Lena coaches hope for return to playoffs

Coaches with the Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas Titans football program hope to return to the playoffs this fall, following a perfect 8-0 record in the Peninsula Conference last year. Their only defeat was at the hands of Three Lakes in the playoffs. Graduating last year were state all-star linemen Anthony Seefeldt and Colton Skrobel, all-regional linebacker Logan Graef and all around utility player Dylan Dyer. “These seniors were our anchors on both offense and defense,” Dale Lange, who is a co-head coach along with Eddy Huberty. Filling those shoes this year will be returning all-conference first team defensive lineman Colton Miller, second team lineman Lucas Heimke and defensive back Ty Shallow, along with linebackers Calvin Peters, Max Peterson and Caleb Schlosser. “On the offensive side, all-conference honorable mention lineman Tug Paidl will be the anchor with strong support from Colton Miller at tight end and center Cooper Demmith,” Lange said. “Balancing out the line work will be Tim Benser and Blake Behnke. Our backfield will be filled with two all-conference second team running backs Calvin Peters and Ty Shallow, with Lucas Heimke and Luke Koslowsky also seeing action.” Other players filling the building blocks and most likely seeing action are Mason Spice, Roger Cruz and Sam Peterson in the backfield. Filling other positions will be Zander Thompson, Hunter Brief, Jake Farley, Dominic Pagels and Eddy Kropp. “To be successful, we will need several of our younger players to step up and challenge for some starting positions,” Lange said. “We are very balanced with good numbers at all grade levels and will have nice numbers at our JV level.” Under a new WIAA realignment plan, Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas and the other Peninsula Conference teams are now in the Across the Bay Conference (Algoma, Gibraltar, Gillett, NEW Lutheran, Sevastopol, Suring and Lena/St. Thomas). The Titans open the season at 7 p.m. Aug.29 at Niagara. The Titans have been a co-op team for the last 21 seasons and are in their 11th season as an 8-player team.