Waterloo football gearing for postseason run
The Waterloo High School football team is looking to rebound from a 4-5 season in 2013 that kept them out of the playoffs.
It was their first losing season since 2005.
“Last year was tough,” head coach Dan Rose said. “We had a very tough schedule last season. Six of the nine teams we played made the playoffs.”
Some key players from last season for the ‘Dogs that were lost to graduation include quarterback Zach Schaab, running back Steven Schad and tight end Reid Hoffman.
“We have to work hard to replace those kids, but we always have a good mix of kids coming back,” Rose said. “We lost quite a few kids, but our seniors this year played key roles on last year’s team.”
Some of the players returning from the 2013 squad are seniors Sam Dodd (tight end, strong safety) Rick Wiegand (running back, cornerback), Ryan Aycock (wide receiver, kicker), Zack George (offensive line, defensive line), Blake Pete (center, defensive line), Brad Lathrop (wide receiver, cornerback) Kerstan Panzau (wide receiver, defensive back), and junior Cole Milam (offensive line, defensive line)
Waterloo will also have a new single caller in junior quarterback Aaron Laskowski, who transferred to WHS from Chaminade High School.
Members of the 2014 Waterloo High School football team include (not pictured in order) Ryan Aycock, Alex Bakken, Shane Biffar,Sam Dodd, Jeff Feilner, Nik Freehill, Vince Gagliardi, Peter Garza, Zack George, Mitchell Gladney, Lucas Goessling, ColtonHenry, Brendan Hickey, Ian Howard, Travis Ingram, Nick Iorio, Max Jennings, Logan Kaufmann, Kyle Knefelkamp, Aaron Laskowski,Brad Lathrop, Cole Lawrence, Andrew Liebert, Curtis Link, Taylor Lloyd, Sam Metzger, Cole Milam, Greysan Moehrs, BartMuelhberg, Mack Mundy, Lucas Origliosso, Kerstan Panzau, Austin Patton, Blake Pete, Zach Reichert, Kory Schaefer, ZachShields, Austin Stewart, Bradley Sumpter and Rick Wiegand. (Alan Dooley photo)Rose is looking to some of his younger players to step in and fill key rolls on the team this year as well. Max Jennings, Hayden Bender, Logan Kaufmann, Vince Gagliardi, and Mitchell Gladney all look to have important roles on this year’s team, as do sophomores Corey Johnson and Austin Patton.
Rose has been pretty happy with what he has seen out of his team so far in practice this summer.
“We have looked very good in practice. Our conditioning is on track. We had our scrimmage on Friday night and we didn’t have kids getting tired or asking to come out and it was a hot day,” Rose said. “We just need to solidify some things, but I like where we are at.”
The Bulldogs will play rival Columbia in week two, a game everyone looks forward to each season. But Rose does not want to jump ahead of things.
“We’ll take it one game at a time,” Rose said. “Our conference is tough. Our non-conference games are tough. We don’t play one team that is below us in school ranking, so we can’t take anyone for granted or look past them to a game further up on the schedule.”
Rose also talked about goals for this year’s team.
“We don’t just want to make the playoffs. We want to do something in the playoffs,” he said. “We want to be good in conference, too, but our goal is to do something in the playoffs this year.”
Waterloo opens the season Friday on the road at Herrin. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
