Wildcats weather adversity to ask ‘Why Not US?’ now and in future
Under new management, the West Football team finished with a 4-3 record in their conference pool, not bad after a shortened season full of COVID-19 regulations and setbacks. The team placed second out of five teams, but new head coach Duane Hartkopf saw this season more as a chance to give the boys some playing time.
“Most importantly was getting the kids back into something as COVID definitely impacted our youth a lot with high school athletes and students in general missing out on a lot of opportunities,” he said. “The biggest thing was getting them some normalcy in their young lives.”
For senior Riley Stobb, getting on the gridiron was worth the wait, and having one last season was the number one priority.
“Of course we wanted to have a good record,” he said. “But I just wanted to go out there and have fun with the boys. The season was already screwed up due to COVID, so I’m just glad we had the opportunity in the first place.”
Although they were able to put together a winning season and had many stellar players, they also had many obstacles to overcome, the first of which was a new coach.
“I knew Hartkopf because he was the wrestling coach,” junior Roman Martell said. “He's a great guy to have around. He's a great coach and a great mentor, so knowing his coaching style and the kind of guy he is really gave me a positive outlook going into the season, and he's just a great guy to have leading our team.”
Despite COVID continuing to create obstacles for student athletes, the team embraced the change by following the given protocols to keep everyone safe.
“We changed our offence completely so that was a big task and we changed it to best fit our kids,” Hartkopf said. “We knew we had a lot of kids who could run the ball well and our offense line was good.”
Although Hartkopf had full faith in his strategic plans, not everyone believed in it at first with there being a few struggles.
“I think we all were skeptical of the offence in the beginning,” junior Riley Taylor said. “But then, as we saw the potential it had in like our first scrimmage against our own team, we started trusting it more and more; as weeks went on, we started loving the offence”
The new team culture was built around Hartkopf and his new vision for the group. Appreciating transparency by the coaching staff, Taylor looks forward to what's next.
“He's the type of coach who will listen to his players and if things aren't working, he’ll talk to us and he’ll ask me ideas on plays,” he said. “He wanted us to win. I think he wanted to change the culture and put our name out there in the FVA as a team who can actually win and compete against everyone else.
The team’s motto, “Why Not Us,” has a larger meaning to the team this season.
“I think ‘Why Not Us’ is about being so close to the competition in the FVA for so long but always coming up short and asking ourselves deep down why can’t we be the team that pulls ahead of the competition,” junior Michael Stack said.
With such strong team culture and energy, the players often tried new and unique plays.
“We added different formations and overall different plays as well as trick plays to try and catch them off guard,” Stack said.
During practices, the team ran a bunch of trick plays just for the fun of it. But the team was executing, so they decided to try a halfback pass during their game versus Green Bay Southwest.
“Roman threw an absolute moon ball and it just landed in my arms,” Taylor said. “I trusted that he was gonna make the throw. I trusted that I was gonna make the catch and that's how it played out.”
For senior Max Pieterick, the loss against #4 in the state De Pere set them up for the rest of the season as they had to put in the work in order to turn around their fortunes.
“That game was a gut check for all of us,” he said. “That was the first time we faced adversity that season so it just took a lot of grit and determination. From that day, we played better as a team, and put in a ton of work to create an easy path to face De Pere again.”
After the loss to De Pere, the Wildcats sought revenge in a rematch. They didn’t go into the game with fear, but rather, determination, but came up short after a tough loss again.
“After losing to them early in the season, we wanted a rematch,” Martell said. “We knew we could compete with them, knowing that they were one of the better teams in the state. We wanted to come back and beat them but we just couldn’t finish the job.”
Despite the setback, the players found confidence in the sledge hammer they used as a team relic, representing the breaking down of previous thoughts. The returning players hope to continue these changes as they progress forward.
“Carrying the hammer around made me feel like I was a leader and that other people looked up to me and we really needed to bring it to them,” Stobb said.
A definite plus for the team was the addition of student sections.They don’t only serve as enjoyment for the fans but also for the players who have someone there to celebrate with. More fans were allowed for the playoffs but before that, it was made up of almost entirely parents.
“It sucked not having your peers behind you,” Taylor said. “I mean, the last two games we had our fan sections and it really helped, it got super loud in there. It doesn't just help us, it helps us on defense too. It's hard for the opposing team to communicate with each other because of how loud it will get on third down.”
With different schools having different rules on game attendance, some schools were allowed to have a student section, while West felt a disadvantage as they could not.
“It affected us a lot because the majority of our games were away,” Pieterick. “Without fans it would cause us to lose momentum at points and allow the opposing team to rally back because of home field advantage.”
But once students were allowed back in Titan Stadium, the players felt some sort of normalcy they were used to.
“Both the fans and the players love the student section,” Martell said. “The student section makes up for a majority of the cheering that goes on in the stadium so having them there is really good for momentum. It helps with winning the game and enjoying it makes it so much more enjoyable having a full student section there cheering you on.”
While the student section showed up full of energy, it was not full in capacity, which led to some disappointment from the athletes.
“As a coach, you don’t really notice for the most part but I know the athletes missed out on that opportunity to have their peers watch them,” Hartkopf said. “I think it took away a little bit of the excitement as we were a winning program this year and the kids were corralling around that but at the end of the day it's what we had to do to keep everybody safe.”
Although the team ended their season with a sour taste in their mouths, the squad had much to celebrate. This was the first season since 2010 in which the Wildcats had a winning season with 13 all conference award winners. Pieterick was unanimously named Conference Defensive player of the year while also being All-region and broke the school record for interceptions in a season.
“I never expected all of this to happen, but looking back on the work I put in the previous off-season I know I deserve it,” he said. “But again, I couldn’t have done it without the support of my teammates, coaches, friends and family.”
With the fall season right around the corner, Martell looks to improve in the offseason to become an FVA title contender.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how we compete with those FVA powerhouses with our new team and our new everything,” he said. “We have a bunch of guys coming back next year with varsity experience and we’ll just be getting better over the summer, and seeing how much we can improve from the alternate spring season to our fall season is exciting.”
With the seniors hanging up their cleats, they pass the torch to the new blood who will continue their legacy for the West football program.
“I will miss these last four years and the great memories we’ve made,” Stobb said. “But now we look down to the underclassmen and juniors, who I know will make this program even better. I’d like to thank everyone who has been a part of this great program.”
By Lily Fournier
May 28th, 2021
Oshkosh West Index Volume 117 Issue 8