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Union Grove coach Craig McClelland (gray shirt) focuses on his team's offensive unit during practice Tuesday afternoon at Union Grove. The Broncos are trying to get back on track following an 0-3 start this season.
The winning team could set itself up for a revival season.
The losing team will have to run the table in its remaining games to finish with a winning record in the regular season.
When the Waterford High School football team hosts Union Grove Friday in a 7 p.m. Southern Lakes Conference game, it will present an intriguing matchup, to say the least.
Union Grove, coming off a season in which it advanced to the third round of the WIAA Division 2 playoffs, has opened with three straight losses. Part of the problem is there hasn’t been an impact player the caliber of running back Cody Cotton, the All-Racine County Player of the Year last season who is now playing for Upper Iowa.
But the biggest issue has been defense. Through three games, the Broncos have allowed an average of 47.3 points and 446.6 yards per game. That contrasts sharply to last season, when they allowed an average of 13.0 points and 239.0 yards per game for the season.
Much of that can be explained by Union Grove’s graduation losses, most notably lineman Luke Kokat and linebacker Garrett Foldy (who started this season for the Racine Raiders). More than that, though, there’s less depth this season.
“The defense has just been lacking,” said senior guard Noah Moris, who has doubled on defense more this season. “Defense wins games, they say, and everybody on our defense has pretty much been playing offense.
“One of our main problems is that we’ve lacked the aggressiveness because we’re doing all these downs and all these plays and, all of a sudden, you’ve got to go back on defense and you’re tired.
“The main thing about defense is that you’ve got to want to hit somebody, you’ve got to want to make tackles, but we’ve been playing on our heels and our toes. The main thing we’ve got to focus on is being more aggressive.”
Meanwhile, Waterford is having problems of its own. The Wolverines have started 0-3 for the first time since 1993 and are in danger of having its first losing season since 2010 — the year before coach Adam Bakken took over the program.
“I don’t make excuses, but we’ve played a heck of a schedule our first three games,” Bakken said. “We haven’t helped our self too often. We’ve had just a lot of inconsistency. We haven’t really found a rhythm offensively, yet.
“But as far as Friday, if you have aspirations of becoming a playoff team, by starting 0-2 in the conference, you’re putting your back against the wall a little bit there.”
Led by junior linebacker Carson Bilitz, the Wolverines’ defense was strong in a 10-0 loss to Lake Geneva Badger last Friday. But Waterford has not been able to muster much offense so far, scoring just 26 points and averaging 216 yards per game.
Moris believes the latest renewal of this rivalry will bring out the best from both teams.
“They’re always a tough opponent for us,” he said. “They’ve got some big dudes. They’ve got some good linebackers this year.
“All in all, it’s going to be a grudge match. We both want to win so much. We have full respect for their team because they’re a bunch of big guys and they know how to play football. They’re a pound-the-ball football team.”
Union Grove coach Craig McClelland, whose team last year defeated Waterford 27-7 during the regular season and 21-14 in the playoffs, is well aware of what his team is up against Friday night.
“Watching their Lake Geneva film, which is their most recent film, they’re a physical football team,” he said. “Just like always. they’re going to come downhill, they’re going to come at you, they’re going to give you a bunch of different formations and they’re going to try and expose any type of flaw that they see in your defense until you adjust to it.”
McClelland sees Bilitz as a key player for Friday’s game.
“They’ve got some good players in the linebacking corps, especially No. 27 (Bilitz),” he said. “He flashes on film a lot and that’s someone we have to be concerned about every play. We have to know where he’s at.”
Said Bakken about Bilitz: “He’s having a great year. He literally does not leave the field. He plays fullback and middle linebacker, so he is being contacted every single play.
“He was our team MVP last year based on how the kids voted. He’s just a junior and he’s a good one.”
While Case is coming off a 28-0 loss to defending WIAA Division 1 champion Franklin, there are encouraging signs for the Eagles.
Two examples are senior linebacker Patrick Zimowski and junior receiver Latrell Herrington, who are both honor students.
Zimowski has flourished after being moved from the outside to the inside. He ranks 12th in the state with 38 tackles and also has four sacks through two games — four against Franklin.
At 5-foot-10 and 177 pounds, Zimowski might not look the part of a dominating player. His statistics suggest otherwise.
“I’m a lot more free in the run game,” Zimowski said. “I used to play outside backer and I played a little middle backer last year and I always had to take on multiple blocks. I would get double-teamed all the time.
“But with this defensive formation we’re running and all the stunts that we have with the the D-line, I just have to get off one person and then I can get in there and make the tackle.
“Also, the blitzes we’ve been running have been creating amazing holes for me, so I get through there and hit the quarterback.”
Herrington has been a sensation since being put on the field with fellow junior Brandon Nabbefeld, who played youth football with him. He has caught 11 passes for 329 yards and two touchdowns and is averaging an amazing 29.9 yards per catch.
“It’s been working out pretty well,” Herrington said. “We’ve been able to sense mismatches whenever they happen on the field.”
The highlight for Herrington so far is the 65-yard touchdown pass he caught from Nabbefeld in a 19-17 victory over Brookfield East Aug. 26. That tied the score 7-7 in the second quarter.
“Usually, I don’t get the ball on that play — I’m just a decoy,” he said. “But the safeties had gone to Terryon Brumby and I was just there with just a corner behind me.”
Sometimes it’s worth the price of admission to watch a kicker who doubles in soccer kick on football fields. That was the case last Friday night with Logan Rasch when Racine Lutheran defeated Catholic Central 28-7 in Burlington.
The junior was late to the game because he had a soccer game against Milwaukee South that afternoon. But once Rasch arrived, he put on a show.
“I put him in a bad spot with the extra point,” Lutheran coach Scott Smith said. “He just got dropped off because he had a soccer match and he wasn’t warmed up.
“I made him kick an extra point and he kind of shanked it. But then he settled down and he kicked three of them (kickoffs) out of the end zone. When you have a kicker who can just bomb the ball like he can, it’s really nice.”
Case (2-1, 0-1 SEC) at Kenosha Bradford (1-2, 0-1 SEC), 5:30 p.m.
Oak Creek (2-1, 1-0 SEC) at Horlick (3-0, 1-0 SEC), Horlick Field, 7 p.m.
Park (2-1, 0-1 SEC) at Franklin (2-1, 1-0), 7 p.m.
Union Grove (0-3, 0-2 SLC) at Waterford (0-3, 0-2 SLC), 7 p.m.
Burlington (1-2. 1-0 SLC) at Westosha Central (3-0, 1-0 SLC), 7 p.m.
Catholic Central (2-1, 0-1 Midwest Classic) at Whitefish Bay Dominican (0-1, 0-1 Midwest Classic), 7 p.m.
Brookfield Academy (1-2, 0-1 Midwest Classic) at Racine Lutheran (1-2, 1-0 Midwest Classic), Pritchard Park, 7 p.m.
St. Catherine's (3-0, 1-0 Metro Classic) at Somers Shoreland Lutheran (0-3, 0-1 Metro Classic), 7 p.m.
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Union Grove coach Craig McClelland (gray shirt) focuses on his team's offensive unit during practice Tuesday afternoon at Union Grove. The Broncos are trying to get back on track following an 0-3 start this season.
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