Broncos’ football falls to Silver Lake

    The Wauneta-Palisade football team’s season didn’t start the way they had hoped Friday.
    The Broncos lost their season-opening game 8-18 to Silver Lake.
    WP received the opening kickoff and advanced to the Silver Lake 36 before the drive stalled on three incompletions.
    The Broncos quickly forced and recovered a fumble, but gave the ball back on a fumble two plays later.
    Silver Lake took advantage, tossing a 30-yard touchdown pass on fourth and 10.
    As the teams changed possessions, the Broncos’ defense held on a fourth and one to take over on the Silver Lake 34-yard line.
    As the game moved from the first to second quarter, WP advanced to the Mustangs’ eight-yard line, but the drive was stalled by a Silver Lake interception on its own five-yard line.
    The Mustangs advanced into WP territory, but another fumble put the ball back in the Broncos’ hands.
    WP was unable to gain any offensive momentum. The Broncos turned the ball over on downs, setting up Silver Lake for a five-play drive, capped by a four-yard touchdown run.
    Trailing 0-12, the Broncos’ put together an eight-play drive to score their first touchdown of the season on a tough eight-yard run by Kyle Jutten to close first half scoring.
    Silver Lake took the opening kick off and drove deep into Bronco territory. A Mustang fumble at the goal line kept WP in striking distance.
    After being forced to punt, the Broncos took advantage of a Silver Lake penalty to put two points on the board with a safety and close the gap to 8-12.
    The rest of the third quarter and much of the fourth quarter was scoreless.
    With just over three minutes left in the game, Silver Lake snuck into the end zone once more and put the game out of reach.
    Silver Lake senior Oakley Rosno did a lot of the damage for the Mustangs. After taking away negative rushes by teammates, Rosno had more yards than the 163 his team was credited for.
    WP was led by Jutten’s 62 yards on 15 carries. Grant Walker and Aidan Kennicutt each had three catches for the Broncos.
    Quarterback Garrett Hanna completed 11-22 passes and led the team with 10 tackles.
Up next
    WP will travel to Franklin Friday for a volleyball/football double header.
    The football game will begin at 6 p.m. MT.
    The game will be Franklin’s first of the season.