Wednesday, September 18, 2024
A change in scenery for the Manawa Wolves leads them to a new conference as they join the Northwoods to face off against new opponents in 2024. A fresh start is welcome after a 2-7 overall record and a 1-6 record in the Central Wisconsin Conference-Large in 2023,
Along with traveling to new destinations, gaining new rivals will pose unique challenges, “We’re going to play different teams with a different level of intensity, we don’t know if that will play to our strength or not,” said head coach Brad Johnson.
The Northwoods conference will include Clintonville, Shiocton, Coleman, Crandon, Crivitz Northland Pines, and Oconto Falls. Coleman, Crandon, Crivitz, and Oconto Falls all finished the season with winning records in 2023.
Coach Johnson and the difficulty of replacing two-way All-Conference player Brady Zemple, “He never left the field really, whoever was our second best last year is expected to be our best this year.”
A standout expected to replace much of Zemple’s productivity on the defensive side is 2023 Central Wisconsin Conference-Large Honorable Mention linebacker Patrick Paque, who was second to Zemple in the conference with 100 tackles.
Paque, on his development as a leader, said,” I want to teach the younger guys how to play the right way and help them improve to help Manawa football get to where we want to be.”
The Wolves will again be a team that relies on young players to step up.
“We haven’t had a JV team since Covid, so the players we have coming in will be expected to fill in right away.” Coach Johnson said, “We have those players stepping up and putting time in the weight room, it would be hard to pick just one, two, or three players to step up. We expect all the younger guys to fill a role.”
The offense will look to adjust with the graduation of starting quarterback and first-team All-Conference kicker and punter Dakota Stroud, and the emergence of the new starter Braison Zielke.
”We don’t know entirely what to expect on offense, we are going to play to our team’s strengths,” said Coach Johnson.
Johnson believes if the team can work through the grind of each game, his team will find more victories, “The teams we play will try to wear will try to wear you down, if you can stay focused into the fourth quarter, and they keep their mind on the details when they’re tired, I think we will have a successful season.”
The Wolves began their season at home against Rosholt on Thursday, Aug. 22.
