WATERLOO - Fifteen penalties can make a high school football game look an obstacle course.

Waterloo West, though, would not let anything stand in its way.

Overcoming their penalty problems, the Wahawks defeated Dubuque Wahlert, 26-10, before a homecoming crowd at Waterloo Memorial Stadium Friday night.

"We came together," said West's Mike Steimel. "We fought hard. We wanted the game this week. It was a big thing. We needed to win this game."

Last Friday, the Wahawks fell to Iowa City West. Against winless (0-3) Wahlert, West never trailed, but they struggled to put away the Golden Eagles, thanks largely to the penalties.

Nine of them came in the first half. Two denied West touchdowns - on the same possession. Another set of flags pushed the Wahawks out of good scoring position.

"We still have a lot of stuff we have to clean up," said Wahawk head coach Lonnie Moore.

On the other hand, Moore didn't complain at all about the victory or the effort that lifted West to 2-1.

"I'm very happy," said Moore. "It's good for these kids to get a win on Homecoming."

For a while, Steimel seemed determined to carry West there on his shoulder pads. On the game's first snap, the 5-foot-9 senior raced 64 yards to the Wahlert 16-yard-line. Steimel scored from three yards out with just 38 seconds gone from the opening-quarter clock.

Later, Steimel set up West's second touchdown of the half with the first of his two interceptions.

"I came out hard," said Steimel. "I was focused the whole week."

Added Moore, "Steimel's our rock. He does everything for us, defensively and offensively. He played a good game for us, but we have somebody different step up each week."

Quarterback Connor McClain has stepped up in the past, and he did it again Friday. The Wahawk senior hit Isiah Cook with touchdown passes of 35 yards in the second quarter and 54 in the fourth. He also ran 50 yards for a key, third-period TD that stretched West's lead to 20-3.

As for Wahlert, the Golden Eagles played most of the night without their leading rusher. Peter Burgmeier gained 60 yards in five carries, helping Wahlert to a first-quarter field goal, before leaving at the 5:22 mark with an apparent left knee injury.

Dubuque Wahlert 3 0 0 7 - 10

Waterloo West 6 7 7 6 - 26

WW - Mike Steimel 3 run (kick blocked)

DW - FG Michael Meyer 34

WW - Isiah Cook 35 pass from Connor McClain (Dakota Hottle kick)

WW - Connor McClain 50 run (Hottle kick)

WW - Cook 54 pass from McClain (kick blocked)

DW - Zachary Brautigam 2 run (Meyer kick)

TEAM STATISTICS

Wahl West

First downs 16 15

Rushes-yards 34-116 40-388

Passing yards 179 147

Return yards 31 15

Passes 14-32-3 11-22-2

Punts-avg. 5-36.6 4-39.8

Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-1

Penalties-yds. 7-40 15-147

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

WAHLERT - Peter Burtgmeier 5-60, Brautigam 11-26, Martin Broderick 7-15, Jon Kane 1-0, Aaron Schueller 9-14, Zachary Burgmeier 1-1

WEST - McClain 16-167, Carlos Woods 11-79, Steimel 7-90, Cook 5-55, Austin McMahan 1-minus 3

Passing

WAHLERT - Brautigam 14-32-3, 179 yards

WEST - McClain 11-22-2, 147 yards

Receiving

WAHLERT - Jude Smith 2-33, Alexander Heiar 1-20, Matthew Burmeier 2-14, Cody Thielen 2-6, Broderick 2-27, Samuel Lange 3-51, Z. Burgmeier 2-18.

WEST - Josh Diehm 4-29, Cook 5-95, Jeremy Wright 2-23.

WAHLERT SOPHS 48, WEST 0