A New Start

With the 2024-25 football season beginning with two big wins, one against the Little Cyclones in Ames and the other against the Wolves from Northwest, the Warriors have utilized an all-new receiving core. The Warriors’ newest offensive addition, Maverick Inman has caught 13 passes for 291 receiving yards and two touchdowns, and is the leading receiver in the CIML as of week three. Quarterback Beckett Bakker spoke on the immediate connection between himself and Inman, “The connection mostly comes from getting in work with him and also the other receivers all summer and with his confidence I can put the ball anywhere and he’ll go get it, you know? He came and fit right into our offense and hasn’t looked back,” Bakker stated. 

Running back Grant Gammell also continues his success from last year, already having 221 yards on the ground with three scores. Waukee’s defense has also undergone some big flips, with All-State safety Mason Brooks graduating, along with starting linebackers Cole Tedesco and Orson Harrop also departing, fans were questioning the Warriors’ defensive strength. Waukee has since silenced these rumors, proving they have multiple defensive strengths, including their secondary. Led by senior safety Carter Johnson, the Warrior secondary has a combined 31 tackles through the first two games. Johnson, having twelve of those tackles, stated this about his team’s defense, “We pride our defense on doing our jobs. If everyone does their job we will make every play, and another thing we say as a defense is ‘make the play by not making the play,’” Johnson stated.

Despite the changes the team has undergone, Waukee has also retained a majority of starters. This list includes junior quarterback Beckett Bakker, tight end Evan Jacobson, nearly the whole offensive line returns, and running back Grant Gammell as mentioned before. Gammell explained the importance of bringing back multiple key contributors to the Warrior offense, “I think it’s important that we have a lot of starters coming back, but we also have a lot of athletes that are guys who didn’t play much last year, and now they’re contributing a whole lot,” Gammell explained.

The Warriors are welcoming the Sioux City North Stars to town on Friday, September 13th, and are hoping to take care of business before they head to West Des Moines to take on the Valley Tigers on September 20th.