By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
In sports, no matter the level of play, continuity is important. As an example at the NFL level, some quarterbacks are thrown into sticky situations with poor talent around them beginning their rookie season. Not having weapons to throw to, a poor offensive line, or a constant change in schematics can all lead to a stunt in growth for a player (like a quarterback) or a team.
Entering 2015, the Whitewater High School football team has a new face leading the charge. Head coach Tom Grosinske is inheriting a team that two seasons ago, finished 4-5. Last year, the Whippets’ final record stood at 1-8.
While a recent struggle for success has taken place and Grosinske begins the 2015 journey as his first, the new head coach will be returning roughly half of his starters from a year ago and has 16 seniors within the program to work with.
“We are a very senior-led team this year,” Grosinske said. “Working with that senior class are a number of talented juniors and sophomores. We fully believe we will be very competitive in the conference and have our sights set on making the playoffs.”
One of the reasons for optimism is the program’s quarterback situation. The Whippets return a senior and sophomore as the team’s two quarterbacks on the varsity level. With a new head coach however, comes a few new wrinkles.
“They [both quarterbacks] have worked hard to learn the nuances of our offense and have been working to execute both the run and pass operations of our offense,” Grosinske said.
While much of the teams in college football are adopting the spread attack on offense, and an increasing number of snaps are being taken from the shotgun in the NFL year-in and year-out, the Whippets believe in a fairly old school approach. This approach, though possibly seen as outdated, has been successful when implemented by teams such as the Seattle Seahawks.
“Both Coach Hagedorn [our offensive coordinator] and myself believe we will run to set up the pass through a series of power and misdirection running opportunities,” Grosinske said. “Our pass game will be about ball control while taking opportunities to attack the field vertically when that situation arises.”
On defense, the team will look to run the 3-4, stopping the run first. Grosinske said the team will be relying on a nice crop of linebackers to lead the team’s defensive attack this season.
When thinking about what wins in football, often teams will rely on their speed or their size. Both elements of every player are typically accounted for when evaluating what they can do on the field. For the Whippets, they’ll be relying on both.
“I believe the strengths of our team will be our speed and good size,” Grosinske said. “I also feel our senior leadership will be an important element to have in play.”
In college football, a lot can be made of age and experience. Young, talented teams sometimes lose to the lesser talented teams with more experience that play as a cohesive unit. In high school, experience can play an even larger role.
Whitewater appears to have not only good speed and size according to Grosinske, but a perfect blend of talented seniors to lead the way. The new coach also said that while the team has some nice talent, depth could be an issue, and keeping his players fresh up until Friday nights will be instrumental.
“We talk to the kids about working to get better each and every day and how the little things matter,” Grosinske said. “We expect our kids to do what they need to do to put their best foot forward both in practice and on Friday nights. There is nothing like the Friday night lights atmosphere and we want our kids to experience just how magical those nights can be.”
The first game of the season for the Whippets will take place at 7 p.m. on Aug. 21 at Catholic Central High School.
When it comes to expectations, Groskinske’s message is simple:
“We plan to win and return a winning tradition to Whippet football. We have great kids who also want to win. We are gunning for those playoffs.”
