By Brian KalishAugust 24, 2012
Stevens Point– The 2012 football season will get underway tonight and there might not be a more highly anticipated game in central Wisconsin than the SPASH vs. Wausau West contest that will take place at Goerke Field at 7pm.
What is so alluring about a game that will feature a Wausau West team that won a grand total of two games last year matching up against a SPASH team that was 4-5?
Two words: Pete McAdams.
McAdams returns as the head coach of SPASH after a one-year hiatus. McAdams had a highly successful tenure as SPASH’s head coach and looks to reinvigorate the program after a down year under the supervision of the now-departed Scott Rice.
2011 was something of an anomaly for the Panthers. After making it to the state finals in 2010, there were extremely high expectations for Rice in 2011. The 2011 Panthers seemed to struggle to find an identity on offense, partially due to the enormous lack of experience on the offensive side of the ball. This year figures to be a different story with a wealth of talent and experience on the offensive line.
“As far as returning experience goes, our offensive line has the most experience of any position on our team,” said McAdams. ”We’d like to establish that, a good offensive line, which will do good things for us offensively.”
SPASH has a powerful offensive weapon in running back Zach Pozorski, who torched opponents last year for over 1000 total rushing yards. Pozorski, now a senior, earned all conference honors last year and is a rare blend of speed and size for a high school running back.
“Zach has done some great things,” McAdams said. ”We definitely expect big things from him and expect him to carry the load offensively for us.”
While Wausau West struggled last year, SPASH is not taking this first game lightly.
“We did not play (Wausau West) last year, but they are always a very good football team. Two years ago, when we went down to Madison and played in the State Championship game, Wausau West beat us that year. As a program, we have to come out and play very well in this first game,” McAdams said.
On the other side of the ball, Wausau West head coach Kevin Grundy likes what he has seen out of his squad so far this year.
“Practice has been going very well,” Grundy said. ”The kids have worked hard over the summer as far as conditioning themselves, lifting and running, and that helped us from the first practice– we were right into full swing.”
Grundy SPASH staff and expects a tough battle come Friday night.
“They have some very good talent and they’re very well coached,” Grundy said.
The Warriors look to continue to play with the same intensity that they displayed in a recent scrimmage against Wausau East, Antigo, Lakeland, Merrill and Rhinelander.
SPASH Notes: For what it’s worth, the difference in observing the SPASH Panthers practice this year vs. last year is significant– in a good way. I would never take anything away from SPASH’s former coach, but practice was crisp and conducted at a brisk pace on my recent visit. In the drills I observed, there was acute focus on the little things, and the players seemed to respond positively to all direction given by the coaches. One would expect this to translate into good things for SPASH when the first taste of live action starts Friday night… CentralWisconsinSports.net is pleased to be a part of SPASH’s famed Fan(s) of the Game. Four lucky SPASH fans will win a free CentralWisconsinSports.net T-shirt as part of the Fan of the Game prize package. Good luck fans! We would like to extend a special thanks to Mada for the great work on the T-shirts.
