They walked hand in hand from one end of the football field to the other. They were united as one.
It’s a tradition for the Gillett High School seniors to make one last march together following their final regular-season home game. Friday night, the 13 seniors walked proudly following a 37-8 victory over rival Suring.
“It’s supposed to be the last (home) game of the year, but it might not be now,” Gillett senior Kody Pawlak said.
That’s true. With the Tigers sporting a 7-1 record, a home playoff game is a good possibility. The team’s regular season success has been due in large to the productivity of the team’s seniors.
Coach Rick Kamps can’t help but get choked up talking about this year’s senior class.
“It’s tough,” Kamps said. “They’re such special kids.”
Six offensive and five defensive starters are seniors, including skill players Monte Noffke and Matt Peterson as well as Pawlak and Daniel Torres.
Noffke and Peterson have formed a solid 1-2 punch in the backfield. The duo has combined for 1,532 yards rushing and 34 total touchdowns. Noffke is second in the state in touchdowns (26) and 25th in rushing yards (1,184).
It has been quite a ride this season for the Tigers and their seniors.
“It’s been amazing,” said Torres, who has been on the varsity squad since he was a sophomore. “It’s what I’ve been waiting for since my freshman year.”
Torres knew a couple of years ago that when he and his classmates became seniors, they would have a solid team.
“I think that we were all confident that if we put the training in the offseason and just worked hard we’d be great our senior year,” Torres said.
Kamps started to see this year’s seniors really turn into productive players in the second half of last season. The Tigers won three of the final four games in 2013 and have won seven of their first eight this year.
Many of this year’s seniors were brought up to the varsity level as sophomores. The guys took their lumps that season and finished 1-7. Last year, the Tigers improved to 4-5, just missing the playoffs. This season, Gillett has its first winning record since 2009, when it made its most recent postseason appearance.
The seniors have become a tight-knit group.
“Four years with these guys, you really do become a family,” said Peterson, who has been on varsity for three seasons. “It turns into one big family and you really have a love for each other. It’s that good brotherly love you have with each other. You have the ups and the downs with the guys, but you always get through them and you move on.
“We spend a lot of time together on and off the field. We’re always close, so that’s always nice.”
“We’re really close,” Noffke said. “We’re always going to spaghetti dinners, hanging out even when we don’t have football.”
Pawlak is in his fourth year on varsity and said the seniors are a special group.
“They’re all selfless,” he said. “They play for the team and not themselves.”
With their final regular-season game approaching this week, the Gillett seniors – Noffke, Peterson, Pawlak, Torres, Evan Bubolz, Akeem Bates, Colin Weiss, Dan Wusterbarth, Austin Smith, Adam Werner, Tanner Gueller, Cody Moffat and Cody May – have high expectations for the postseason.
“Go as far as we can at this point,” Peterson said. “We’re really just going to approach it one game at a time, one week at a time and we’ll go from there.”
“We just want to keep playing hard and keep doing what we do best,” Noffke said. “We want to get home-field advantage and hopefully go all the way.”
The senior class has accomplished a lot and hopes to extend its season as long as possible.
“I’m sure going to miss this group of kids,” Kamps said. “Hopefully, we’ve got a nice little ride ahead of us.”
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