Cougars gear up, hungry for Northwoods success

The Coleman Cougars are back in cleats and gridiron helmets for the season and are looking solid over the first week of practice. After a more than solid season in the Northwoods last year that saw Coleman finish 7-2 in conference and make it to a level 2 playoff appearance against Auburndale, The Cougars have rebuilt what appears to be a bigger and stronger team.

“Attitude has been great and the work ethic has been great this far,” said Coleman head coach Jeff Bronson. “They seem hungry this year so we have been off to a great start.”

Behind 15 year head coach Jeff Bronson, who holds a 120-35 win loss record in his tenure as head coach and assistant coaches Andy Kaufman, Jermey Brady, Jody Styczynski, Joe Styczynski, Dan Auer, Trent Mongin and Peter Kuchta the Cougars will look to hit the ground running and hopefully become a  serious contender for the Northwoods crown.

Every season to some extent is a rebuilding season, it’s rare that a team losses no important pieces to graduation. And this year for the Cougars is no exception. The Cougars lost a few notable names including the Defensive Lineman of the year Sawyer Seefeldt who also played on the offensive line. Other seniors lost included Dylan Van Ermen LB/RB, Payton Halford OL/DL, Brady Gross DB/RB, Max Seefeldt LB/DB, Kain Otto OL/DL, Brayden Bort OL/DL and Adam Fonder OL/DL.

Though some key pieces from last year’s successful team are gone there are also quite a few returning players that left last year with some serious winning experience. They include seniors Micah Kuchta QB/LB, Dameon Burke OL/LB, West Bieber OL/DL, Tyler Kostreva OL/DL, Jacob Maedke OL/DL, Darian Patz TE/DE, Tristan Kostreva RB/DB/K, and Victor Kostreva TE/DB. A good core of juniors also will be taking some roles on the team. They include Cole Berth RB/LB, Brekkyn Weed OL/DL, Dawson Patz RB/DL and Dalton Demmith OL/DL

Keep an eye out for some of the sophomores fighting for positions on the team as well. Some of them include Kollin Peters QB/DB, Koltin Peters RB/DB, Bryce Seefeldt OL/DL and Matthew Fendrick OL/DL

When speaking to head coach Jeff Bronson he made note of some of the strengths as well as some of the major focuses heading into this season.

“Depth is a major concern as the numbers will be lower than the last few years,” said Bronson. “Team speed will be better than last year, if the team can stay healthy, but Many positions are not set as the offensive line will be completely new and a fullback needs to be found to replace Brady Gross.”

One of the Strengths coach Bronson made note of was the backfield which will be led by Micah Kuchta along with some Backfield speed that will be brought by Kolton Peters, Cole Berth, West Bieber and Dawson Patz.

But what stood out as one of the key focuses heading into the season was the team’s ability to stay healthy as well as a focus on ball control.

“The biggest thing for us is that we need to stay healthy this year,” said Bronson. “We have very little depth. We will be basically 16 deep, if we are lucky, at the varsity level. We need to stay injury free. We can’t be like last year where in weeks five six and seven we lost four guys that were major contributors. We just don’t have the depth to fill in spots from injuries. Another big focus we have is we just can’t turn the ball over. We have to be in control of the ball and the clock and make big plays when we get there.”

Anyone who has watched or played against the Cougars knows that the counter has always been a huge part of the offensive arsenal. Bronson has put a focus on his team’s ability to pull this off in a more improved and efficient manner.

“Last year we struggled with our counter and that is a huge focus here,” said Bronson. “We have to get that working again. We are going to be really green up front, we graduated a lot of linemen. But some of the guys we have coming back do have some size  and the two guards we are looking at now have some nice size so we are ok. We are not small Coleman yet!”