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Lake Country Chiefs Sweep Four Over Hartford To Close The Season

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The Lake Country Chiefs’ season came to an end on Saturday afternoon at Arrowhead, with four good games against teams from Hartford. We saw the conclusion of a perfect season, two good games under the lights and a group of kids that saw their hard work pay off with a great ending to the year. And the Chiefs swept all four…

Last week, the kids of 6th Grade Blue got a breakthrough win, where after a season of some tough losses, they put it all together and saw their work pay off with a “W.” The kids liked it so much they went out and did it again to end the season with a decisive 20-6 win.

J.J. Smerz, whose speed and body control were on such display last week, immediately put his mark on this game. A 3rd-and-5 swing pass was a hair behind Smerz, but he grabbed it, quickly regained his balance and picked up a first down at the Hartford 30. Blake Meyers then made two straight good runs to put it inside the 20. Nicholas Vondrak was the next line for the ball and he pushed it down to the 1-yard line, where the drive was finished off.

All the key plays in this drive went to the left side, where Zach Schlegel and Brady Riphenburg were clearing space, and Lake Country had a 6-0 lead with 2:37 left in the first quarter. They quickly doubled that margin after a defensive stand set up Smerz on a well-designed reverse play that he took in from 18 yards out.

It was a 12-0 game at halftime, and after spending the first half going to the left side, the Chiefs went right early in the third quarter. It was a swing pass to Smerz and there was all kinds of daylight in front of him as he rolled into the end zone to complete a 50-yard scoring play. The PAT was converted and now it was a 20-0 game.

Hartford got a long kickoff return and was poised to try and get back into the game. On a 4th-and-3 play, Vondrak made an excellent read on a swing pass and was there right with the ball to bust the play up and give the ball back to the Chiefs.

The Orioles would eventually get a long touchdown run to make the final score 20-6, but there were less than two minutes in the game by that point. It was a great win for Lake Country, and it would be remiss not to give a shoutout to the Chiefs’ defensive line, which maintained absolute control of the point of attack throughout–Vondrak, Mason Carnell and Karan Sherman led the way in keeping the Hartford off balance.

6th Grade Blue’s kids worked really hard for everything they had this season, and they get to go into the offseason with a very good taste in their mouth.

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Another team that’s heading into the offseason with a nice taste in their mouth will be 6th Grade White. They got a stiff challenge from a determined Hartford team, but with their 22-6 victory, 6th Grade White wrapped up a perfect 8-0 season.

Hartford took advantage of a defensive penalty that kept their first drive alive and used a consistent, grinding running attack to get the ball down to about the Lake Country 20. The Chiefs’ defense held, but the Orioles had used up all but 21 seconds of the first quarter.

Lake Country then showed that maybe time of possession is an overrated statistic. Max Berres tossed a swing pass to Joshua Nielsen, who rumbled 60 yards for a touchdown on the Chiefs’ first play from scrimmage. Hartford had 7:39 of possession time and Lake Country had 0:15, but the score that mattered said 8-0 Chiefs.

The ensuing kickoff added to the strange nature of the first quarter–Hartford ran the kickoff back for a touchdown. They didn’t convert the PAT, but were within 8-6.

Both defenses stiffened in the second quarter, and the third quarter saw some turnovers exchanged. There was a great battle taking place on the edges when the Chiefs had the ball. Lake Country repeatedly pressed the outside where its playmakers could make a game-changing play, and Hartford’s kids fought to keep everything inside.

It was the latter part of the third quarter that the edge finally cracked. With the Chiefs’ facing 4th-and-12 on the Hartford 43, Nielsen broke several tackles, got the first down and then a facemask penalty was added in. One play later, Coleton Borkewicz took it in for the touchdown and it was a 14-6 game.

As the fourth quarter wore on, the Chiefs’ undefeated season became secure, as even with a touchdown and two-point kick, the most Hartford could do was tie. But 6th Grade White had perfection in their grasp and they didn’t let it slip away. The Orioles got the ball near midfield with five minutes for what would be their last, best chance. But on 3rd-and-12, the entire Chiefs’ defensive front got to the quarterback for a sack and then closed out the possession on fourth down.

A 4th-and-1 play with 1:32 left provided the icing on the kick. Nielsen rolled around the left side for a clinching touchdown, Borkewicz kicked the two-point PAT and the perfect season was complete.

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Nightfall came, the lights of Taraska Stadium went on, and the 7th & 8th Grade White teams each won good, hard-fought football games.

In the seventh grade game, Hartford recovered a surprise onside kick to open the game, but the Lake Country defense made sure it didn’t stand up. Seth Fohey then took the ball on an inside handoff and bolted the distance…but they play was called back on a penalty. Fohey, undeterred, got it again a couple plays later, and made a big play to get his team into scoring position. The Chiefs chipped away to get inside the 5-yard line, where Jonathan Witter then took it in for the game’s first score.

After a defensive stand, the offense again marched down the field, and this time it was Nic Wohlfiel who ran it from seven yards out. The Chiefs took a 12-zip lead into the halftime break.

Hartford didn’t quit though, and late in the third quarter put together a drive that looked like it might stall when they faced 3rd-and-14 on the 25-yard line. The quarter ended just prior to the play and everyone changed sides. The Orioles converted the play into a touchdown, and were then able to run in the PAT conversion for a huge point that made it a 12-7 game and meant the Chiefs could no longer allow a touchdown.

The Orioles tried an onside kick, but this time the Chiefs were ready. What ensued was a clutch drive that was an ideal way to end the season. Wohlfiel, a very talented young passer and runner had the ball put in his hands to try and seal his team’s final victory. He got the blocking and he seized the moment, repeatedly running quarterback draws that ground out yardage and drained the clock.

No run was bigger than his 4th-and-10 dash up the middle from the 25-yard line that picked up a first down with less than five minutes to play. One play later, Wohlfiel finished the job with a 14-yard touchdown run, and a Fohey extra point clinched a 20-7 win. It was the end to a good year for Brenton Carr’s team, who concluded with a 6-2 record.

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The finale of the night was the 8th Grade White game and it was apparent early on that the Chiefs–who came in with a 6-1 record, and gotten most of the wins by large margins–would have a battle on their hands. Hartford hit a halfback option pass on the first possession, and used another quick pass to get to the Lake Country 18-yard line before anyone was even settled into the game. But the Chiefs’ defense held, Hartford missed a field goal and the game remained scoreless.

Lake Country’s offense then took over, with a lot of players getting in on the act. Chandler Pulvermacher picked up one first down. Jeff Holtz ran for another. John Dolesche moved the chains for the third time.

On 4th-and-2 from the Hartford 28 the ball went to Pulvermacher, on a play where the Hartford defense had at least two good cracks at him before he got the first-down marker. But Pulvermacher, a deadly combination of size, speed and determination, broke the tackles, used a nasty stiff-arm to get himself in the clear and ended the play in the end zone. It was 6-0 as the first quarter came to a close.

Hartford had its own talented skill player to counter with though, and Richard Smith was an anxiety-creating player every time he touched the football. One of those times was a 68-yard jaunt for a touchdown that tied the game early in the second quarter.

Pulvermacher countered with a long, slashing run deep into Hartford territory that set up another touchdown. Then it was Smith’s turn to take a swing pass and pick up 35 yards. With the second quarter winding down, Lake Country came up with a big sack, but Hartford was able to salvage a 37-yard field goal that bounced off the crossbar and over. It was 12-9 at the half.

The Hartford special teams made a great play to open the second half, with a good hit creating a fumble. Even though Dolesche made a big sack that looked like it might bail out the Chiefs, Smith ran a nice post pattern caught the ball in traffic and found the end zone. Now Lake Country trailed 17-12.

With Pulvermacher on the field, you never feel more than one play behind, and that’s how it worked out here. He immediately took the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown. In a span of one minute and 45 seconds each team had scored, it was 20-17 and everyone was settled in for a big finish.

And a battle was what happened. Hartford seemed to have its offense moving, as they nudged their way the Chiefs’ 36-yard line, but a fumble turned the ball back over. Two plays later, Pulvermacher had taken yet another big play to the house, and extended the lead to 26-17, meaning Hartford needed two scores to take the lead.

On 4th-and-2, the Lake Country defense stopped Hartford and now the clock was decidedly the Chiefs’ ally, as we were into the fourth quarter. The Orioles were able to get the ball back with a little more than five minutes to play, but Carson Radtke made a big third-down sack for a 16-yard loss that all but sealed the game. Lake Country got the ball back with a little over three minutes to play was able to salt away the win.

It was a great day of football, with a sweep for the Chiefs, but every victory coming against a team that put up a good fight. On a chilly October late afternoon and evening, it was the ideal way to head into the offseason.

Starting From The Ground Up: How The Lake Country Chiefs Help The Arrowhead Warhawks Churn Out Championship Runs

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The Arrowhead Warhawks begin another push for a state championship on Friday night when they host Milwaukee Washington at Taraska Field for a 7 PM kickoff. The Warhawks are not only the defending champions, they have at least played for high school football’s top prize in 12 of the last 20 years, an astounding record of success.

Success never happens by accident and nothing good happens overnight–as the community gets ready to cheer on Arrowhead for what they hope is another deep playoff run, it’s important to note how the success of the varsity starts early, and begins with the foundation laid by participation with the Lake Country Chiefs.

The Chiefs are more than simply the “feeder” program to Arrowhead. Lake Country truly develops young players for the varsity, and it starts by running the same offensive and defensive systems used at the high school level. The complexity obviously varies, depending on whether it’s the fifth grade level or an eighth-grade team, and each Chiefs’ coach can use some nuances tailored to his personnel, but a Lake Country game at any level looks quite similar to an Arrowhead game and that’s by design.

I’ve wondered why more high school programs don’t do this with the youth associations that feed them. It’s something that’s good on every level–learning a football playbook, with all its variations depending on what the opposition is doing is one of the most challenging mental exercises in sports. When kids can come to a season’s first practice in August and already have this foundation in place, it allows them and the coaches to focus on the more subtle aspects of the game, and ultimately makes it more fun for the kids.

When you understand your system like it’s second nature, you can play much more freely, much more on instinct and that’s when any sport really becomes fun. This extends all the way up the ladder to the high school. When the varsity inherits a player, he already has six years (including the freshman and sophomore years of high school) in the system. Everything he’ll learn from the Arrowhead coaches is already second nature.

It’s the volunteer coaches of the Lake Country Chiefs program who deserve enormous credit for making this possible. This is unpaid work, and most of the coaches are simply there because their kids are playing. Yet they take extra time during the summer to attend clinics put on the Arrowhead staff explaining the system and how to implement it.

When you attend a Chiefs’ practice, as I was able to do on numerous occasions this year, you then see the precision with which drills are run. The easy thing to do in youth ball would be to spend the practice scrimmaging and maybe run a few trick plays. It would be fun, but “fun” in this sense would be like eating too much candy–there would be no long-term value.

From fifth grade to eighth grade, the Chiefs players are trained in the fundamentals and work the system from the ground up–from the drills that pair the lineman against each other, to those where the receivers work against the defensive backs, and not until the end does everything come together into some scrimmaging, which is still done with precise purpose in using the plays the coaching staff wants to run on Saturday. It’s a practice done with a level of professionalism that high school coaches employ, but properly tailored to the youth level. And it works.

Another group of people who deserve credit are the parents who volunteer for video duty. If you sit in the press box, or high in the stands for a Chiefs’ game, you’ll find a parent with a video camera shooting the game, so the coaches can review everything and help the kids continue to improve.

This is a job that doesn’t end with the game–the video typically has to be uploaded online and prepared in an organized way so that coaches can review different game situations with ease. It’s another job that takes time and whose reward is not payment, but contributing to their son’s team. And it’s one more cog in a system that helps feed prepared football players to the varsity program down the line.

Success begins from the ground up. That’s the motto of 6th Grade White head coach Roger Porter, whose team has enjoyed a very successful season. Coach Porter was simply referring to the training technique of establishing good footwork as a starting point. But it has meaning that goes well beyond that. If you’re at an Arrowhead playoff game this year or simply cheer them on, don’t forget where it all starts.

A Breakthrough Win For 6th Grade Blue Leads Saturday At Arrowhead

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The persistence paid off for the 6th Grade Blue team of the Lake Country Chiefs. This was a group of kids that had played better than their record and deserved a better fate than what football’s bottom line had delivered them all year. But they kept coming and working and even on a day against East Troy where “here we go again” would have been the easy thing to say, the 6th Grade Blue used a big 26-point explosion in the third quarter and got their first win of the year by a 32-12 count.

East Troy scored first, when they executed a 3rd-and-18 reverse to keep a drive alive as the first quarter ended, and then finished it off with a short quarterback keeper early in the second period to up 6-0. Lake Country got a drive going, with J.J. Smerz catching a swing a pass and using some nifty footwork to get up on the right sideline and inside the East Troy 20-yard line. But an ensuing sack caused the drive to stall.

Just before the half, the Chiefs’ defense came up with what would prove to be a big play. With 26 seconds left, East Troy completed a long pass down to the two-yard line. On the next play, the interior of the Chiefs’ line held on a running play, and with East Troy out of timeouts, the clock ran out. The half hadn’t gone as Lake Country wanted, but the score was only 6-0.

Head coach Tim Bonk implored his kids not to give up at halftime, and they heard the message. Keenan Klink caught a swing pass and scooted up the right side to convert a 3rd-and-8. Blake Meyers then swept right, cut back inside and gained twelve more yards.

Then it was time for Smerz. With the ball about the 30-yard line, he caught a swing pass and got open into the left flat. Running at full speed, he showed excellent body control in making a sudden cut back to the inside at the 3-yard line and got into the end zone.  The game was tied 6-6.

Lake Country’s defense made a stop on fourth down and took over on the East Troy 46. Another swing pass to Smerz again got him into the open field and he again took it the distance. Now the Chiefs had a 12-6 lead, and were feeling the momentum.

When East Troy took the ensuing kickoff and ran it back for a game-tying touchdown, it was another moment where the Chiefs’ kids might have tossed up their hands in frustration, but they did exactly the opposite. Instead, on their own chance with the ball, Meyers got the ball went left, and took it the distance.

Then when the defense got back on the field they immediately intercepted an East Troy pass. A quick swing pass to Klink produced over twenty yards and got the Chiefs inside the East Troy 20. Smerz again finished the drive, catching a pass in the flat and using his combination of size, speed and terrific footwork and body control to maneuver his way into the end zone.

It was a stunning sequence of events. In a matter of one minute and 54 seconds a 6-6 game had turned into a 26-12 lead for Lake Country. And with the taste of victory in the grasps, the sixth-graders didn’t let go. The defense stabilized the game in the fourth quarter, they added a late touchdown and had their long-sought win.

“We have some really good players,” Coach Bonk said after the game. “And they know they’re good.” Indeed, it takes good players to produce a 26-point quarter and a three-touchdown margin of victory against anyone.  “But it’s hard for the kids to go to school each week and the other kids ask how they’re doing and they haven’t won a game.”

All very true. The coaches and parents might know that the virtues the sixth-graders have shown all season–their hard work and their persistence–have enduring value regardless of what happens on the scoreboard. The 6th Grade Blue kids didn’t need to win a football game on Saturday to deserve the admiration of those who follow them. But it was fun to watch them get it. And it will be fun for them to go to school on Monday morning.

5th GRADE BLUE CLOSES THE YEAR STRONG

The season for the 5th grade teams came to an end on Saturday and for Lake Country’s 5th-Grade Blue team it ended on a high note, as they overcame a slow start, gradually took control of the game defensively and beat Mequon/Thiensville by a 25-13 count.

Mequon scored on the game’s first possession, and converted the extra point, so even when Lake Country countered with a touchdown, the Chiefs trailed 7-6. Lake Country was getting their sea legs though, with quarterback Jimmy Stefl repeatedly making some nice throws, as he and receiver Samuel Kredell clearly have a good chemistry together. Stefl then did some work with his feet, bulldozing up the middle for twelve yards to reach the 5-yard line and then finishing the drive with another keeper for a touchdown.

Lake Country’s defense stopped Mequon’s final drive of the half when Blake Ewer clogged up the middle on a 4th-and-1 play, and the Chiefs took a 12-7 lead into intermission.

Though the Chiefs’ defense was on control of the game’s basic rhythm and flow, Mequon was able to make a big play on a quarterback keeper for a 40-yard touchdown run and they grabbed a 13-12 in the closing minute of the third quarter. Cameron Gohde for the Chiefs responded by returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, but a penalty nullified the play.

Lake Country would not be denied in their final quarter of the season though. Nicholas Enyon took a sweep and got up the left sideline, going from midfield down to the two-yard line, setting up a Stefl touchdown. Then Ewer recovered a fumble on the ensuing possession, and the Stefl-to-Kredell combination produced a long pass down to the 1-yard line and eventual touchdown. It was now 25-13 and just 5:33 remained.

The defense held firm, with Ewer making one more big play, a sack on third down with 3:18 left that put Mequon’s offense in an impossible fourth down spot.

“All the success we’ve had is about being a team,” head coach Jim Stefl said afterward. “We have 25 kids and the ones that aren’t on the field are always rooting hard for those that are.” The team effort includes good blocking on the offensive line, and Patrick Hall and Edwin Beilke repeatedly opened holes and created opportunities for their teammates.

7th GRADE RED STARTS FAST & CLOSES CLUTCH

The 7th Grade Red team used a fast start and some key plays at big moments to secure a 20-14 win over a good Slinger team. The Chiefs blocked a punt on the game’s opening possession, and worked their way down to the Slinger 20-yard line. At that point Davis Zeuztis took the ball on a quarterback keeper through a nice hole on the right side on 4th-and-2 to keep the drive alive.

Joey Biwer then threw a touchdown pass to Caden Bence. The Chiefs got the point after kick from Alex Peglow (kicks count for two points in youth football), to get an 8-0 lead. On their next offensive possession, the Chiefs scored again. This time it was Biwer swinging  a pass to speedy Jacob Boray who took it up on the right side for a 50-yard touchdown play and it was 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.

Slinger used a quickened pace on offense and the heightened tempo, along with some good inside running helped them score and cut the lead to 14-6 with 3:48 to go in the first half. Lake Country did not score on the ensuing possession, but a 3rd-and-7 conversion from Zeuztis on a keeper ensured they were able to run out the clock.

The first possession after halftime was the biggest of the game. Lake Country  chewed up more than half of the third quarter on a methodical drive, and then used the same combination as a previous drive. Zeuztis ran hard through the right side to get the ball on the door step, and then Biwer flipped a touchdown pass, this time a nice slant to Boray.

A Slinger drive was kept alive on a somewhat touchy pass interference call on fourth down, and the Owls scored with 6:49 left in the game to cut the lead to 20-14. Lake Country again responded with a clutch drive. On 3rd-and-7, Biwer dropped back. The pressure came and flushed him from the pocket. He spotted Josh Kilmer who made a catch and then a nice run into Slinger territory. The Chiefs didn’t score, but they used a lot of clock and put Slinger in bad field position. The defense closed out the win, with Bence making a fourth-down tackle to put it on ice.

The afternoons for the 5th Grade White team and 6th Grade Black didn’t go as well, but in each case the teams played quality opposition. The 5th Graders dealt with a good Tosa East team, with Owen Arnett making several big defensive plays to keep them on it, but the Tosa defense was very stout and deserves its bows.

The 6th Grade Black team fell to another strong and disciplined defensive unit, this one from Slinger. Chiefs’ quarterback Keenan Kling is tall and athletic, with a nice arm. But the Owls always stayed at home defensively, with Grainger Anderson making one interception, coming close to another and leading up a secondary that never really allowed any open space. Slinger’s sixth-grade running backs work hard and press the edges, and while the Chiefs defense hung tough and kept it a game, Slinger was able to chisel out the win.

Lake Country Chiefs 6th Grade White Wins Battle Of Unbeatens; Plus Four More Games At Arrowhead

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Every team at any level that enjoys a special season has at least one big test that pushes them to their limit and demands everything they had. The Lake Country Chiefs 6th Grade White team is having just such a season and faced just such a test against Brookfield Central on Saturday. The Chiefs’ prevailed 22-14 in hard-fought and well-played football game that was a credit to everyone on both sides who played and coached in it.

The Chiefs took the game’s first possession and immediately began moving the ball. A quick swing pass to Joshua Nielsen produced 25 yards up on the left side and a personal foul on Brookfield Central. Quarterback Max Berres then dropped back, found Nielsen running up in the inside seam and hit him on a beautiful route that produced the game’s first touchdown. Berres then boomed the extra point, the kick which counts for two at the youth level, and it was 8-0 Chiefs.

Brookfield Central came right back with a drive of their own. While Lake Country had struck quickly, scoring in less than two minutes, the Central drive took up most of the remaining first quarter time. The Lancers are a strong team up front and their runners are well-trained, and know how to fall forward after contact, usually getting an extra yard or two out of it. It paid off for them on this grinding drive, which saw a couple third-down conversions, a fourth-and-one conversion and ultimately a short touchdown run to make it 8-6. The Lake Country defense would draw a round of applause, as this was the first touchdown all year they’d given up…in their sixth game of the season.

Lake Country countered with a second quarter drive built on some great work in the passing game. Berres found Darren Boyce for a big play over the middle. Jacob Nielsen, the twin brother of Joshua, made a nice sliding catch on a post pattern that got the ball just inside the 20. Then Jake Dunn made a highlight reel play. Running down the right sideline he was bracketed by two defenders. Dunn split the two defenders, reached out and made the catch. Just as impressive, the angle he was at made bringing the ball into his chest impossible, and Dunn held on with his hands, a much tougher task than it looks. The catch set up a short TD run and another kick conversion from Berres to make the score 16-6.

Brookfield Central drove to the Lake Country 25-yard line with the clock ticking down before halftime. With 31 seconds left, the Lancers picked up a first down at the 15, and still had two timeouts. One of the significant defensive plays of the game was made by Coleton Borkowicz, who made a key open field tackle on a swing pass, and then he finished the job with an interception on the ensuing play. Lake Country took its 10-point lead into the locker room.

The Lancers got the ball to start the second half and promptly put together another drive. With the ball inside the ten-yard line, Jacob Nielsen made a big play on a blitz up the middle, producing a three-yard loss and setting the stage for the defense to hold when a 4th-and-6 swing pass was met by a phalanx of Chiefs at the 3-yard line. Even though Brookfield Central’s defense produced a safety to cut the lead to 16-8, the defensive stand still meant anywhere from 4-6 points on the scoreboard.

In the initial part of the fourth quarter, Central scored, executing a nice bootleg play to get close, and then two hard runs up the middle to put it in the end zone. Even though a mishandled snap cost them the potential tying PAT, it was now 16-14 and there was still 5:34 on the clock.

Teams having big years, as the Chiefs’ sixth-graders are, often have another psychological challenge to meet and it’s been able to execute with the same smoothness with the pressure on, as when they’re leading by large margin. The offense faced just such a test on the next possession and passed with flying colors.

With the ball near midfield on 3rd-and-5, Joshua Nielsen rumbled off tackle for a big first down. Borkowicz then picked and darted his way through the middle and made it to the 15-yard line. It looked like the drive might stall on 4th-and-12 on the 19, and give Brookfield Central a few cracks at a big play to win it. But the Nielsen twins executed a halfback option pass to perfect, Josh throwing to Jacob, who caught the ball just before the first down marker, and reached out as he was hit to get the first down.

The Chiefs were able to get a touchdown, force Central to use all their remaining timeouts and bleed the clock to 33 seconds with a 22-14 lead. The last-gasp Central shot ended when Dunn made an interception and the undefeated season was kept alive.

In watching the 6th Grade White team play several times since the beginning of the season, what’s most impressive is how they’ve continued to work and improve, when the early success on the scoreboard might have tempted them to think such wasn’t necessary. That work ethic paid off for them against an opponent who required all the Chiefs had in reserve.

“It’s the kids,” head coach Roger Porter said. “I’d like to tell you it’s something we do, but the kids are the ones who have bought into what we’re doing from Day One.” The coach went on to credit their base of support he gets from the parents who have all helped affirm a team culture of continuous improvement.

The team concept the sixth-graders live by is evident by how many players are involved in the offense. “We’re hard to defend,” said assistant Rob Nielsen, father of two of the boys who are the hardest to defend. “If they key on one person, we’ll go to someone else. It’s up to us (the coaches) to figure out who that is.”

Making a team concept work requires selflessness, and a small, but telling anecdote could be observed after the game. As the sixth-graders gathered beyond the end zone to hear their coaches talk and celebrate their victory, the fifth-grade game had begun. A Lake Country fifth-grader broke into the clear, and completely on instinct, every single sixth grader began cheering them on, without any prompting from anyone.

There’s still work to do though, and with positional scheduling in place for the final two games, the Chiefs’ coaching staff anticipates more opponents of the quality they faced on Saturday afternoon. “We’re not done,” Porter stressed. “We’ve got to come back to practice, focus and keep moving forward.”

Moving forward is the operative word. The kids have the weekend to enjoy this hard-fought win and then come back and prepare for the next one.”We don’t like the rearview mirror,” Porter said.

ELSEWHERE AT ARROWHEAD

Four other games took place in the morning and afternoon time slots at Arrowhead on Saturday. Some notable developments were…

*The 8th Grade White team showed they had plenty of bounceback ability. After losing their first game of the season last Saturday, the White kids, led by Chandler Pulvermacher came barreling back with a vengeance, with a 40-0 win over Brookfield Central.

“They’re like little professionals,” head coach Matt McQuestion said afterward, regarding how the eighth-graders had responded in practice this week after their first defeat. “They get it. They understand we have a window of time that’s about playing football and they come to do it. We had tough practices on Monday and Tuesday and by Thursday we were ready.”

*It was a tough day for the 7th Grade White team, falling behind early against a 7th-grade Central team that was as good and well-coached as the sixth-grade team was. It was easy to understand why those strongly involved with the Chiefs’ organization speak very well of their Brookfield Central counterparts.

The Lake Country defensive front, keyed by Jack Hazod, made some key stops to keep the game close, and Tyler Gouin made some nice shifting runs. Against this opponent, and in a game with a strange rhythm, due to a lengthy weather delay, it just wouldn’t be enough to produce a win.

*When the afternoon arrived, the opponent changed from Brookfield Central to Brookfield East and both the 5th and 6th Grade Red teams played good games that ultimately came up a bit short.

The 5th graders lost a heartbreaker. Aidan Jensen intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble in the first half. Max Bredeson also recovered a fumble. Both players joined with shifty Joe Perri to keep the offense moving along.

If you judged a game by the flow of play and basic control of play, the fifth-graders did well and had a 6-0 lead. But a game is often swung by a few key plays, and three big ones turned this one East’s way. They converted a fourth-and-goal from the 10 for a tying touchdown pass. And with the game tied 6-6 late in the fourth quarter, two more long downfield passes, not often seen at the fifth-grade level, set up the game-winning touchdown in the closing minute.

*The 6th Grade Red team ended up on the short end of an 8-0 score, but watching this game in person tells you they have as much to be proud of as any team that took the field on Saturday. This East team had tremendous talent, with lineman that looked ready for eighth or ninth grade and an extraordinary talent at quarterback in Sam McGath.

But the 6th Grade Red team hung in and battled the entire way. Will Lauterbach turned in his usual sideline-to-sideline pursuit on the defensive side and made so many tackles in so many places, that it’s hard to believe there’s only one of him out there. Logan Rachwal came up with a very good tackle against McGath on the outside that snuffed out a drive and kept the Chiefs in the game. Cade Hanley did a nice job running the quarterback keeper and helping Lake Country maintain possession and give themselves a chance. Ultimately, it was too big a wall to climb, but the effort deserves a salute.

Lake Country Chiefs Play Four Dramatic Games At Pewaukee High

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There were a lot of good things happening in the world of Lake Country Chiefs football on a foggy, rainy Saturday. The four games played at Pewaukee High by the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Grade Red teams were all not only close, but dramatic in the way they all ended. There was a lot of persistence, stick-to-it-ive-ness and competitive heart at all levels of play. And perhaps nowhere was more heartening to watch unfold, than what took place with the 6th Grade Red team, who fought their way to a well-earned 14-8 win over the Pewaukee Pirates.

The sixth graders lived through some tough losses in September, a couple by one score and another by a single point. All of them could have been changed by a single play. In the first quarter on Saturday, it looked like more of the same would happen.

The Chiefs seemed to have a goal-line stand made, when Pewaukee quarterback Travis Bentley made a nice fourth-down pass to Ryan Szewczyk, who went down and caught the ball just above the turf. Then it looked like the Chiefs had tied the game, when Jordan Bell got free down the left sideline, kept his balance and had broken into the clear. But it was ruled Bell had stepped out of bounds, though we should note that in the press box–the side of the field on which the run had taken place–even Pewaukee’s P.A. announcers thought Bell stayed inbounds.

Lake Country was trailing 8-0 in a game they could easily have led by the same score, or at least been tied. If anyone associated with the team thought “here we go again,” they could be forgiven.

But the sixth grade kids just kept coming after it.

The team’s first drive of the second half was a well-executed methodical march down the field marked by some great play from the offensive line. When Bell swept around the left side for a touchdown, there was no taking it away from him.

The PAT attempt came up short, so the Chiefs still trailed 8-6 and had work to do. Pewaukee launched a drive to try and put the game away, but Bell made an interception deep in Lake Country territory to keep the game alive.

Then, on his 11-yard line, Noah James broke loose, got to the second level of the defense, and with his excellent acceleration, just took off. Eighty-nine yards later he was in the end zone and with the conversion of the two-point PAT, the Chiefs now had a 14-8 lead with just 4:11 to play.

Pewaukee still had a chance, and they had the ball near midfield. Sam Wells came up with a big defensive play on first down, a five-yard tackle for loss that gave the Chiefs control of the series. On fourth down, Will Lauterbach, who once again seemed to be involved on almost every tackle, made an interception that secured a hard-fought win.

“They never quit,” said head coach Ethan Lenz of his players in the aftermath of the game, as the thunder began to rumble and the afternoon storm prepared to dump out over the field. “This has been a great group of kids to work with all year, and once the offense got on track, that was it.”

We often talk about how football teaches kids life lessons beyond the game. The persistence they’ve shown for Coach Lenz and his staff all year would be praise-worthy and value-affirming even if it never led to a victory. But that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable to see this group have its efforts rewarded with a win over a good opponent on Saturday.

SEVENTH GRADERS WIN IT IN THE TRENCHES

The seventh-graders had their own back-and-forth affair and traded blows back and forth against what was a good, physical Pewaukee team, and finally prevailed 14-12.

Lake Country got a drive started when Joey Biwer swung a short pass to Ryan Burchett, who first cut inside, then darted back out and turned it into a thirty-yard play that put the ball in Pewaukee territory. Jacoby Boray took an out pass for a first down, and Caden Bence picked up five more an inside handoff.

It still looked the drive would stall when the Chiefs faced 4th-and-17 from the 21-yard-line, but Boray got open on the sideline and Biwer hit him in stride for an improbable touchdown that made it 6-0 late in the first quarter.

Pewaukee was able to tie the game, on a well-executed pass play to the corner of the end zone. The throw was on target and the catch was a tough one over good coverage from the Chiefs secondary, and the touchdown sent the game to the locker room tied 6-6.

The third quarter, and much of the fourth quarter didn’t see a lot of highlight plays, but what was becoming evident is that the Lake Country line was getting control of the game.  With the clock nearing the three-minute mark, quarterback Davis Zeuztis started up the middle on a keeper deep in his own end. Zeuztis got to the outside and took off, making it all the way to the two-yard line before being tripped up.

It looked like the drive might stall, when the Chiefs faced fourth down on the five-yard line. Zeuztis threw a quick pass to Boray, who slipped a tackle, ducked inside and found the end zone. A converted kick for two points (in youth football, you kick for two and run for one) was huge and the lead was 14-6.

The converted kick looked even bigger when Pewaukee completed a long touchdown pass down the left sideline with a 1:20 left. But the Pirates couldn’t get the tying points through the uprights, and the Chiefs covered the onside kick to secure the win.

Head coach Mark Zeuztis had high praise for his line for the way they got control of the game and eventually allowed the team to win it with the big plays at the end. The nine names of the starting lineman on both sides of the ball–Luke Ramlow, Jay Graf, Alex Peglow, Ray Ripplinger, Will Paulson, Garret Anderson, Tanner Horkan, Jarrett Gross and Jake Kellerman–aren’t the ones that show up in a box score scoring touchdowns. But they’re the ones who hunkered down and made winning possible.

LIGHTNING STRIKES LATE FOR 5th GRADE

The fifth-grade game began with Pewaukee going on a touchdown march to begin the game, and the storm coming and the flashes of lightning creating a one-hour delay that gave it kind of a strange feel. But kids are resilient and unaffected by such breaks in rhythm and after getting loosened up again, the fifth-graders slowly gained steam.

Max Bredeson led a second-quarter drive, picking up twelve yards on an inside run to the 15-yard-line. But a fourth-and-three run from the 10-yard line came up just short of the first down and the score remained 7-0. Pewaukee made a drive of their own just before the half and had a chance to put the game away, but Ethan Berger made a big play with an interception in the end zone to keep it a 7-0 game.

It was in the second half that the shifty Bredeson was able to really get loose, using his speed and good body control as everyone started to wear down. He scored one touchdown, but the PAT was stopped and the Chiefs still trailed by a point. Lake Country got another drive going, reaching the 26-yard line as the fourth quarter began.

Bredeson ran right and found a well-blocked seam that got the offense to the 8-yard line. On third and goal, Bredeson then took an inside handoff and scored. The Chiefs had a 13-7 lead with 6:06 to go, and the defense closed out the win.

EIGHTH GRADE HEARTBREAK

The 8th Grade Red game was no less dramatic than any of the other three, and marked by some great performances. It was also marked with some tough heartbreak for the kids, as a wild fourth quarter ended up Pewaukee escaping with a 22-20 win.

It was a 6-6 game after three quarters and no sign that the game was about to turn into a passing war. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Jake Eskhoff threw a nice slant pass to L.J .McMullen in the end zone, who beautifully shielded the defender with his body and made the catch.

Then Pewaukee countered with a 73-yard post pattern to David Young, a player who seemed to be a threat to go the distance any time he was in sniffing distance of the football. Even though the PAT conversion put them in a 14-12 hole, the Chiefs’ kids were undeterred. On 3rd-and-18, they came up with their own deep passing game, as Eskhoff found Carter Bell on a 70-yard scoring strike to make it 20-14 with 2:46 left. Unfortunately, the Pirates had one more launch left in them and the third long-range bomb of the fourth quarter gave them a 22-20 win.

How The Lake Country Chiefs Protect Player Safety

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Player safety is a topic that’s at the forefront of discussion in the football world today, from the highest level down to the grass roots. The Lake Country Chiefs are no exception, with a solid system of protocols in place. And just as important, that system is built on a foundation of professionalism and communication.

Dave Deane is a medically trained EMT, and is officially a part of the staff of the 8th grade team his son D.J plays. In reality, Deane serves all 13 teams, from fifth grade through eighth grade, is a regular presence at games beyond his own team’s, and is in frequent communication with all the coaches and parents.

“There’s really good cooperation between the coaches, EMTs and the Fire Department,” Deane said. The Chiefs have an EMT present at every game, and if Deane isn’t there, you can see one of his colleagues on the sidelines. They do a lot of foot-taping, bandaging and icing. And they are there to make the call if an ambulance should ever be required.

Player safety, like anything else, needs to start with a firm foundation and Deane was quick to praise the coaching staffs across the board, for their emphasis on proper tackling, keeping the head up and going across the body, rather than ramming a helmet directly on a opposing player.

Good fundamental football and safety are goals that go hand-in-hand, and the reason the NFL is currently having problems is that too many players are showboats, and not because of any inherent problem in the sports itself. Deane says–and having watched all 13 teams practice at some point this season, I agree–that the Chiefs coaches put their kids on a firm foundation of fundamentals.

Then there’s the importance of communicating with the parents and it starts before the first practice. “I like to do it in person,” Deane said. A preseason meeting with Chiefs parents affords the EMT the opportunity to tell them his role–and emphasize that he’s there to help.

A more subtle problem area for the kids is after about a month of practice. “The kids are getting run down, they’ve started school, and they’re trying to keep up with everything,” Deane said. It’s then that he sends out a reminder e-mail to all the parents stressing vitamins, fluids and rest, all the while emphasizing that when in doubt, they should defer to the judgment of their family doctor.

Concussions are the hot-button issue when it comes to player safety, and the Chiefs have clear rules that are followed when a player exhibits concussion-like symptoms. These can be anything from dizziness to seeing stars. If these symptoms are detected, the player is immediately removed from the game and can only return upon getting clearance from his family physician.

Perhaps more work comes in the smaller, “nagging” injuries that come up during games, from sprains to jams. One of the hardest things to gauge in sports–at any level–is when someone is “hurt” and when they are “injured.” In the former case, a player has to learn to play through some soreness. In the latter, the player needs to be sidelined, genuinely unable to play.

The kids are an essential part of this process and having to work through whether they are hurt or injured is a prelude to life after school when they have to exercise judgment on things like when they’re just a little under the weather or whether they’re truly sick and should call off of work. The fact Deane is truly a part of the staff with the Chiefs make this challenging job a little easier.

“I’m getting to know them,” the EMT said. “I know their pain tolerance. If you kid that plays through anything starts saying something hurts, you know there’s something there.” He uses a 1-10 test to ask kids to gauge the pain, and anything over a “5” raises alarm bells.

Deane provides a tremendous service to the Lake Country Chiefs, it’s coaches, parents and players. But he sees himself as the fortunate one. “I’m happy to be a part of the staff,” he said. He added that he couldn’t design a blocking scheme or a defensive coverage, but helping the players with their physical well-being is a way he can contribute.

We might also add that simply knowing a trained professional, with a good working knowledge of these particular kids, is a great source of security for coaches and parents. “I enjoy it, working with the kids,” he said. “I enjoy each and every kid.”

“This is eighth grade football,” Deane said. “Your health is more important.” All the Chiefs kids are competitive, but Deane and his colleagues are the ones who make sure that competitiveness doesn’t lead into doing something imprudent. And when, on those many positive occasions that a player comes out of the game, but proves to be fine and ready to re-enter? “I tell the kids to turn around give a thumbs-up, so their parents see them,” he said.

Thumbs-up is the right phrase.  How about a thumbs-up to entire player safety program, from Deane, to his fellow EMTs to the coaches and to the parents.

Lake Country Chiefs Sweep Franklin On Saturday

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It felt like summer was back in session on Saturday afternoon as the weather heated up. The play of the Lake Country Chiefs coincided, as the 8th & 6th Grade White teams kept undefeated seasons going, and the 7th Grade White team won a wild game to extend their record 3-1.

The seventh graders took on Franklin, and it didn’t take long for the big plays to start. Nolan Henderson for Franklin and Nic Wohlfiel for the Chiefs seemed to be staging a game of one-on-one in the early going. Mason Hoffsteter made a nice leaping interception near the goal line to stop one drive. Franklin came back and Henderson swept in for a score to give Franklin the early 6-0 lead.

Lake Country began driving into Franklin territory, when Wohlfiel struck. He sprinted towards his left and throwing across his body, hit Cameron Carr on the dead run, and Carr took the ball inside the 5-yard line. Wohlfiel scored on a QB keeper and Seth Fohey hit the kick (PATs count for two points in youth football, with one point awarded for a run/pass conversion).

On the Chiefs’ next possession, Wohlfiel again threw a long pass to get Lake Country into Franklin territory. Then he took off on a keeper up the middle, slipped a couple of tacklers and once Wohlfiel got into the secondary, he was gone. The 35-yard-touchdown run was capped off by another Fohey kick and now it was 14-6.

Henderson had an immediate answer though, and he returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown, and Franklin converted its own PAT. It was 14-14 and we were only through the first quarter.

It was over the next two and a half quarters that the game really settled down. The beginning and the finish might have been dramatic, but in any sandwich, the real beef is in the middle and that was the case in this game. There were no points scored in the second quarter, and by the third quarter the Lake Country lineman were getting control of the game. The Chiefs converted four third-down plays to get inside the five-yard line. The biggest conversion came on 4th-and-3, when Jacob Schleicher took an inside handoff and scored. Fohey’s kick made it 22-14.

The control of the line of scrimmage extended to the defensive side, where Franklin’s offense had ceased to function. As exciting as the exploits of Wohlfiel and Henderson had been in the first quarter, that can’t sustain forever and it was the Chiefs who were the first to find the answer. They got a big special teams play when Nate Hemmer forced a fumble on a punt, and the lead extended to 30-14 with less than four minutes to go in the game.

Head coach Brenton Carr said the coaching staff made a few tweaks from a strategy standpoint when it came to the line play, but the biggest change was an attitude adjustment. “We could see in warmups the kids were flat,” the coach said. “We told them, ‘if you play like this, you’re going to get beat.'”

It might have taken a quarter or so for the kids to see that their coaches were right, but they were able to step up their game and get control. And in the process learned a valuable lesson about how important intensity and focus are to their success.

“The blocking was excellent, and the defense was good,” Coach Carr added. The one exception was some missed tackles, which the team will work on in practice and that nearly derailed an otherwise very sound defensive game.

Franklin scored a late touchdown when a swing pass turned into a long touchdown run and when the onside kick was covered with less than a minute to go, it was batten-down-the-hatches time in a 30-22 ballgame. Fortunately, the Chiefs defense held on.

One thing that can’t be overlooked in the 7th Grade White team’s current two-game win streak is the kicking of Fohey. He was 3-for-4 on Saturday and connected on 4-of-4 the previous week. To be adding two points to your touchdowns on a consistent basis, while most other teams are struggling to convert amounts to giving your team at least a one score edge, and in close games that adds up.

EIGHTH GRADERS UNLEASH MORE WEAPONS

Earlier this week, we featured Chandler Pulvermacher, one of the best players on the 8th Grade White team. Pulvermacher was again brilliant in his team’s 32-8 dismantling of Franklin, but the 8th Graders also showcased the depth and breadth of their talent in the systematic dismantling.

On the Chiefs’ first offensive possession, quarterback Jeff Holt first hit a nice slant pattern to convert a 3rd-and-10. Then he took the ball left on a keeper, leapt over a couple defenders, made it down the 3-yard-line and eventually scored the game’s first points at the 4:26 mark of the first quarter.

Carson Radtke would have a big game on both sides of the ball, and it stated on the defensive side. He blew up a first-down sweep and sent Franklin’s possession spiraling downwards into a 3rd-and-40 near their own goal line. It set up a short punt that Pulvermacher grabbed about the 25-yard line and took in for a touchdown.

Franklin had some opportunities, getting receivers open deep into the secondary and their quarterback, Alex Catarozole, had a nice arm. But his receivers weren’t quite at the same level, and the passes just missed converting.

In the second quarter, Holt found Radtke on a long pass to the corner, where Radtke made an excellent adjustment to complete the catch and again put the Chiefs’ in scoring position. John Doleschy then carried it to the 15-yard line and nearly broke it for the end zone. On the half’s final play, Pulvermacher swept right, kept his balance along the sideline and leaned forward for a backbreaking touchdown that made it 24-0 at halftime.

The offense kept moving consistently in the third quarter, with Holt finding both Radtke and Doleschy on swing passes. The latter caught one pass on the right side, cut back left, and ducked all the way through the middle to come out on the other side and make a big play. The drive eventually reached 4th-and-goal on the four-yard line and Pulvermacher delivered the touchdown. Franklin would get a token touchdown with 1:14 to go for their lone score.

“We wanted to try and spread the ball around and some guys just stepped up,” head coach Matt McQuestion said regarding his team’s offensive balance. It’s surely a scary thought for opponents, who know that not only can Lake Country ride a premier horse in Pulvermacher, they have a stable of thoroughbreds in reserve who are ready to saddle up and ride.

This ultimately points to a bigger challenge for the 8th Grade White kids, and it’s maintaining both intensity and improvement. When any team wins four games as decisively as they’ve done, it would be easy to start taking it for granted.

“It’s tough,” McQuestion acknowledged, regarding the admittedly pleasant problem of how to teach 8th graders to handle prosperity well. “The big thing is we hold the kids accountable for their playing time. They earn it on the practice field.” It’s by consistent effort–both physical and mental–that the Chiefs’ kids earn their way, and when you show consistent effort in practice it naturally carries over on to the field.

If nothing else, the team can surely find motivation in the fact that a special season is within their grasp as the calendar flips to October and it’s up to them to keep the foot on the gas.

SIXTH GRADERS SCORE WELL IN THE NIELSEN RATINGS

The 6th Grade White team also won their fourth game in as many tries and the 14-0 win completed a three-game sweep of Lake Country over Franklin  on this Saturday afternoon. The Nielsen twins got it started. A swing pass to Josh for a touchdown got the scoring started with 2:19 to go in the first period, and then brother Jacob got loose around the end for a touchdown that made it 14-0 at half.

Lake Country’s sixth grade team is exceptionally well-drilled in all phases of the game and where that really comes across is on their defense. Even on a couple of pass play that Franklin executed, the Chiefs’ kids wrapped up quickly with swift and sure tackling.

In an age where one can turn on the TV set on Saturday and Sunday and see missed tackles and poor fundamentals at the highest levels of play, the 6th graders are being coached to play the right way and for an opposing offense, it has to feel like a trip to the dentist. The Nielsen boys were the ones that planted their feet in the end zone, but the systematic team effort is what really stands out with this group of kids and it’s why they are enjoying an excellent year.

The afternoon wrapped up with the 5th Grade White team playing Germantown. It was a close game the entire way, but Germantown fought out a 6-0 win. The Chiefs got standout defensive play from Logan Van Sistine, Jake Parsons and Owen Arnett.

Van Sistine in particular, shows fantastic tackling form and repeatedly made plays on the outside  and in the open field that could have gone for big yardage, if not for his fundamentally sound play. Arnett repeatedly broke the line up the middle and created havoc, while Parsons provided pressure off the edge. The kids weren’t able to make that one big offensive play that would have created a different result, but they played a tough, physical game against a good team and should be proud of themselves.

Chandler Pulvermacher: A Normal Kid With Abnormal Talent

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When you watch the Lake Country Chiefs 8th Grade Red football team play, it doesn’t take long for Chandler Pulvermacher to stand out. The lanky running back sweeps around the edges at great speed, cuts back with a smoothness not often seen from a back at this level and is a nightmare to defend. Play him straight up and get run over. Overpursue and watch him cut back into a wide-open terrain.

It’s not for nothing that his coach, Matt McQuestion, says Pulvermacher has all the tools to be great when he moves on to play for the Arrowhead Warhawks in the years to come.  “He’s the best I’ve ever seen,” McQuestion said, comparing Pulvermacher’s talent to Dominic Todarello, who led Arrowhead to the state championship in 2012.

Such praise rolls off the back of Pulvermacher with the same ease that opposing tacklers do. Speaking to the eighth-grader at the end of his practice earlier this week, his low-key unassuming humility is the first thing that stands out.

“I’m just a normal 13-year-old,” he said. “I like to hang out with my brothers and my friends.” Pulvermacher works at getting his homework done efficiently enough to allow him some time to relax in the evenings when practice is done.

His off-the-field workouts are relatively mild—“I don’t do much,” he said regarding his routine away from the structured regimen offered by the Chiefs practice schedule. “We have a lifting room in our house that I’ll go sometimes with my older brother, but not a lot.” Though that will have to change if he hopes to continue his success through high school, Pulvermacher is indeed, as he says “a normal 13-year-old.”

The routine of playing youth football is not easy and requires kids to learn organizational skills and to manage their time. Pulvermacher aims at finishing his homework in study hall, a place that can offer an easy temptation to waste time for those who aren’t quite as busy. “And Wednesday’s my day,” he said regarding really hitting the books. Wednesday, along with Friday, are days that all Chiefs teams are given off from the routine of practice.

From August through late October Pulvermacher lives the routine of keeping up with school, working at practice and being up at 6:30 AM each day. Playing football is for him, as it is for all the kids on the Chiefs’ teams, a way to gently introduce them to the demands they’ll eventually face year-round and every day.

The love for football came from Chandler’s father, who got him involved in the flag football program that serves 1st thru 4th grade. But while paternal influence can nudge in a certain direction, eventually every kid decides whether he truly loves the game himself. Pulvermacher clearly does, and he said that’s the first thing he would bring up to kids in fifth grade, if asked to explain why they should continue to play the sport once it’s time to put on the pads and tackle.

“If they don’t like it they don’t, but I’d ask someone to give it a chance,” Pulvermacher said regarding a theoretical conversation he might have with a wavering prospect. “It’s a great experience and it helps me in a lot of ways outside of football. The coaches are always teaching how to be leaders in life, always helping us try and be better.”

Like any eighth-grader, Pulvermacher has areas that need to be improved. McQuestion spoke of the need for improved conditioning and strength as the primary areas. But the coach quickly returned to Pulvermacher’s down-to-earth attitude, his leadership skills within the team and the potential his immense physical tools give him.

Pulvermacher is the kind of player who represents not just his team and the Lake Country Chiefs association well, but he’s a positive face for the sport of football, thanks to a friendly demeanor off the field and a hard-nosed competitiveness between the lines.

“He could be one of the best,” McQuestion said. “But what’ s unique is how humble he is.”

Lake Country Chiefs 8th Graders Lead The Way At Arrowhead On Saturday

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The Lake Country Chiefs’ Red teams, from 5th through 8th grade, came to Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday to meet with the teams from Tosa East. A big win, a couple hard-fought losses, and a momentum-changing tie marked the day….

EIGHT GRADERS THUNDER TO EASY WIN

The Lake Country Chiefs’ 8th Grade Red team got the day started at 9 AM with a 38-6 thrashing of Tosa East that came about in the way a coach always likes to see—through complete control of the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

It was a somewhat disjointed first quarter, with each team turning it over twice, but the Chiefs set the tone up front right away. After Tosa East got some momentum with a fumble recovery on the game’s first possession, defensive end Connor Hanley immediately stuffed a play for a four-yard loss and Lake Country would get the ball back close to where they’d left off.

Zach Hastings then made the first big offensive play, coming from the left slot, sweeping around the right side, getting into space, delivering a wicked stiff-arm and reaching the nine-yard line. Hastings run set up the day’s first touchdown. The next three possessions ended in interceptions, but Lake Country’s Carter Bell had the last one. It resulted in a 30-yard run by T.J. Stewart to the doorstep of the end zone, and Stewart ultimately finished the drive with a touchdown.

The turnovers got cleaned up in the second quarter, and the Chiefs’ line dominance became more apparent. Offensive tackles Charlie Becker and Michael Reige repeatedly sealed off the edges and created space on the outside for Stewart, Hastings & Co. The interior was controlled by the trio of Zach Karrells, Ryan Kaiser and Sam Jungbluth. It resulted in another long run by Stewart, which in turn set up a score from Tyler Zimmerman. It was 20-0 before the second quarter was halfway done.

Tosa East couldn’t get anything going offensively against the defensive interior of Harry Warren, Joe Hassler and Tony Konen, so the Trojans dialed up some trickery. A halfback option pass resulted in a touchdown at the 1:52 mark of the second quarter. But that was still enough time for Stewart to take an inside handoff, get to the right sideline and take the ball 50 yards to the house. Tosa East tried the halfback option with a minute left, but the Chiefs weren’t fooled twice—the play was blown up.

The weather began to turn at halftime, as the promising sunny Saturday morning gave way to the dank chill that would settle on the area for the balance of the afternoon. There was no such change in the Chiefs’ fortunes though. Joey Meier would score a touchdown that extended the lead to 32-6 and Lake Country scored once more. Tosa East simply never generated a sustained offensive threat outside of the lone trick play.

It marks the second straight victory for head coach John Hanley’s kids, and they’ve seen progression each week—from tough loss to tough win to blowout victory. Now it’s about continuing to build on the rhythm they’ve established.

SEVENTH GRADE SHOWDOWN

The 7th Grade Red game against Tosa East was the only battle of 2-0 teams in the universe that is Lake Country Chiefs football, and while the Chiefs dropped a tough 16-6 game, they played a football game and an opponent worthy of the stakes.

Lake Country got the game off to a strong start. It started with great defense on the opening possession, as they superbly defended a pitch to the outside, stringing it all the way to the sidelines, then landing a hit that forced a fumble and a recovery.

The Chiefs then quickly swung a pass to Jacob Boray who got the sideline and down to the Tosa 20-yard line. On third and nine, an offensive line quintet led by Will Paulson and Raymond Ripplinger in the middle created a huge hole in the middle that resulted in the game’s first touchdown.

It stayed 6-0 into the second quarter. Caden Bence intercepted a fourth-down pass at the goal line to preserve the Chiefs’ lead. But when Tosa East’s own defense immediately held, it created a field position conundrum that would plague Lake Country.

The game began to be played almost exclusively on their side of the field, and though it took some time, Tosa East eventually scored, when Victor Ferrihaber, a bruising fullback, pounded his way into the end zone. And in a league where a converted kick results in two points, Tosa’s kicker blasted home an extra point that would have been good from 35 yards. The game went the locker room 8-6.

Lake Country got the opening kickoff, but when they were pinned deep, it set up another go-around of being on the wrong side of the field position battle. In a game where the offenses are in control, this can be overcome, but when you have two excellent teams, defense often holds sway and that was true on both sides of the ball here.

The Chiefs played good defense all day, with Bence making at least two brilliant open field tackles on the edge, plays done in textbook form. The kind of clean open field play made by Bence—head up, body squared and meeting the runner squarely—don’t make highlight reels, but they put ballcarriers down in a way that’s both efficient in football terms and secure in terms of player safety.

Tosa East was persistent and had several talented players in the backfield that kept the pressure on. Aaron Johnson-Moorer was a challenge on the outside, constantly pushing the edge. If the Chiefs’ became too conscious of the outside, then Tosa had a big, physical line and backs line Fernhaber and Henry Tyson that were tough to tackle inside. With the field position advantage, they eventually scored and again blasted the extra point into the parking lot.

The kids of head coach Mark Zeutzius never gave up, even on a day they were swimming upstream. Dane Vance took the ball and pounded up the middle to midfield in the fourth quarter to reverse field position. Joey Biwer then threw a beautiful downfield pass to Davis Zeutzius and got the Chiefs into the red zone, but the final drive stalled and the game ended 16-6.

Lake Country’s 7th Grade Red team can still feel good about how they competed. Against a team that will surely be among the league’s best all season, and despite battling field position and a kicking game that gave Tosa a big edge, the Chiefs were just a couple plays away on their final chance from matching Tosa East in touchdowns.

SIXTH GRADERS JUST MISS

The 6th Grade Red team competed hard, and made some great defensive plays, but two big offensive plays being called back and a key injury were too much to overcome in a close 7-0 loss.

Lake Country’s sixth-grade kids followed in the mold of the seventh-graders, with some terrific open-field tackles, including a couple by Cade Hanley and Jordan Bell, and several by Will Lauterbach, the linebacker who must have figured out some way to multiply himself, for the raw number of tackles he manages to get in on.

A second-quarter drive had promise, after Hanley took it on a keeper, peeled off to the right side and got into Tosa East territory, but the drive stalled. Tosa East started a drive of their own and faced a 4th-and-7 on the Chiefs’ 30-yard line. Quarterback Justin Steinike dropped back and found his tight end, Oliver Portzebowski, on a beautifully executed pass over the middle that ended up in the end zone for what would prove to be the game’s only score.

In the second half, the Lake Country offense began to apply more pressure on the edge, but just couldn’t quite get over the hump. Bell tore off a 50-yard run down the right sideline on the first play of the third quarter, but it was a called back on a penalty. On a later play Bell ran to the sideline and the tackle resulted in a sprained ankle. Down near the sidelines, Bell could be heard saying he wanted to get back in the game, but even though his speed represented one of the team’s best chances to win, the coaches put safety first and kept him icing the ankle.

A Tosa East drive early in the fourth quarter to try and put the game away was stopped when Lauterbach blitzed up the middle and blew up a key third-down play. With 5:43 to play, the Chiefs had it on their own 30-yard line. Hanley picked up one first down, and then broke loose on a run that picked up about thirty yards. This play was also called back.

Overcoming eighty yards of lost yardage and a key injury is a tough row to hoe in a game this close, and even though the Chiefs got as close as the Tosa 39-yard line with 1:45 to play, the game ended 7-0.

FIFTH GRADERS TURN THE TIDE

Some persistence from the players and good adjustments from the coaching staff helped turn the tide for the Chiefs’ fifth-graders, and a game that began in less-than-promising fashion ended up in a 7-7 tie.

Tosa got the opening kickoff, and in spite of a good defensive play from Alec Swinehart on third down, the Trojans converted a key fourth down play and took a 7-0 lead, on a drive that chewed up the game’s first five minutes.

By the second quarter, the Chiefs’ defense had made key adjustments though. “We changed our gap alignments,” head coach Tim Seidl said after the game. “We spread them out and started to contain everything inside better.” The coach further pointed out that beyond the Xs and Os, the kids simply started to come off the ball better and make plays.

We should note  that this writer has seen two of the three games played the 5th Grade Red team, and in each case, there have been good tactical adjustments made that have turned momentum in the Chiefs’ favor after early events went against them.

Now it was time for the offense to make some plays and it fell to Max Bredeson to turn the tide late in the second quarter. He started on the defensive side, first making a tackle for a loss, then pressuring the quarterback on third-and-long, and forcing a punt with 1:42 left.

Now on offense, Bredeson took a swing pass, got in the clear, broke two tackles and made his way up to the sideline. Some last-gasp defensive pressure at the 10-yard line, forced a stumble, but Bredeson kept his feet, kept inbounds and scored. Joe Perri then ran in the conversion and the game was tied 7-7. Both defenses took over the second half and the game ended there. No team shows up on Saturday hoping to tie, but the ability of the Chiefs’ kids to fight back and their coaches to adjust quickly turned around a day that had started in less-than-promising fashion.

How A Youth Football Coach Prepares His Team

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What it’s like to take a group of roughly twenty-five grade-school kids and prepare them to operate as a cohesive football team on Saturday? As you can imagine it takes a lot of dedication, it takes a lot of patience and it requires a certain amount of creativity in the process.



“An hour on day on average,” is what Lake Country Chiefs 7th-grade coach Brenton Carr said, regarding how much time he spends on his team. Keep in mind that this is time outside the two hours a day in practice, and Saturday’s game itself. “It’s getting practice plans together, communicating with the assistant coaches, and watching our team on film,” the head coach added.

The preparation starts on Sunday. While the kids are kicking back and thinking more about the game the previous day, the coaching staff has to be moving forward into the next week. Video of the game is downloaded into a website where the coaches can review everything, from strategy to their team’s execution of basic fundamentals.

Coach Carr said roughly two hours is spent studying Saturday’s game. “It takes about 20 minutes to go through once, and I usually watch five or six times. It’s realistically impossible to see everything a coach needs to see on the first run through—if your team has the ball, each component of the offense—the line, the backs, the downfield blocking, along with evaluating how each matched up with the unique defensive scheme—all have to be taken into consideration.

On Monday, it’s time to hit the practice field and while there are certain similarities to the flow of practice—the first hour with players in their position groups working individually, followed by the team coming together as a whole—each day has to approached with subtle differences that build to game day.

“On the first day, it’s more individual-based,” Coach Carr said. “Maybe we put in a new play or two.” On Tuesday, the offenses and defenses come together as a unit. In the latter part of the week, the preparation segueways to the unique challenge presented by Saturday’s opponent. The “scout teams” are put into place. The second-string players will mimic what the opposing team is likely to do on both offense and defense, so there are as few surprises as possible in the game. Then on Thursday, it’s time to fine-tune.

When we think of a coach being creative, it’s usually some sort of brilliant offensive or defensive innovation we have in mind. And as the introduction of some new plays every Monday shows, that’s part of the life of a youth football coach. But there’s another facet to being creative that a youth coach has to work on and it’s how to keep the kids conditioning.

There are only two hours of practice time for four days now that the season has begun—Fridays are an off-day. That time isn’t all players in constant motion—there are frequent stoppages and teaching moments, along with water breaks. And we aren’t deep enough into the season for the kids to slack off on conditioning. Carving out 15 minutes to run sprints is an inefficient use of time.

“We incorporate it (conditioning) into the drills,” Coach Carr said. The drills are designed to work some extra running into them. For example, a drill for running backs might include a requirement that they run an extra 10-15 yards on each repetition. The time constraints of youth football make this kind of creative practice design necessary, something Mike McCarthy or Gary Anderson don’t exactly have to worry about.

The life of a youth football coach offers a lot of challenges, but also the reward of seeing it all come together on a Saturday afternoon. There’s no pay in it and no prestige. The commitment the coaches bring to the table exemplifies a lesson they try and impart to their kids—that hard work is its own reward.

Lake Country Lightning: 7th & 5th-Grade Chiefs Win Dramatic Games On Storm-Filled Afternoon

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The Lake Country Chiefs 7th Grade Red team was near the bitter end of a hard-fought battle with Brookfield Central. A well-played game was scoreless with just a minute and a half left. The Chiefs had the ball inside the Brookfield ten-yard line, but faced a 4th-and-5 from the seven-yard line.

Thunder was rumbling in the backdrop, as a storm that would produce lightning bolts and send everyone involved under the stands at Arrowhead Stadium for cover was less than a half-hour away. The Chiefs dialed up the number of Jacob Boray on an end-around play. It was blocked with precision, but as had been the case all afternoon, Brookfield’s well-coached defenders contested every step of the way. Boray raced for the edge, a phalanx of Central jerseys in pursuit.

Boray was racing to win a football game that was a positive delight to watch. When a seventh-grade game is scoreless in the closing minutes, a casual observer might think there was little action. But the opposite was true in this game. Both offenses repeatedly pushed the ball to the edge, seemingly on the verge of a big play.

For the Chiefs, that meant several well-executed swing passes down the line, as quarterbacks Joey Biwer and Davis Zeutis took turns hitting receivers in the flat. For Brookfield, it was their sweeps and option constantly looking to break the edge. But Lake Country’s kids stayed disciplined, and their tackling was sure. Each offense threatened, but neither defense cracked. And that brought us to Boray’s final mad dash for the pylon.

If this were Hollywood, the filmmakers would have slowed everything down and played dramatic music, honing in on the determined look of Boray, his blockers and the defenders furiously chasing him. We would have seen Boray reach for the end zone and make it with room to spare. The seventh-grade Red Chiefs had the winning margin to start their season 1-0.

Head coach Mark Zeutis was enthusiastic in his praise of his entire team’s effort. “Everybody blocked,” was his response to Boray’s touchdown run. The coach was pleased with the way his kids blocked down the field, and the way they played defense. It took every ounce of solid fundamental play the seventh-graders had in them to beat what is clearly a very good Brookfield Central team, and they did it, with a 6-0 win.

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE: FIFTH-GRADERS WIN IN FINAL MINUTE

The Lake Country Chiefs 5th-grade Red team had their own dramatic story to tell, getting a late fourth-quarter touchdown run to pull out a 14-13 win. It was especially satisfying for the kids, and for Coach Tim Steidl and his entire staff, because the fifth-graders had to rally from behind, not once, but twice.

Brookfield Central’s fifth-grade team opened the game with an impressive drive that chewed up nearly six minutes of clock time and put them in front 6-0. Lake Country responded with a drive that took precisely 38 seconds. Quarterback Max Bredeson took the ball to his left. Then he darted back to the right and found a crease just beyond the linebackers. Bredeson was gone, and he then ran in the PAT conversion (runs/passes are worth one point, kicks are two points, in the inverse of the college/NFL rules). The lead that Central had so painstakingly built was wiped out in a heartbeat.

Central got their own lightning in the second half, with a long touchdown run that put them up 13-7. As the clock wound toward two minutes, and the Chiefs with the ball near midfield, it wasn’t over, but one had the feeling this Central lead might stand up.

But Lake Country had been better offensively in the second half, even though they hadn’t yet found the end zone. A strategy adjustment led them to attack the edge more aggressively. “We saw how their linebackers were crashing,” Seidl said afterward. “We couldn’t get inside, but thought we could get the ball outside. Throughout the second half, it seemed that any one of Bredeson, the shifty little running back Joe Perri, or Aiden Jensen, who also takes snaps at quarterback, might pop a big play.

It was Jensen who finally broke down the defensive wall. He ran left, and when he broke a tackle, the sideline was open. Some nifty footwork kept him inbounds, and with his equilibrium regained, Jensen had a wide-open field. He scored with 2:28 left in the game, and the Chiefs again converted the PAT. They held off one last Central charge and celebrated their first win.

“All the lineman did a wonderful job moving kids around,” was Seidl’s explanation for the excellence of Jensen, Perri and Bredeson. Indeed, the kids in the trenches repeatedly created the space for their teammates to keep testing the good Central defense until the big play finally happened.

“As a team they kept focus and never let their heads down,” a justifiably proud Seidl said about a group of kids who showed this determination in the first official tackle football game they’ve ever played.

When the fifth graders were asked by their coaches in the aftermath of the game, how it felt to have such a hard-fought win, one word was shouted—“Awesome!” Indeed, it was.

SIXTH GRADERS FIGHT HARD

The Red sixth-grade team of the Lake Country Chiefs might have had, relative to their grade level, one of the toughest challenges of an afternoon in which there were four different matchups of Lake Country and Brookfield Central teams (5th thru 8th grade). Central had three extremely talented skill position players, in quarterback Max Hawkins, running back Rashad Lampkins and wide receiver Caleb Rainey.

If you had told me on Saturday morning that when reporting on a sixth-grade football game, I’d have been talking about the vertical passing game, I’d have considered it unlikely. But Hawkins and Rainey hooked up three different teams on long passes that made it clear the sixth-grade Chiefs would have little, if any, margin for error.

But what they didn’t have in margin for error, they made up for with their own stick-to-it-ness. In spite of Central driving into scoring range, the Chiefs’ defensive kids repeatedly came up with big plays that stopped the drives when it counted. No one made more big plays than Will Lauterbach, who seemed to be everywhere on the field making big tackles.

For good measure, Lauterbach also boomed out a punt that traveled at least 40 yards in the air. He also nearly saved the Chiefs on their one crucial miscue—a bad snap on a punt. Lauterbach picked the ball up in his own end zone, no fewer than three Brookfield Central players having him in their crosshairs. He amazingly escaped, and even though the ball was turned over on downs, Lauterbach had given his team a chance at a stop. This was the one time though, that Central punched in a touchdown for a 6-0 lead.

The Chiefs’ quarterback/running back trio of Jordan Bell, Cade Hanley and a little bit of Noah James pushed the ball past midfield in the fourth quarter, before their last-ditch effort came up short.

“All the boys played hard and with desire,” Coach Ethan Lenz said after the game. “The run defense was very good. “(There is) a lot of positives they can take away from this.” As the coach noted, when all was said and done, the turnover on the punt in the end zone was the only difference in the game and with a little improvement, the result can turn into victories. The coaches emphasized that the improvement starts Monday afternoon at practice.

EIGHTH GRADERS LEARN LESSONS

9 AM was when the morning of Lake Country Chiefs-Brookfield Central football started. Some of us were still drinking our coffee, looking for a morning jolt. The eighth-grade kids got their own jolt from a physical Central team, and a talented and athletic quarterback in Max Meves. Central put together two good drives before anyone was settled in and built up a 13-0 lead.

The Chiefs’ defensive line settled down though, and as the game wore on they began to win battles at the point of attack. It allowed the talents of running back T.J. Steward to turn the momentum back. Steward first returned the kickoff after their second Central touchdown for a score of his own. Then he took a swing pass, eluded two tackles and made a long run deep into Central territory. After a nice inside slant pattern executed by quarterback Jake Eskoff and wide receiver Mark Ferree put the ball closer to the goal line, Steward closed it out with the touchdown run. The Chiefs went to halftime trailing just 13-12.

When Lake Country’s L.J. McMullen made a strong physical return of the second-half kickoff and then a facemask penalty was tacked on, the Chiefs had the ball at the Brookfield 30 and looked ready to swing the game decisively in their direction. Instead, the drive stalled and Central got the ball at their own ten. The defense made two good plays to force third down, but then a lapse allowed Meves to get outside. He inflicted a heavy price, going 85 yards for a touchdown and Brookfield would take a 21-12 lead.

The Chiefs’ defense continued to battle gamely against a quarterback, who even when you wrapped him up immediately, seemed to have the ability to fall forward for a couple yards. Tall, lanky and still strong, Meves was tough to spot. But stop him the Chiefs did, when Joey Meier and Hayden Hoppe combined on  a big 4th-and-1 stuff with 4:33 still left in the game.

On 4th-and-6, and option to Steward kept the drive and the Chiefs’ hopes alive. Zach Hastings picked up 18 more yards on a swing pass that took it inside the Brookfield 20. On 4th-and-3, the Chiefs tosses a swing pass to Steward, but a nice open field tackle by…who else…Meves, all but ended the game.

The message to the eighth-grade kids was about learning that simply being the Chiefs isn’t going to earn success on a football field. It’s a message the kids will have the next seven games of the season to implement, and as life lessons go, it wasn’t a bad one to learn.

Lake Country Chiefs 7th Grade Football Teams Show Growth In Saturday Scrimmage

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The start of the regular season is still two weeks out, but from the looks of things at Saturday morning’s scrimmage in Mukwonago, the two seventh-grade teams for the Lake Country Chiefs are both on the right track to be ready.

Arrowhead’s “White” and Red” teams were two of several squads that gathered at the fields of Mukwonago Middle School. Teams had about a half-field to work on and took turns with runs of 20-25 minutes each on offense.

Developing the offensive line is often the area of a football team that takes the longest to come together, requiring five players to operate in cohesion. In spite of having less than two weeks of practice time under their belt, the front five of head coach Mark Zeutius’ Red team came out and made an early statement in their first session.

Arrowhead Red repeatedly controlled the point of attack, and sprung its backs and quarterbacks for long gains. The second session came against a good team from Brookfield Central, and it required some adjustments, but Coach Zeutius concluded the scrimmage happy with how his kids adjusted and how they blocked as a team.

“As a group, the line is coming together real nice,” he said afterward. “We have to improve every week, but we made good adjustments against a tougher defense.” The coach went on to praise the work of his receivers in blocking down the field. While the line must control the point of attack, it’s the downfield blocks from receivers that take good runs and turn them into breakaway touchdowns and its clear Arrowhead Red’s kids have bought into the team concept behind blocking.

Arrowhead White head coach Brenton Carr had no less reasons to be happy. Coach Carr has a quarterback who’s both a strong runner and has an accuracy on the deep pass that’s rare for a seventh-grader. During practices, he routinely hit receivers on deep flag routes with the ease of a kid tossing his laundry into the basket. And in tough scrimmage situation, against another team from the good Brookfield Central program, it became apparent that the White team will have a deep passing game even when challenged by a live opponent.

The skill position players get the glory, but the lineman do the dirty work, and that’s something that wasn’t loss on Coach Carr, as his White team did a good job on both sides of the ball. Perhaps more impressively, the unseen work of the lineman didn’t escape the attention of the seventh-grade kids, who singled out Connor Jones, a hose tackle on defense and guard on offense, for his stellar play.

When you observe both the Red and White teams in practice, and then again in the scrimmage, their understanding of fundamentals and playing as a team become readily apparent. When the Red team was on defense, cornerback Caden Bence drew instinctive shouts of approval when he made a perfect form tackle on the outside to prevent a breakaway.

“That’s textbook,” Zeutius said, in praising Bence’s tackle. “He can’t get sucked in or it’s going to be a big play outside. He can’t miss or the back’s going to be gone. What Bence did was face the runner square-on, keep his head up and simply lift the ball carrier off his feet. It’s a play that’s both spectacular and safe all in one fell swoop and it’s a credit to the coaching Bence has received and his own willingness to apply it.

The healthy spirit of football was seen in ways beyond the execution and sound tackling. When a Brookfield Central player was hurt, the Arrowhead kids needed no instruction to instinctively applaud when he got up and walked off of his own accord. The players for both the Red and White teams respect the game and respect their opponent and it comes across in the way they play.

Furthermore, there’s a commitment on the part of the coaching staffs to get all the players involved and playing to their full potential. Carr spoke of his desire to get as many players as possible into both the offensive and defensive starting lineups. “It makes a better experience for the kids,” he said of the approach that avoids stacking both lineups with the same players, at the expense of not just a good playing experience, but team depth.

Competitive sports is still something that requires constant improvement and that’s perhaps most true of football, due to the number of kids involved. Zeutius and Carr both left the scrimmages knowing what they have to improve. Zeutius continued to stress team blocking, up and down the line. Carr hit a similar theme, citing the need for his team’s physicality to get better.

But that’s what the scrimmages of August are about—finding what you have, what you need to do to get better, for both the coaches and players. They’re on two weeks notice before the games start for real.