“The offence is moving the ball again, and scoring points,” said WDHS teacher Chuck Taylor, who is on the Warriors’ coaching staff.

Waterdown came out of the gate early and kept up a steady march through the first half. Within the first 14 minutes of the game, quarterback Mitch McBurney ran it in for the touchdown, Cal Vola followed up with the conversion and, when the defence came on, they got Delta for a safety to bring the score to 10-0. Before the end of the half, Joe Newman kicked a field goal to bring Warriors’ total to 13.

“We thought we had them on the run, but then the tides turned,” noted Taylor. “At the start of the second half, Delta seemed to have the momentum. The boys were getting beat up.”

Delta tied it up at 13 before the Warriors’ defence stopped that momentum. It took the Warriors until the final quarter to get back on the board, when Robbie Bramwell broke a play to run 60 yards for a touchdown.

“That opened the floodgates,” said Taylor. “They got their spirit back.”

Vola added another Waterdown touchdown and conversion to cap off the win.

The victory sends the warriors to the HWIAC playoffs – a post they’ve missed for the past two years. Taylor is optimistic about their post-season future.

“If you look at both of our losses, we lost to the number one team (Westdale) and we lost in overtime (to MacNab),” he said. “In both losses, our offence wasn’t moving the ball. Now that they are, we expect a different result.

“We like our chances.”

Waterdown started last week’s game with just 25 players – down from the usual 35-plus – due to “time management issues,” noted Taylor. He expects a full roster to suit up for this week’s game against the Barton Barons.

“That’ll give us a chance to rest some of the guys, because we’re guaranteed a spot in the playoff,” he added.

Waterdown is currently in third place with nine points. First-place Westdale, has 12 points, followed closely by MacNab, which has 11 points.

The Warriors are slated to play their last home game of the season this Thursday (October 30) at 7 p.m. The semi-final game takes place next week, with details to be announced Friday, October 31.