Exiting in style

The 2019 season was a joyride packed with more success than most people saw coming. Things could be even better in 2020. Wisconsin Heights’ football team capped a sensational season last Friday with a 50-6 destruction of Williams Bay. The Vanguards finished the year 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Great 8 Conference. Considering Heights had just five seniors, the 2020 campaign could be more of the same. “It’s hard to believe how fast this goes, and how much this group has grown,” Heights coach Trevor Steiner said. “They really did an incredible job all year. “I felt we could do some things that people were not going to expect, but not to the level they performed throughout the year. I loved how coachable the kids were, always open to correction, and adjusted when they needed to. I was also super pleased with our mental toughness as a team. It got stronger as the year went on. “We had a big hiccup in the middle of the season, and instead of blaming, complaining, and defending poor play, the kids took off in the right direction and got better. That was really exciting to me as a coach.” The Vanguards’ final game of 2019 was awfully exciting, too. Heights built a 22-0 lead after the first quarter, extended that to 36-6 by halftime and waltzed home. Interestingly, Steiner wasn’t thrilled with how his team performed in the first half. “To be honest, I was not happy with our execution in the first half,” he said. “We had a solid lead, but way too many penalties, and mistakes that should not have happened. We got some things straightened out at halftime, and the kids came out right away and finished strong, so at the end of the day I was very pleased.” Offensively, Ozur Kepler threw four touchdown passes, including three to Jack Fields. Kepler finished the day 10-of-21 for 174 yards, while Fields caught five passes for 115 yards. Willy Hanson had a monster night on the ground, running for 220 yards on 24 carries (9.2) and scoring once. Heights also received a terrific performance from its offensive line of Dakota Lueck, Connor Herrling and Jon Holcomb. “They didn’t get the stats, but these guys really stepped up and improved throughout the year,” Steiner said. “The offensive Line was challenged at halftime on Friday and they responded really well, coming out and running right down the heart of their defense for a score.” Defensively, Hanson had six tackles and a sack, while Jaeger Schoenemann had 1.5 sacks. Bailey Wolf and Fields both had five tackles, Kepler had a sack and Connor Herrling had 0.5 sacks. “The defensive group really brought the heat on Williams Bay,” Steiner said. As the year ended, Steiner took a minute to reflect on just how enjoyable the season was. “I have to say how blessed I was to have the situation that I had,” he said. “Tremendous support throughout the school and community, incredible kids, coaches, and parents. It’s easy to be a coach when that’s the formula you are working with. “I know winning games solves a lot of problems, but at the end of the day you have to walk your talk. I had never been around 8-player football. I was asked to take over for a very successful coach and from my perspective there was a level of expectation to continue the success. “The kids deserve all the credit, our staff simply showed them the path. They’re the ones who actually had to perform day to day, and boy did they.” Steiner knows the good times could continue, too. While it’s more than nine months until they’ll get going again, expectations will be sky high for Heights in 2020. “I want everyone to just relax and enjoy the end of the season for a couple weeks before we even begin to think about next year,” Steiner said. “It’s kind of fun to think about next year when you had all kinds of success with only five seniors, and our JV had an outstanding year too. But I will tell you that the first thing I am going to say when I address the kids and coaches next fall at our first meeting is that we are not going to compare that team with this team. “We will be different, our opponents will be different. We’ll take each day and try to be the best we can be on that day. This is what I said this past August, and I believe it more than ever now. “I’m sure we will have some new looks and different twists on how we do some things because of having different personnel. But our passion, persistence, and daily business-like mentality must stay the same.” Oct. 18 Wisconsin Heights 50, Williams Bay 6 Heights ......... 22 14 14 0 — 50 Williams Bay ......... 0 6 0 0 — 6 WH — Fields 24 pass from Kepler WH — Fields 17 pass from Kepler (Warner pass from Kepler) WH — Fields 15 pass from Kepler (Warner run) WH — Hanson 2 run (Hanson run) WH — Hanson 75 pass from Kepler WB — Karcher pass from Oertel WH — Hanson 6 run (Warner pass from Kepler) WH — Ayers 47 fumble return TEAM STATISTICS First downs— WH 19, WB 10. Rushes-yards— WH 39-313, WB 21-80. Passing yards— WH 233, WB 174. Comp-Att-Int— WH 10-21-1, WB 16-32-0. Fumbles-lost— WH 2-2, WB 4-2. Penalties-yards— WH 11-95, WB 8-85. INDIVIDUAL LEADERS Rushing: WH, Hanson 24-220. WB, Norton 2-90. Passing: WH, Kepler 10-21-174-1. WB, Oertel 162-32-174-0. Receiving: WH, Fields 5-115. WB, Oertel 7-104.