FIRTH — Junior running back Nathan Axmann returned from a thumb injury to carry the ball 37 times for 204 yards and three touchdowns as Class B No. 7 Waverly outlasted No. 6 Norris 28-21 Friday night at Norris.
Here are Chris Basnett's takeaways from the game.
Axmann is a horse: Or a sledgehammer. Or any other blunt object you want to compare him to. Coming off a sprained thumb suffered against McCook in Week 3, the 6-foot, 200-pounder returned to the running back spot for the first time in more than a month on Friday.
And with a steady wind out of the south blowing at 20 miles per hour, Waverly put him to work. Running out of the Maryland I and Wildcat, Axmann got six carries on Waverly's 8-play opening drive that ended with Axmann's 12-yard touchdown run.
Consider the tone set. Axmann finished the night with just one carry that went for negative yardage. Waverly threw three passes, completing two of them for nine total yards, and ran for 324 yards.
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"I hurt my hand early in the year, it was casted up, had to switch to defense — just try to make the team better playing on defense," Axmann said. "But now that I'm out of the cast, getting back in the run game feels awesome."
And when Waverly (6-2) needed 1 yard to ice the game, the Vikings handed it to Axmann on a 4th and 1 from the Norris 47 with a dangerous Titan offense waiting on the sideline.
It was Axmann's seventh straight carry on the drive. He got 3 yards. Game over.Â
"Obviously it’s a pretty gutsy call to go for it from (the) 50, but like I told (the kids), if we can’t get a yard we don’t deserve it," Waverly coach Reed Manstedt said. "We pride ourselves up front, we’ve got a preseason all-state tailback, and I did not want to give their quarterback another opportunity with the skill set they have."
When he wasn't getting the ball, Axmann was an effective decoy. A perfectly executed play-action pass saw Waverly quarterback Carter McMillan find a wide-open Harrison Smith to make it 14-0 in the first quarter.Â
An inside handoff to sophomore Carsen Malcolm went for 44 yards in the third quarter as Waverly was moving into the wind, and set the Vikings up at the Norris 21. From there three Axmann carries ended in a touchdown to make it 21-14.Â
The clincher came in the fourth when Waverly's defense came up with a stop on a Norris fourth-and-goal from the 2, and McMillan pulled the ball on a read option for a 46-yard run. Three plays later Axmann scored from 31 yards out for a 28-14 lead.
Vikings continue to grow:Â Losses to preseason Top 5 teams Bennington and Seward left Waverly sitting in a 0-2 hole two weeks into the season. Six weeks later, the Vikings are 6-2 and in the driver's seat for the B-3 district title, which they can clinch next week with a win over Lincoln Pius X.
Waverly had allowed a total of seven points (with one forfeit against Lincoln Standing Bear) in five weeks leading up to the Norris game and jumped on the red-hot Titans right away Friday.
Norris itself came in with two straight shutouts and hadn't scored fewer than 24 points in a game since a Week 1 loss to Omaha Skutt.
Waverly looks to be rounding into its usual form at the right team as the regular season heads into the final week.
Norris had its chances: The Titans (5-3) will lament their missed opportunities. Norris ran 10 plays inside the Waverly 10-yard line over two possessions, one in each half, and came away with zero points.Â
There was a drop by a Titan receiver with no one within 15 yards of him who might well have gone for a 78-yard score in the first quarter. A mishandled punt snap later in the opening period set Waverly up on the Norris 11-yard line and quickly put the Titans in a 14-0 hole.
A 33-yard pass play in the third quarter ended with a lost fumble, the only turnover of the game for either team and set up Axmann's second touchdown of the night.Â
"A lot of missed opportunities. Dropped passes, dropped touchdown passes, turnovers. You can't have those mistakes," Norris coach Ty Twarling said. "In big games like this, that's the difference."
The Titans, like Waverly, came in with five straight wins after a 0-2 start, but Friday marked their first game against a team with a winning record since Week 2.
Norris proved it was ready for the challenge, as quarterback Jarrett Behrends went 20-for-34 for 295 yards and a touchdown, receiver Chris Garner Jr. had nine catches for 131 yards, and running back Crew Moeller had 10 carries for 51 yards and a pair of scores.Â
But the Titans will have to be a little cleaner against Elkhorn next week and into the postseason.