WAUKESHA — The Muskego High School football team is known for running the ball offensively.
In fact, the Warriors attempted just three passes Friday.
However, all of those passes played pivotal roles in the Warriors’ 34-15 victory over Waukesha West in the Classic 8 Conference opener for both schools.
The Warriors (3-0) racked up 246 yards rushing on 35 attempts (7.0 average) and three scores while junior quarterback Bradyn Horn was 3-for-3 for 59 yards and two touchdowns throwing the ball for Muskego.
“People laugh about how much we run but we work a ton on our pass game,” Muskego coach Ken Krause said. “Our goal on every pass is we want to complete it and we did that tonight.”
On Muskego’s first drive of the game, Horn completed an 11-yard pass to senior tight end Aiden Krause on third down that kept the drive alive and two plays later senior running back Sam Steuber scored to give the Warriors a 7-0 lead.
Krause added a 24-yard touchdown reception on Muskego’s next possession; he also scored on another 24-yard pass play from Horn on the Warriors first possession of the second half to extend the Warriors’ advantage to 27-15.
“Aiden is a weapon,” Ken Krause said of his son. “To me he is one of the best tight ends in the state. He’s athletic, fast and strong. Bradyn had some great throws and was super accurate. The offensive line blocked really well and Bradyn is accurate. Aiden has always played running back and he is doing what is best for the team and we moved him to tight end this year. He is kind of a running back playing tight end but he will be a nice weapon all season for us.”
Horn now has four touchdown passes this season while completing 11 of 20 passes for 219 yards.
“We are kind of strategic when we call pass plays,” Krause said. “Some games we call more. Some games we call less. Tonight when we called them, I think they were all strategic moments and Bradyn made some great throws and our line blocked well and Aiden made some nice catches.”
Steuber, who finished with 138 yards rushing on 20 attempts and two touchdowns, gave Muskego a 21-7 halftime lead with a 1-yard TD plunge with 24 seconds left in the second quarter.
West, now 1-2 overall, cut the deficit to six points (21-15) after a 1-yard touchdown run and two-point conversion run by senior running back Jack Watke on the Wolverines’ drive to open the second half.
Muskego responded with the scoring strike to Krause on the final play of the third quarter.
West then turned the ball over on downs and two plays later, junior running back Ashton Krause scored on a 33-yard touchdown run for Muskego to push the Warriors’ lead to 21 points with just over 8 minutes remaining.
Defensively, Muskego had three interceptions – including two by senior Mitchell Sellhausen.
“One thing our defense does really well is cause turnovers,” Krause said. “The other thing is they are really good at bending but not breaking. It’s pretty rare you see a long play on our defense.”
Senior Brady Foster had West’s first touchdown on a 3-yard run early in the second quarter that tied the game at 7-7 but the Wolverines managed only one more score the rest of the way.
“They are a really good offensive football team,” West coach Steve Rux said of Muskego. “Everybody has trouble stopping them. I thought our guys played with great passion and intensity. We did make a lot of mistakes along the way, which is part of it in an early game like this.
“I thought our guys played much harder tonight than a week ago and even though we lost the game I thought we took a step forward in a lot of ways.”
