'A whole different ballgame': St. Mary Catholic returning to 11-player football with hopes of reaching WIAA playoffs
FOX CROSSING – The St. Mary Catholic football team is kicking off a new era this week when the Zephyrs play host to the Rosholt Hornets on Friday.
It will mark a return to 11-player football after playing the 8-player game for the past few seasons.
The move back to the 11-player game began when Josh Young took over as head coach three years ago.
“When I came in and talked with athletic director Matt Schoultz, we wanted to meet with the parents and kids right away,” Young said. “Have a family night where everyone could come out and meet and talk with the coaches because the coaches were brand new, other than a couple of guys.
“From there, we were just talking with the kids a lot. Having them talk to their friends who maybe played football a year or two before and weren’t sure they wanted to play again.”
As word of mouth spread, in part due to the success the 8-player program was having that culminated with an unbeaten season last year, it was time to make the switch.
“Last year we had an 11-player full JV schedule,” Young said. “They knew what was going to happen this year.”
The Zephyrs had a dynamic offense last year in the Ridge and Valley-8 East Conference last year with running back Ashton Post, the offensive conference player of the year, returning this year.
“It’s a whole different ballgame,” Post said. “Playing running back, field size is an important thing. Playing on the 8-man field was tough because the field was so small. Now I’ve got places to run.”
Not only is the field bigger, but with 11 players on each side on the field there is a lot more to see.
“There is a lot more to look for,” quarterback Garrett Weninger said. “But we have some great coaches, so they are helping me out a lot, teaching me a lot.”
Added Post, “We have more room to work and run different plays. Having the extra guys is a big difference.”
It’s the same way on the defensive side of the ball.
“It’s a lot more congested,” linebacker John Schultz said. “It’s a lot more difficult to see everything through my linemen and the offensive linemen but other than that, it’s not too different.”
That’s one of the key differences between 8- and 11-player football – the congestion at the line of scrimmage.
To be as dynamic offensively as they were last year, the Zephyrs will need to both build and rebuild the offensive line.
“The biggest thing for us is getting the offensive line together,” Young said. “Putting five guys together because we lost all three of our linemen from last year. They were all seniors.
“From there, we’ve found a lot of underclassmen from the first week-and-a-half of practice who have stepped up and are starting to do their part. Learning from what they saw last year, learning from that senior leadership.”
As part of the transition to the 11-player game, the Zephyrs have moved into the Trailways Conference with Cambria-Friesland, Deerfield, Fall River-Rio, Johnson Creek, Lourdes Academy, Pardeeville and Randolph and will be playoff eligible.
“Being a bigger 8-player program, we weren’t eligible (for the playoffs) so when we went undefeated and won our conference the last two years, that was it,” Young said. “When we submitted our application for 11-player football and it was accepted, we found out we were eligible for the playoffs and that was a big boost to our kids.”
Post, who thought not being 8-player playoff eligible was frustrating, said playoff eligibility is awesome.
“Having the conference championship was cool but the playoffs, that’s the goal for any football team,” he said. “We’ll definitely be in the playoffs this year.”
The WIAA state football finals are Nov. 16-17 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. Weninger said the playoffs are something they’ve been waiting for, and he’s confident.
“We’re not going to take it for granted,” Weninger said. “We’ll be there Nov. 16.”
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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: St. Mary Catholic eyes playoff spot in return to 11-player football
