The West Fork football team will look to continue to gain ground in a tough Class A District 2 in year two of Wing-T offense.
Head Coach Dan Westhoff on implementing formation with this year’s group.
“To hopefully do things a little bit better, we made some adjustments,” says Westhoff. “We’re trying not to box guys in one certain role, we really want the flexibility to utilize guys’ skill sets. This is a balancing act, but you can’t have kids confused, you got to have them confident, and they need to be able to understand what’s going on. We walk in that line, I feel really good about the plan we have in place. We got a lot of guys back from injury, that’s really exciting. We had some speed that was missing last year, and we got some of that back. Just really excited here to get going.”
The Warhawks will have leadership roles to fill after graduating eight seniors last season including starting quarterback Sage Suntken, top receiver Cayde Eberling and leading tackler AJ Andersen.
Westhoff on team captains stepping up to lead.
“Jarren Hitzhusen is going to be a captain for us, he’s coming off a major injury. He’s worked extremely hard in the offseason to come back. He’s a warrior and really embodies everything that we’re trying to build with the program. Owen Schmidt’s a junior, he’ll be captain for us. He’s one of those guys taking their lumps, at the varsity level, as an underclassman. Braydon Smit is a captain, he’s a junior. He’s done a great job leading the way, and put a lot of good work in. Dax Sunken, he’s captain for us. And then Jack Watters is our last captain and will be a key part of our defense this year. We really have outstanding leadership, and that’s really important. We feel really good about these guys, the work they put in and their ability to lead.”
Junior Dax Suntken with 252 rushing yards and 40.5 tackles leads Warhawk returners. Sophomore Zander Hansen will take on an expanded role as starting quarterback after 1/1 for 15 yards and a touchdown last season.
West Fork has a scrimmage at Sioux Central on Friday. The Warhawks will face Clayton Ridge in their season opener at Wartburg College on Friday, August 30th.
