De Pere ‘D’ ready to soar
DE PERE – Defense and discipline.
Those will be the strengths of the De Pere football team as it looks to put together its first winning season since capturing the Fox River Classic Conference title in 2015.
“We believe we’ll be one of the more disciplined teams in the area,” De Pere coach Chad Michalkiewicz said.
“We have two of the best linebackers in the conference, and we’re going to be tough to score on.”
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The Redbirds return a pair of first team all-FRCC linebackers in seniors Sam Hafner and Kyjuan Vengrowsky to its 3-4 defense.
Hafner recorded a team-high 126 tackles at inside linebacker. He aspires to be a pre-med major in college and is receiving interest from NCAA Division II, FCS and Ivy League programs.
Meanwhile, Vengrowsky made 67 tackles as an outside linebacker in De Pere’s 3-4 defense, which is looking to greatly improve upon last year when it finished seventh for total defense (287.3 yards per game) in the FRCC.
“The NFL has shifted because they want to sit in nickel,” Michalkiewicz said. “The equivalent of that for high school would be teams that leave four DBs on the field. You don’t see that as much, except for teams that can play man, like Bay Port.
“We’re going to try to stop the run with seven in the box. That’s going to be our mentality. We feel if we can stop the run with one extra DB, we’re going to be really hard to score against.”
Offensively, De Pere returns senior Christian Bocik at quarterback along with senior tight end Ethan Hohol and senior receive Ben Calaway.
The Redbirds are looking to return to the WIAA playoffs after qualifying Division 1 last year despite having a sub .500 record.
Michalkiewicz feels it can swing more games in their favor with its added focus on discipline and leadership.
“We really focus on behavioral skills around here and leadership,” Michalkiewicz said. “Hafner and some of the seniors put together kind of a culture manual that they came up with.
“These are our are team goals. This is our desired culture. Then, more importantly, this is how you need to live day-to-day to fulfill that culture. It’s not about who we say we want to be. It’s about how we act. That’s who we are. They’re really owning it.”
De Pere at a glance
Coach: Chad Michalkiewicz, 9th season, 41-36 record
Last year: 4-6
All-conference players to replace:
Caelan Markusen, RB, 2nd team
Josh Heisdorf, WR, 2nd team
Jacob Coisman, OL, 1st team
Seth Mitchell, OL, HM
Elijah Wright, DE, HM
Connor VandenHeuvel, DB, 2nd team
All conference players returning:
Sam Hafner, sr., ILB, 1st team
Kyjuan Vengrowsky, sr., OLB, 1st team
2019 Schedule
Aug. 22 at G.B. Preble
Aug. 29 at G.B. Southwest
Sept. 6 Sheboygan South
Sept. 13 G.B. Notre Dame
Sept. 20 at Bay Port
Sept. 27 Pulaski
Oct. 5 at Manitowoc
Oct. 11 at Sheboygan North
Oct. 18 Ashwaubenon