UPDATE: Waukee Warriors Fall to Undefeated Valley Tigers

Waukee (5-2) and Valley (7-0) were two of the hottest teams in the state going into tonight's football game, but one left with its first conference loss of the season.

The Waukee Warriors fell to the Valley Tigers tonight, 55-14.

Senior wide receiver Beau Easley has caught eight passes for 102 yards this season, and also has 27 tackles. He says the guys were well aware of what they were playing for.

"The conference championship has been one of our goals since the beginning of the season," said Easley. "We know what the stakes are, but we're taking it one step at a time and doing what we do, but it is very important to us."

Valley is undefeated on the season, and is beating its opponents by an average of 40 points in its last four wins. Waukee has won four games in a row by an average of 29 points.

The Warriors have yet to lose at home this season. Head coach Scott Carlson says he's grateful this game is on their turf.

"Oh, I don't think there's any question that we're the underdog," said Carlson. "Everybody knows that Valley is a team that is in a position to vie for a state championship this year. So certainly, they'd have to be, on paper, the favorite here, no question about that."

That's fine with Waukee's players.

"It's not really a big deal to us," Easley said. "'Do what we do,' is our saying around here, and we want to win really, really bad."

It's not just a hot streak that the two schools share, it's proximity, too. Carlson said since the move to class 4A in 2005, and even before, these two schools have been building a healthy rivalry with one another.

"I think it's certainly become a rivalry, not just a football rivalry, but a school rivalry," said Carlson. "It's just the proximity and a lot of the kids grew up together playing on some of the same youth teams. So naturally there's a little bit more of a personalization of the game, and that's good for the game, it makes it fun."

What's not fun is trying to contain the conference's leading rusher on the conference's leading rushing team. Valley's Trey Lewis and the Tigers run a lot. Lewis and senior Tyus Mason have rushed for a combined 1,460 yards this season.

"If running helps us win, that's what we're going to do, and we've got two good tailbacks," said Valley head coach Gary Swenson. "We have no design going into a game, but if running every play helps us win, then we're certainly going to do that."

Carlson and the boys have been watching plenty of film and recognize what Valley's strong point is.

"Trey's not a very tall guy, so it's easy to lose him. He has tremendous cutting ability and outstanding balance and strength, and very good vision," said Carlson. "All those things collectively make them a very formidable offense to stop."

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. tonight at Waukee Stadium.