It may be a reloading year for the Bonduel High School football team, which lost 16 seniors from a team that advanced to the Division 5 playoffs.
But that doesn’t mean expectations are any lower.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Bears lost most of their skill position players, including quarterback Colton Dobratz and running back Hunter VanderLinden.
Senior Trever Pederson is the leading returning passer after completing one pass last season.
Jacob Banker is the leading rusher returning to the team. Last year, he had two carries for 13 yards.
But coach James Westrich isn’t worried yet.
“We are reloading pretty well. They are younger guys, a lot of sophomores in that group, a couple of seniors. I think they are up for the challenge,” Westrich said. “They are a confident group of kids and they just need to make sure they get their Xs and Os, and the right plays, and I think they will be OK.”
As for the defense, the Bears have a strong linebacking corps and a group of inexperienced defensive backs looking to make their mark on the field.
Westrich thinks last year’s senior class was able to instill a strong work ethic and competitive spirit in the younger players.
“Last year’s seniors did a good job of finishing every play, finishing their runs, blocking downfield, going through the whistle,” Westrich said. “Hopefully these guys understand that those little details are big on Friday nights and game time, so hopefully they can continue to do that.”
The senior leadership helped the Bears to nine wins and a 5-2 record in the Central Wisconsin Conference-8 last season.
“Seeing the success we had last year, we can realize how those guys did, how they prepared every day and work off of that and try and just replicate, but yet again, we have to do it our own way because we are basically a whole new team,” Pederson said. “We have to try to figure out our ways to win.”
The Bears last year lost in the regular season to WIAA Division 5 state runner-up Amherst and Shiocton. The third and final loss came at the hands of Amherst, again, in the WIAA Level 3 playoffs. Bonduel has not defeated Amherst or Shiocton since the Bears’ conference title in 2010.
“Right now, we’ve just got to take it one game at a time and win every game,” Pederson said. “There’s a lot of key matchups with Shiocton and Amherst, who are always good. We’d like to win some of those big games, trying to get that conference championship.”
With only a few returning starters for Bonduel, which had around 50 players come out for camp, Westrich hopes the practices over the past three weeks will give the athletes enough time to understand the playbook and get everyone on the same page before Thursday’s season opener against Crivitz.
“We just try to get better every day, fundamentally, effort-wise. If you put in good fundamentals, you practice, and your work ethic shows day after day, wins and losses take care of themselves,” Westrich said. “Hopefully this team can continue to get better, it’s just going to depend on their focus and effort goes throughout the season, and anything can happen.”
