FOOTBALL

High school football: Edgar returnees find momentum in last season's painful end

Tim Johnson
Wausau Daily Herald

EDGAR – The playing conditions for Edgar’s final game last season were less than ideal. But it wasn’t so much the November snowstorm that derailed a run for a second straight state championship as it was the Wildcats’ self-inflicted mistakes against Bangor.

Edgar committed 18 penalties in the 16-8 loss in a WIAA Division 7 state quarterfinal, more than twice as many as the Wildcats had in any of their previous 11 games. The host Wildcats also turned over the ball twice, including inside the Bangor 1 in the opening quarter and had just one first down in the second half against the eventual state champs. 

“We did not play well in the second half. We did not play smart,” Edgar coach Jerry Sinz said during team practice last Saturday. “We let the weather affect us and we let the officials affect us. It was our own fault. We weren’t quite as disciplined as we should have been.”

It was an ending that has provided some incentive for the 28 returning letter winners this year for an Edgar team coming off of a 11-1 season. The Wildcats, who have won 31 games over the past three seasons, host Baldwin-Woodville in the season opener Friday and face Tomahawk on Aug. 31.

Karson Butt, a senior quarterback and defensive back, is one of the key returning players for Edgar football team, which finished two wins short of a return trip to the WIAA Division 7 state title game last Fall.

“(Bangor) obviously was a good team but we felt we had the game right at our fingertips," Wildcats senior Karson Butt said. "We just didn't have enough in the toolbox to finish. It would have been nice to be playing at state again, but now we have to get back to work.

"(The loss) has been providing us fuel to make sure that doesn't happen again this year. Every time we are in the weight room or doing sprints, it is in our minds."

Butt, Edgar’s quarterback and a defensive back, is one of seven returning offensive starters and five defensive ones for a Wildcats team that should be among the state title contenders again this season. He forms a veteran backfield along with senior teammates Will Raatz and Ty Guden — a group that combined for 1,850 yards and 32 touchdowns. 

"We've got younger (players) who are pushing the older guys and the older ones trying to keep them in check," said Raatz, who led the Wildcats in rushing with 922 yards last season. "Everyone (in the offensive skill positions) just keeps working hard and wanting the same thing."

Will Raatz led the Edgar football team with more than 900 yards rushing last season. He is part of a Wildcats backfield which returns three key players from last year's squad which finished 11-1. USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin file photo

Guden and Raatz also are part of a key returning crop of linebackers. Along with Butt in the secondary, they will be the strength for a defense that recorded 10 shutouts last season. 

"We've got a bunch of defensive backs and linebackers who have been playing (varsity) for two or three years now," said Guden, who finished with a team high 78 total tackles last year, including 11 for loss, and also recovered six fumbles. "We have experience there."

The Wildcats' main concern is the line on both sides of the ball. Edgar graduated all four starters on the defensive front and three of five on the offensive line. Seniors Tyler Skrzyphcak and Ryan MicKibben, who were all-Marawood Conference second-team and honorable-mention selections, respectively, last year are Edgar's two most-experienced offensive linemen. 

The experience and talent of the line will need to be replaced, but Sinz feels there are competent players in camp. Sinz said Friday's scrimmage at Eau Claire Regis would help determine the lineman starters going into the regular season. 

"The talent is there," Guden said. "We've got lineman who are running under 5 (seconds) in the 40 (yard dash). and guys benching almost 300 pounds. There is a lot of talent there and I feel confident in them."