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Preble looks to erase sting of 2018

By Joshua Staloch
Correspondent


GREEN BAY – After a tumultuous 2018 campaign, the Green Bay Preble football team is looking to shake off the sting of starting 6-0, only to drop three straight to close the regular season.

The Hornets were then eliminated from postseason play in a WIAA Level 1 game to Neenah, 38-8.

“It does still sting, yeah,” said Preble head coach Dustin Gresen. “As a coach, you definitely don’t want that to happen. After a tough loss to Notre Dame, our mental toughness took a hit.”

The Sept. 28 road loss to the Tritons was particularly painful, as it came down to a quarterback fumble late in the game on what was shaping up to be a potentially game-winning drive.

Instead, the Hornets fell 20-14 and moved to 6-1 with the Fox River Classic Conference’s top teams laying in wait in the coming weeks.

Preble then went on to lose 42-6 to Pulaski and 48-6 to Bay Port in the final two weeks before its loss in the playoffs.

The end to the season left a sour taste in everyone’s mouth.

Coach Gresen and the rest of the staff and players have been working all summer to turn last season’s disappointment into a motivator for 2019.

If the mood on the Preble practice field is any indicator, the effort appears to be paying off.

“We’ve got good athletes and good football players,” Gresen said. “I think we’ll be on the top side of the conference again. We’re playing our toughest conference games at the start of the season this year, and I think this will help us play focused to start out. Also, this is year two with our offense installed. I think we’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last season at this time because the kids understand the offense so much better in camp.”

In addition to tough in-conference challenges early in the campaign, Gresen and coach Steve Jung of Neenah arranged a preseason scrimmage that offered the Hornets a mental and physical challenge.

Regardless of its opponent, Preble will use its speed in 2019 as a weapon to counter for a lack of overwhelming size.

The coaching staff is working on schemes that utilize their athletes’ wheels to make plays.

The team has a pair of capable, athletic signal-callers competing for the starting quarterback position and a stable of sure-handed receivers that should be able to make plays downfield.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Hornets will look to some of its success from a year ago as a performance motivator this season.

After holding Ashwaubenon to one touchdown in the 2018 opener, Preble’s defense went on to hold conference rival Green Bay Southwest to a field goal before handing Sheboygan South a 20-0 loss in the fifth game of the season.

All-conference performers returning are seniors Andy Rodriguez (offensive line) and Nick Renier (receiver) and junior Connor Shefchik (defensive back).


Coach Spotlight

Name: Dustin Gresen

School: Green Bay Preble

Years coaching at Preble: 6 (second as head coach)

Dustin Gresen

Other football coaching gigs: Ashwaubenon

Hometown: Hartford

Most memorable coaching moment: “I don’t have any huge standout moments in my mind yet – it’s only my second year as head coach. My first year coaching, a kid in my position group – a free safety – was named defensive back of the year in our conference. That was very cool to be a first-year coach and have one of my players become DB of the year.”

Coaching mentor: “Coach Ken Golomski, who was the head coach at Ashwaubenon for many years, won some state titles and was my position coach in college my senior year. I’ve always had a good relationship with him. Then, I’d say Pete Baganz, a head coach at Luxemburg-Casco. He also won a couple of state titles as a defensive coordinator alongside coach Golomski at Ashwaubenon. Both of those guys are Hall of Fame coaches here in Wisconsin.”

Best high school player you’ve coached against: “That’s a really tough question. I don’t get too involved with focusing on any one player on the other team. I’m looking at a scheme to stop what the other team is doing, as opposed to scheming to stop one player in particular.”

Goals for 2019: “Two goals we’re always going to have: win conference and win a playoff game.”

My style of coaching is: “Aside from being defensive-minded, I like to keep it simple and let the kids have fun.”


Green Bay Preble 2019 regular season schedule

8/22 – De Pere

8/29 – Bay Port

9/6 – @ Ashwaubenon

9/13 – Pulaski

9/20 – @ Sheboygan North

9/27 – @ Green Bay Southwest

10/4 – Notre Dame Academy

10/11 – Manitowoc Lincoln

10/18 – @ Sheboygan South

  • All games begin at 7 p.m.
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