Waukee’s Playoff Game Leaves Fans Shocked and Disappointed

It was the situation and game that fans, coaches, and players dream of: Playoffs. At home against hated rivals Valley. Despite windchill nearly reaching freezing, Waukee and Valley supporters turned out in droves.

With the energy at an all-time high, the play on the field did not match that energy as it was a defensive slugfest. At halftime, it was only 7-6 in favor of Waukee. The energy was positive yet uneasy with the slimmest lead you could have. Coming out of the half the defensive battle continued until Waukee battled their way into field goal range to put the Warriors up 10-6 potentially. Unfortunately, everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. Instead of going up 10-6, the kick was blocked and taken back to go down 7-13.

At the end of the third quarter, we decided to reach out to a fan in the crowd. We were met with a, let us say, unhappy fan, who used choice words we are not allowed in this publication.

Waukee was not able to pull it together in the 4th quarter. Their offensive struggles continued while the defense continued to do its best but it just wasn’t enough with Waukee falling in a disappointing 7-20 loss. 

After the game, we bumped into Mr. Justmann and we asked how he felt about the team’s performance. “Just to be playing this late in the season is a good thing,” he said. “And just to be playing in the final 8 is so much to be proud of  for the coaches and kids, and it’s a great great season and just didn’t the way we wanted it to, and it only really ends that way for one team.” 

Despite the loss, it was important to stay positive and look forward to the future especially considering where this team came from. We asked Coach Bakker about his hopes for this team in the future. “I hope teams in the future understand what we’re feeling right now, you know this feeling of disappointment how close we were to getting into that dome, and use that as motivation,” he said. “It’s one heck of a season, but I hope we can learn from it.” 

Bakker has a connection with this senior class, as most of them were freshmen or sophomores when he was hired at Waukee. That was the same year as “the split,” when Northwest opened. “It’s gonna be tough to see them go, you know they bought in that first year when myself and the rest of the coaches came to this “new” school or I should say the split school, they believed in it even though it was 2-7 that first year they kept building and building it. And here they are one of the top 8 in the state.” 

Finally, Bakker shared his message for the Warrior fans: “Be proud of your Warrior football; they’re gonna play for you and play for each other.” 

This bittersweet positive attitude is one that Waukee needs to keep going, because while it is a tough way to go out, it is amazing progress in such a short amount of time. A culture of winning has been built here. Now isn’t the time to be angry and wrathful as fans, but a time for hope for the future. While it is a disappointing end to the season, it is an amazing beginning to an era.