Germantown football team finishes another sound 7-3 season

Germantown - The start was great, it was just that the finish could have used a little work for the senior-heavy, 7-3 Germantown football team this fall.

"Yeah, there were aspects of things I'd like to have back," second-year coach Jake Davis said. "The guys worked hard and we know how hard it was to compete in this conference (with both Whitefish Bay and Homestead making the state semifinals).

"It's just that the situation was not real good in the playoffs (the second round rout by powerful Arrowhead). We got shown how fast and strong we have to be (if we want to compete for state honors)."

Still, the second-year of the Davis regime was still by-and-large a positive one. It was a unique group, as about 35 seniors worked with a mixed group of underclassmen, including six sophomores, all of whom played significant roles.

"What I really liked," Davis said, "is how together this team was. They were really working as one. The 35 seniors turned out to be a great situation for us. The older guys really taught the sophomores how to be and how to act in this program.

"And there were no real ego problems. In fact, one of my sophomores (on defense) came up to me early on and said 'Kretlow (the team's best defensive player, end Joe Kretlow) is really taking me under his wing and helping me out.'

"Something like that is just great to see."

Sophomore QB has bright future

One of the key sophomores was quarterback Dwayne Lawhorn. Lawhorn showed flashes of future brilliance, such as engineering the 14-13 win over eventual North Shore champ Bay. To this moment, it remains the Blue Dukes' only defeat. He did have some other, distinctly sophomore moments in tough defeats against Cedarburg and Homestead, but Davis said he made great progress and never wavered.

"He never really lost any confidence," Davis said. "He never blamed anybody else when things weren't going well. He always kept trying and that was a real positive. If anything, we could have used a few more catches (out of the receivers).

"He's an exciting player to have back because he'll continue to work hard and try to get better."

And more will be demanded of Lawhorn and his sophomore classmates as well as from the junior returnees next year as the large number of seniors, led by the likes of Kretlow, veteran offensive linemen Bobby Stemm and Ryan Lemke, wide receiver Jason Townsend and running back Tyler Baran, will be hard to replace.

"We'll need to find some parts," Davis said, "especially on defense and on the offensive line. We may not platoon next year. We'll just look for the best 11 on both sides of the ball."

Keeping teams cohesive

The underclassmen teams were competitive if not overwhelming in their success. Davis is looking to maintain cohesion on those levels and keep the numbers at 35 or above on each level.

"We want to keep everyone optimistic," he said. "Keep quality kids together in their groups. That works best for the system. If we can make that work, then the system will be successful."

Final statistics

TOTAL POINTS: 253

TOTAL POIINTS AGAINST: 124

PASSING: Dwayne Lawhorn 57-126-12 TDs-6 interceptions-901 yards; Mason Yahr 21-38-5-1-334

RUSHING: Tyler Baran 180 attempts-879 yards-9 TDs; Kyle Theis 31 carries-195-2

RECEIVING: Jason Townsend 22 catches-453 yards-9 TDs; Nick Holcomb 13-178-4

SENIORS: Steven Asmondy, Baran, Matt Bartos, Shae Callewaert, Luke Duncan, Nick Dunlap, Mitchell Fox, Logan Gruber, Collin Hahn, Scott Johnson, Nick Kleczewski, Joe Kretlow, Austin Krysiak, Ryan Lemke, Bryan McMichael, Sam Midlikowski, Adam Mucha, Tyler Palzkill, Dylan Peterson, Daniel Piotrowski, Riley Rabuck, Jacob Riesch, Cody Slaasted, Bobby Stemm, Mitchell Stewart, Nick Stieve, Nick Thiel, Townsend, Curtis Williams, Zachary Winkler, Yahr, Dan Zimmer, Tanner Zingsheim, Joe Zizzo and David Ullsperger