WALTERS — Once Gus Wrape got going, there was no stopping him.
The senior led Walters to a dominating 34-15 homecoming night win over Comanche at Elmer Graham Stadium on Friday.
Wrape did it all for the Blue Devils (2-2), rushing for 154 yards and three touchdowns on 28 carries, while also returning an interception for a touchdown.
Walters coach Chuck Terry said it was only a matter of time before Wrape had a breakout performance.
“Gus is a tough kid,” Terry said. “We knew Gus had it in him, and we knew it was coming. I think he’s got a couple of more in him.”
The first half lacked offensive fireworks, with the teams combining for only 170 yards — 143 belonging to the Blue Devils — but Wrape provided the spark his team needed in the second half.
Facing bad field possession with the ball at its own 5-yard line, Comanche (1-3) called for a pass, but Walters’ defensive line was all over it, putting Indians quarterback Chad Miley in a bad predicament.
Desperate to avoid a safety, Miley lobbed the ball toward the right sideline to throw it away, but Wrape read the play perfectly, intercepting the pass and returning it 10 yards for a touchdown to extend the Blue Devils’ lead to 22-15 with 8:48 left in the third quarter.
That was only one of four interceptions Walters pulled down, and the first of two for Wrape. To put that stat in perspective, Comanche managed only three completions on the night.
Wrape gave credit to his coaches for putting him in a position to be successful.
“I’ve been coached to go back into my area,” Wrape said. “They just coached me up, and I do what they tell me.”
That was the only score of the quarter for Walters, but Wrape wasn’t done putting points on the scoreboard.
The running back scored on runs of 4 and 5 yards in the fourth quarter, intercepting a pass in the process to seal the Blue Devils’ second victory of the season.
Again, Wrape gave credit to those around him for his accomplishments.
“I felt very good, but the linemen did most of the work,” Wrape said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Terry called his team tough, and he said that is the main reason for the increased energy in the second half.
“I’ve been preaching that to our kids — just be tough,” Terry said. “I think we had (Comanche) on the ropes as far as conditioning, so we just stuck together and kept going. We’re getting better on the offensive line, that’s for sure.”
The defense did its part as well.
The Blue Devils forced two fumbles — recovering one of them — to go along with the four interceptions, bringing their turnover total to five.
Walters also held the Indians to 27 yards in the first half and only 119 total — most of which came on a 60-yard touchdown pass from Miley to Noah Henderson on the first play of the second half.
Walters finished with 307 total yards.
“They’re starting to buy in to what I want done,” Terry said. “Hopefully good things will start happening, and I’m proud of them.”
Comanche struck first after Walters muffed a punt return deep in its own territory early in the first quarter, and the Indians took advantage.
Chandler Bowen found Jacob McClendon for a 10-yard touchdown strike on the next play, giving the Indians an 8-0 lead with 7:02 remaining in the frame.
Some untimely penalties prevented the Blue Devils from responding in the same quarter, but Wrape changed that in the second.
He found a hole in the Indians’ defense and burst free for a 29-yard score, tacking on the 2-point conversion as well to tie the game.
The momentum carried over to Walters’ next drive, and quarterback Josh Munn got in on the action, escaping pressure before scrambling 27 yards for a touchdown. The run gave the Blue Devils a 15-8 lead with 1:41 left in the half.
Munn finished with 79 yards rushing on nine carries, as well as 42 yards through the air on 7-of-15 passing.
Terry said he was impressed with the way his team bounced back after a 62-14 loss to Mangum last week.
“We went to Mangum and didn’t play well at all, so we needed to come out tonight and play good, and we did that in some areas,” Terry said. “We had a good week of practice this week. It’s a process, and they’re getting it more and more every week.”
Walters returns to action next week at home against Community Christian (0-3) to begin district play, while Comanche travels to Lexington (4-0) for its district opener. Both games are set for 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.