WATERLOO - Once a year, the East-West football game becomes the center of attention in Waterloo.

Far too often, according to Stan Wienke, the Wahawks struggle to stay focused.

And Friday night at Waterloo Memorial Stadium was no exception, metro rivalry or no metro rivalry.

The Wahawks (3-1) managed to overcome mistake after mistake and beat the Trojans, 30-0, for their ninth straight win in the series. Later, Wienke trained his thoughts on the mental side of the game

"We're not clicking by any means yet," West's first-year head coach said. "But most of those things are mental things."

Wienke added, "It's a lot easier to fix thinking things than it is if we just can't run the plays right. I don't have much of a problem with the guys running plays and stuff. But we have a hard time focusing, and it's been that way for a couple of weeks now."

As for East, the Trojans plunged to 0-4 overall. While they challenged West for the better part of the first half, that wasn't close to good enough for head coach Antonio Mays.

"There are so many what-ifs in life," Mays said. "But the main thing is to learn from it and become a better football player and a better person. That definitely was the message."

Through the opening 16 minutes of play here, West kept sending East messages of hope. On three of their first five series, the Wahawks turned the ball over, thanks to a trio of Jud Wienke interceptions. Two penalties prolonged an early Trojan threat.

Meanwhile, East reached the West 15 on one series and the 19 on another. Those threats produced nothing but a pair of missed field goals.

So, with just under eight minutes to go in the first half, the game was scoreless - and exasperating.

"Offensively, it was very frustrating," West's Ryan Edwards said. "Defensively, we buckled down and held them."

Actually, the Wahawks did even more than that. Coming on a blitz, linebacker Jeremy Wright sacked East quarterback Tyler Clark and forced a fumble. Jerrold Manago scooped it up and darted 10 yards for the first touchdown of the night at the 7:11 mark of the second quarter.

"That was a big momentum turner," Edwards said. "When Jeremy hit the quarterback and Jerrold picked it up, that was big. Tacking on a couple of touchdowns quick was really big, too."

Edwards plays both receiver and quarterback this year for West. Late in the second quarter Friday, he replaced Wienke and chalked up a pair of scores.

A West penalty actually erased an Edwards touchdown run, but he hit Nick Massina with a 37-yard scoring strike on the next snap.

Following a Wright interception, the Edwards-Massina connection delivered again, this time on a 17-yard passing play. Two TDs in the final 1:13 of the half made it 21-0 West.

"(Edwards) gives us an athlete, no doubt," Stan Wienke said. "He's a game player, but you saw him as a receiver. He's really good there, too. It opens up more things.

"We try to find different ways to get him the ball. We'll just have to look at it. Maybe Jud isn't our answer at quarterback. Maybe Ryan is. I don't know, but I know our receiving corps gets not quite as good as soon as he's not there."

With Jud Wienke running the offense for the entire second half, West added an Edwards field goal and a 1-yard TD run by Mike Meyerhoff.

So it's on to key Mississippi Valley Conference meetings with Cedar Rapids Xavier and Cedar Falls for West.

"We're definitely good enough players to win both games, but not when we're thinking the way we're thinking," Stan Wienke said. "We have to focus better and quit making silly mistakes."

East gets Linn-Mar next Friday.

"We've got to win," Mays said. "We've got to get a 'W' on the board."

Contact Jim Sullivan at (319) 291-1434 or jim.sullivan@wcfcourier.com

Waterloo East 0 0 0 0 - 0

Waterloo West 0 21 3 6 - 30

WW -Jerrold Manago 10 fumble recovery (Ryan Edwards kick)

WW - Nick Massina 37 pass from Edwards (Edwards kick)

WW - Massina 17 pass from Edwards (Edwards kick)

WW - FG Edwards 30

WW - Mike Meyerhoff 1 run (kick blocked)

TEAM STATISTICS

East West

First downs 4 14

Rushes-yards 34-33 28-99

Passing yards 9 216

Return yards 22 20

Passes 6-12-2 15-34-3

Punts-avg. 6-38.8 3-36.7

Fumbles-lost 4-2 1-1

Penalties-yds. 7-50 10-82

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

EAST - Cameron Winters 13-37, Corey Turner 9-33, Shelby Harrison 2-2, Robert Anderson 3-minus 4, Tyler Clark 3-minus 19, Tra Umoren 2-minus 2, DaeJohn Love 2-minus 14.

WEST - Collin Styron 17-85, Edwards 6-23, Jud Wienke 4-minus 10, Myerhoff 1-1

Passing

EAST - Clark 4-9-1, 13 yards; Umoren 2-3-1, minus 4 yards.

WEST - Wienke 11-29-3, 150 yards; Edwards 4-5-0, 66 yards

Receiving

EAST - Demetrius Tillman 5-9, Darius Bowie 1-0.

WEST - Max Shower 3-50, Mark Krouse 2-22, Edwards 5-63, Nick Massina 3-60, Styron 2-21.

WEST SOPHS 44, EAST 0

NOTES - West sophomore quaterback Austin McMahon passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more. Dakota Hottle, Conner Friedly, Carlos Woods and Austin Brown also tallied for the Wahawks.