What does going undefeated and winning a state championship get you?
If you’re the Elgin Public-Pope John Wolfpack this season, it will mean getting every team’s best shot as they try to measure up to last year’s Class D-1 state champions.
Everything came together for the Wolfpack last season. The offense put 614 points on the board and the defense held opponents to just 131 points. There were precious few games which were in doubt (Burwell, Giltner and maybe Creighton) come to mind, but the rest of the season could be summed up in one word — Domination.
That was last year. Graduation has taken its toll on the Wolfpack as just five returning starters are back from last year. They are Andrew Heithoff, Ross Schindler, Blake Anderson, Kyle Heithoff and Nick Heithoff. They are joined by returning letter winners Lee Bartak, Shane Beckman, Michael Braband, Levi Kerkman, Austin Heying, Beau Heithoff, Alex Grosserode, Alex Pelster and Zach Polk (Silver Lake High School).
Everyone’s attention is focused on this year, not past glory. “We don’t focus our attention on last season,” Coach Carlie Wells said. “We tell our seniors this is a new year and different team. They need to establish their own identity and continue to get better each week and if we do that we will be successful. These young men have set high goals for themselves and the team so I expect them to work extremely hard to reach those goals.”
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