By Chris Parker
Springfield Catholic football won just two games last season, but the Irish showed real promise down the stretch. After starting 0-7, they won their final two regular season games and took Liberty down to the wire in the district playoffs.
The Irish will look to build off that strong finish this season.
“We got things kind of rolling at the end of last year. We about had Mountain View Liberty at the end of our district game. We lost on the last drive of the game,” Springfield Catholic head coach Wes Page said. “Our kids are feeling pretty good. They are starting to feel confident in how we want them to play football.”
It will also be a new beginning for Catholic as the Irish move from the Big 8 to the Mid-Lakes Conference.
“(Moving conferences) will be a big deal for us,” Page said. “Last year we didn’t play a single Class 2 team until the playoffs. The year before we only played one. This will be pretty big for us being able to play schools that are our size being in a more Class 2 and Class 3 conference. It’s not a weak conference by any means. We don’t really look at is as a step down, but we are playing the teams we should and looking to make some noise going into this new conference.”
The move to the new conference has also helped boost numbers for the Irish.
“It (the conference change) has been pretty big in terms of getting some kids out,” Page said. “We have probably seven or eight players that are not freshmen that are playing this year that didn’t last year. (They are) a lot of guys that will play varsity right away. They are really good athletes who give us an extra dimension.”
Injuries were the story for Catholic last season, as the Irish went through four quarterbacks. Two of those quarterbacks in sophomore Hayden Holstein and senior Clayton Stuhlsatz return this season. The two are both in the mix for starting quarterback duties.
Holstein got time early in the season last year.
“He (Holstein) grew a lot through the year,” Page said. “He’s done a ton over this offseason, getting bigger, getting faster and just understanding the game more.”
Stuhlsatz started at the end of the season last year.
“Clayton’s not extra fast or extra strong, but he’s as tough as anybody on the field,” Page said. “He’s just hard to tackle because of his toughness. He makes really, really good decisions. As a quarterback, he doesn’t have the biggest, most explosive arm in the world, but he knows how to use what he’s got. He’s the unquestioned leader on the team right now.”
If Stuhlsatz is not playing quarterback, he could still be working out of the backfield at running back.
Brody Riggs will get carries at running back after he started at safety most of the season last year.
“He (Riggs) is our best overall athlete,” Page said. “He’s about 160 pounds, but he’s got the best bench press on the team and one of the best squats. He’s just a freaky strong. He can do back flips and runs crazy fast 40 times. He’s a guy that didn’t get very many chances on offense last year.”
Newcomer Daniel Hesemann is another candidate for carries and also might play tight end. It is his first season playing high school football after not playing since he was younger. He is also a baseball player.
“He (Heseman) said (to me) ‘I really miss hitting people’. I said ‘I have a solution for you’,” Page said. “He’s very smart in the classroom and he understands this stuff quickly. I feel like I can put him anywhere on the field and he will pick it up pretty quickly.”
Look for Charlie Woodall, Sam Boster and Colin Soetaert at wide receiver. Woodall earned honorable mention all-conference honors at wide receiver last season. Soetaert is another new player coming over from the baseball team.
“He (Soetaert) is probably the fastest kid on our team now. He stepped right in and knows how to run routes instinctively,” Page said. “He is a guy we can throw a lot of screens to intermediate and downfield. He’s not super tall, but he is super athletic.”
Ben Collier, also a baseball player coming to football for the first time, will see time at tight end.
“He (Collier) probably has the best hands on the team,” Page said. “He’s very fast for a guy his size. He is still learning the ropes as far as blocking goes, but he is tough enough where once he understands his job he will be pretty good at it.”
Up front, Wyatt Cartwright and Gus Leonardo return as starters on the offensive line.
“Both of these guys (Cartwright and Leonardo) are not huge, but they’re insanely tough kind of guys,” Page said. “Get them out there and pull and they’ll run through just about anybody. These guys had to go up against a guy who’s playing at Mizzou and had to go up against Seneca and all these huge linemen. They’re the kind of guys who just don’t care how big they are.”
James Southern, Nate Brown and Noah Rottinghaus are three others expected to play on the offensive line. Rottinghaus is another who is new to football who also played baseball.
Defensively, the baseball-to-football pipeline continues with Rhett Layne on the defensive line in his first season. Leonardo, Cartwright and Jacob Ott will also be factors on the defensive line. Ott is a move-in who has a wrestling background.
Sam Brown, Hesemann, Stuhlsatz, Michael Mammorella and Riggs are the linebackers. Riggs moves down from safety to the second level this season.
“He (Riggs) was almost too aggressive at safety,” Page said. “He wants to get in there and tackle people. (Moving to linebacker) gives us the ability to do a lot with him. He can be a pass rusher, he can cover guys in man coverage, and he can he can stop the run. He can kind of do all the things from there.”
Freshman Cody Westhoff is another possibility at linebacker, but he is still recovering from an injury. He could make an immediate impact if healthy. His father played for the University of Iowa and his brother is currently playing for Indiana State.
The secondary will feature Woodhall, Noah Whiteley, Boster, Soetaert, Mark Vilkins and Easton Gifford.
Last season, Catholic gave up five total passing touchdowns while pulling down five interceptions. The unit should be a strength once again.
“We expect our defensive backs to be the strong point of our defense,” Page said. “They can all cover. They can all tackle. It allows our linebackers not to have to worry about pass coverage so much because we have guys who can lock down.”
Catholic will be able to boast an amount of depth it has not seen in many years.
“We will have a more depth this year than we have in a while. We’ve got a pretty big senior class. We’ve got a lot of sophomores that can play,” Page said. “A lot of times (football) is a numbers game first before you get into the strategy and all that. If you’re walking out there with 30 guys and they’re walking out there with 70 guys, it’s usually going to go one way. And when you get down on injuries, things get tougher. Guys have to play both ways more, and they get to come off the field less. Then it snowballs as those guys get hurt more. This year, we’ve got more guys than we’ve had in about three or four years. That will be an advantage to us being able to rotate guys more and keep them healthier.”
Much of that depth can be attributed to multi-sport athletes, specifically players coming over from the successful Irish baseball program to play football.
“(Head baseball) coach (Courtney) Spitz has been really pushing guys to play football,” Page said. “He helped coach football last year. He is not (coaching football) this year, but he’s a big supporter of our football program.”
Getting the first-year players up to speed will be key for Catholic to stack more wins this season.
“I think our biggest thing this year is just getting these new guys acquainted and in there quick,” Page said. “They’re good athletes, and they’re tough guys. They’re not going to be afraid to hit or anything like that. We’ve just got to get them in a spot where they’re comfortable playing. We have to simplify things for our offense and defense so these guys can just go out there and play and be able to contribute right away.”
Catholic will host Pleasant Hope, Lighthouse Christian and Marionville for a jamboree on Aug. 23. The Irish will host East Newton on Aug. 30 for the season opener, as they begin a march to what Page hopes will lead to a home playoff game.
“I think our number one goal is to host a district game end up on the top half of the district bracket,” Page said. “We don’t think that’s overachieving for us. That’s the expectation going into this year. We won’t have any games this year we feel like is a gimme, and we don’t really have any games this year we feel like we’re going in and we’re going to get our butts kicked. It’s going to be a dog fight every week this year in this conference. We’ve got guys who we’ve got more confidence in on our football team than we have in a long time. It’s going to be tough to do, but we expect when we go into districts people have to come to our place to get through.”
