant and receivers Scott Filip and Kevin Teglia. Gehant threw for 289 yards and 4 touchdowns with Filip and Teglia combining for 17 catches, 271 yards and the four scores.

Teglia’s 69-yard score got the Lancers on the board after Guido’s first two TDs with Filip adding 72- and 7-yard scores in the third quarter before Teglia snared a 4-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately for the Lancers, however, each of Lake Park’s three second-half touchdowns were answered by Warriors scores, one each by Guido and Fumagalli before Warden closed the night with an 11-yard run with three minutes to play.

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