By Greg Bates
Correspondent
DE PERE – For the first time since 2015, the De Pere football team is conference champions.
The Redbirds finished off an undefeated campaign, downing visiting Green Bay Preble 35-7 Friday night, in the Fox River Classic Conference-North to take home the title outright.
Chad Michalkiewicz, in his 11th season as head coach, said it means everything to win the title.
“I remember 2015, your first couple of years, you’re scratching and clawing to make the playoffs and you wonder if it will ever happen,” he said. “Now, we’ve got a division championship and three conference championships. We’ll never take it for granted – it’s always special.”
It’s more special for the 29 seniors on the roster who got to cap their last regular-season home game with their first conference championship in football.
“It means lots,” senior Jack Jorgensen said. “Not lots of guys in De Pere have done it the last couple of years, and it feels good to be back on top.”
It’s been a successful ride the last two seasons for the Redbirds, who have gone a combined 15-1 – all in this calendar year because De Pere played the 2020 season in the spring of this year.
“It goes back to coach Mich (Michalkiewicz) – he deserves it,” quarterback Gabe Herman, whose older brother, Tanner, was part of the 2015 conference-winning squad, said. “He’s been rebuilding this program, and he’s done a great job.”
De Pere (8-1, 7-0 FRCC) all but sewed up the conference title the previous week (Oct. 8) when it downed Pulaski 17-14.
All De Pere had to do was beat two-win Preble.
The Redbirds, ranked No. 3 in Division 2, scored three first-quarter touchdowns to jump out to a big lead.
Anders Davidson scored on a 50-yard pass from Herman, Herman called a keeper for a 1-yard touchdown and Sean Colwell found the end zone from 13 yards out to put De Pere up big.
Midway through the second quarter, on a fourth-and-2 at the Preble 8-yard line, Michael Alexander scored on an 8-yard run to put the home team up 28-0 after the extra point.
At that point, Michalkiewicz pulled Herman and a number of his starters to keep them healthy for the playoffs, as well as give other players time on senior night.
“Earlier in the season, we had let the 1s (first string) go until we got a running clock, and there are not enough reps to get everyone in with it being senior night and lots of guys working hard all season,” Michalkiewicz said. “We didn’t sub as many out on defense early, but our backup skills and as many linemen as we had, they got three quarters of work tonight, so that’s good.”
Preble (2-7, 2-5) got on the board with a 19-yard touchdown by Eli DeBraske on a pass from David Torres with 7.2 seconds left in the second quarter.
The lone score of the second half came when Micah Schaut found Ben Willihnganz on a 24-yard pass.
De Pere finished with 280 yards on the ground.
After losing the season-opening game, the Redbirds are now riding an eight-game winning streak entering the playoffs.
De Pere earned a No. 1-seed in the 32-team Division 2 field and will host No. 8 Beaver Dam in Level 1 Friday, Oct. 22.
“They wanted to play at home in the playoffs this year, and we’ll keep doing the things that got us to where we are,” Michalkiewicz said.
De Pere is 6-1 this season against playoff-qualifying teams.
It was De Pere’s four-game run in Weeks 5-8 when it beat Bay Port, West De Pere, Notre Dame and Pulaski by a combined 16 points that got the Redbirds prepared for the postseason.
“We had a hard four-game stretch, but I think we’re better for it,” Herman said. “That’s how it’s going to be in the playoffs – you’re not going to play anyone not that great. All the teams, they’ve earned the spot to be in the playoffs, and if you lose, you’re out. We’re ready for whatever battles are ahead of us.”
Michalkiewicz said he knows he has a battle-tested team that has overcome adversity this season.
“We always say, ‘When you play a good team, they’re going to make plays, too.’ So how many plays can you make and how are you going to respond when they make a play?” Michalkiewicz said. “We’ve been in tight ball games with good teams and come out on top. That’s great experience.”
Through his experience on the football field as well on the basketball court, Jorgensen said he has learned a few things about the playoffs.
“You’ve got to stay even,” he said. “There’s going to be ups and downs, and you’ve got to stay level-headed and make the plays when you’ve got to make plays.”
Jorgensen and his teammates are undoubtedly ready for the postseason.
“We still haven’t played our best yet, but hopefully, we can do that in the playoffs and make a deep run,” Jorgensen said.