Patriot Football Team Has Depth, Experience
Launch the media gallery 1 playerBy: Jack Brabec, a junior at Leigh High School
This year’s upcoming Clarkson-Leigh football season is looking to be a spectacular one.
With 11 freshmen, 2 sophomores, 15 juniors, and 7 seniors, the Patriots have a grand total of 35 guys on the field to dominate the competition.
The team have been lifting weights all summer, and conditioning began in late July with practices beginning in early August.
The freshmen on this year’s squad include Grant Hanel, Coal Fernau, Corey Steffensmeier, Luke Eisenmann, Tucker Matthis, Wyatt Crosley, Jacob Kroeger, George Waterman, Brody Vodehnal, Levi Gall, Brett Wemhoff, and Kyle McMullin.
The two sophomores are Jacob Koehn and Korbin Lemburg.
Making up the junior class is Ryan Brichacek, Jaden Stoklasa, Isaac Baumert, Mic Sayers, Joey Steffensmeier, Dylan Higby, Trey Steffensmeier, Jack Brabec, Garrett Stodola, Conner Jurgensen, Troy Graybill, Jordan Noonan, James Grotelueschen, Christian Hamernik, Nathan Bahns, Andrew Rivera, and Sam Pocasangre.
Seniors include Mason Whitmore, Jase Indra, Dalton Zulkoski, Kyle Kasik, Kyle Holmberg, Drew Beeson, and Jackson Koehn.
Led by head coach Jim Clarkson and assistant coaches Jeff Bachman, Matt Murren, Jorge Gomez, Eric Hays, and Bob McEvoy, the team has a pre-season ranking of #6 in class D-1 in both the Omaha World Herald and Lincoln Journal Star.
“I love the experience the guys have coming into the season and I’m really excited to see our season kick off against EMF,” said senior captain Mason Whitmore.
Head coach Jim Clarkson said, ”We are definitely excited about the 2022 Season. We have a new schedule with some new teams, and we also have a lot of new faces stepping into the spotlight. We feel like we may have the deepest team that we have ever had. A lot of players should contribute each and every game, which should be a big advantage for us. If we continue to get development throughout our team, we should have a very competitive squad this year. Go Pats!!”
First game is August 26 in Clarkson against Exeter-Milligan/Friend beginning at 7 pm.
The rest of the regular season includes games against Pender, Bancroft-Rosalie, Shelby/Rising City, Twin River, Cedar Bluffs, Cross County, and Madison.