By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor
DE PERE – De Pere senior Hayden Kincade said he’s hoping for the chance to play a fourth season of high school football.
“I’m hoping to play next spring,” said Hayden, the son of Matt and Heather Kincade. “With COVID-19, everything is still up in the air.”
The De Pere school district moved all its fall sports to next spring and is currently doing all-virtual instruction.
Beginning next March, the Redbirds football team will play Green Bay Southwest, Oshkosh West, Bay Port, Appleton West and Manitowoc during the regular season.
“It’ll be nice to play different teams,” Kincade said. “Spring football will be different, but it will also be exciting. I’m hoping to have a good season to help me possibly play Division II college football.”
Kincade, an offensive right tackle, is currently undecided about college but said Division III Wartburg College and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire are current possibilities.
“I’d like to play college football,” said the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Kincade. “I’ll study something in the business field. My dream job would be to own a veterinary business – I love animals.”
De Pere’s head coach is Chad Michalkiewicz.
“Coach Michalkiewicz and my dad are good friends, so that makes our bond better,” said Kincade. “I like having him as a coach – he’s a good guy.”
Kincade also wrestled his freshman and sophomore years under the leadership of his dad, who led the Redbirds to their first-ever Fox River Classic Conference championship last season before resigning in the offseason.
“He helped me in and out of the wrestling room,” Kincade said of his dad. “He’s an intense coach.”
He said missing a block on the football field is always embarrassing, but it was something off the field that left him blushing.
“One time at De Pere when I was a freshman, I walked into the girls’ bathroom,” said Kincade. “Someone told me, ‘The bathrooms are down there on the right.’ I went down there and took a right, and it ended up being the wrong bathroom.”
Kincade, who recently had a successful pheasant-hunting trip in South Dakota, said he’d like to visit Ireland, Jamaica and Texas someday.
His parents are both from Iowa, and he has two younger brothers, Brennan and Jacob.
“Brennan is 15 and a sophomore at De Pere,” said Kincade, who describes himself as hard-working, confident and creative. “He wrestles and plays football. Jacob is 11 and a sixth-grader and also wrestles and plays football. My dad wrestled in high school and played college football at Buena Vista University in Iowa. My mom was a great track and cross country athlete.”
In his spare time, he likes being outside, hunting, fishing, woodworking, playing Xbox and hanging with friends.
Kincade also likes steak, the color orange, Oreo ice cream, the month of January, the restaurant Texas Roadhouse, Thanksgiving and dogs.