By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
With any first-year head coach, teams have an adjusting period. For Whitewater High School’s football team, the 2015 season resulted in a 2-7 record under Tom Grosinske.
Grosinske, in his inaugural year with the Whippets, started off 0-2 before getting his first win as the head coach and then the team suffered five straight losses before winning its season-ending game against Palmyra-Eagle, 28-6.
For year two, Grosinske has a young team coming back, but the defense showed improvement in its final two games, allowing 20 points to Parkview and six to Palmyra-Eagle, respectively.
“This year we’re a really young team,” Grosinske said. “We graduated a large number of seniors and so coming into this season we knew we’d be young and it’s going to be a growth process getting an idea of who is going to play where. Honestly, the scrimmage (on Aug. 12) was kind of a test to see where we were sitting so far and the scrimmage went quite well.
“There are obviously plenty of things we can improve on, but the kids stuck their nose in there, they weren’t afraid to battle, and mistakes were made and positives were gained out of it. But overall, we were pleased with the fact that as young as we are, we were pleased that they came and got after it.”
Grosinske said he believes the team lost 14 seniors from this past season. And in his second year in charge, despite losing a bunch of seniors, he said the team loves playing with each other and is supporting one another.
The defense in 2015 allowed over 33 points per game in its first seven contests before giving up 20 points and six points to close out the season and go 1-1 over its last two games. In the loss to Parkview, the Whippets lost 20-14, but allowed only one touchdown in the second half.
In the final six quarters of 2015, the Whippets gave up just two touchdowns. Grosinske talked about whether or not he thought the defense could keep its play up heading into this season.
“We do think we can keep that momentum going,” he said. “We’re looking for our defensive line to absorb a lot of blocks so our linebackers can come free. We think we have great athleticism at the linebacker spot to be able to do that, and we have some young athletes making up the secondary.
“Even this past Friday, I would say our defense is ahead of our offense, which isn’t necessarily unexpected. I think our defense is definitely going to be something we can count on.”
Grosinske also talked about wanting leaders to step up, and that they have done so this off-season. Some of those leaders make up the linebacking corps for the improved-looking defense.
Grosinske mentioned Ernesto Magana right away in regard to leadership, being a senior and being named a First-Team linebacker in the conference for the Whippets a year ago. Magana also plays running back offensively and Grosinske said he has an outstanding work ethic.
Another name mentioned was Jimmy Duval. Duval is a junior this season and earned honorable mention honors last year with the Whippets at linebacker. Duval also helps carry the load offensively as a tailback.
With any team’s success though, no matter how great the defense is, it comes from the quarterback position. For the Whippets, that starting spot is held by 6-foot-3 junior Daniel Fuller.
In the final two games of 2015, Fuller completed 23-of-43 passes for 393 yards, throwing two touchdown passes and one interception.
“Daniel Fuller is learning how to be a leader on the field in a natural position that requires leadership, which is the quarterback position,” Grosinske said. “So, he definitely wants to be a leader on the field that people can look up to.”
Offensively, the second-year head coach said the offense will go as the offensive line goes. He knows the running back can only go where the holes are, which the line creates. If the offensive line protects Fuller, he can keep progressing as a signal caller.
Grosinske wants to throw the ball and go up-tempo but knows his team can slow it down and run the ball consistently as well, like it did often in 2015. He wants to keep the balance going heading into the season and find out what works.
For this year, the Whippets open up the season at 7 p.m. on Friday at Jefferson High School. A year ago, the team lost to Jefferson, 46-12. The 46 points allowed were tied for the most given up by the Whippets throughout the 2015 season.
Grosinske said he knows what the team is getting into when it travels to face Jefferson once again.
“Jefferson’s Jefferson,” he said. “We know what they’re going to do offensively. They’re definitely a run-first team. They lost probably their most dangerous weapon from last year in their quarterback, but they always have decent running backs and a line that can block. They run the same system from Middle School on up.
“We just have to maintain our assignments defensively and do what is being asked to be done, make our reads properly and be sure tacklers. And offensively, we need to keep our hands on the ball and look to bring this young team into an away location at Jefferson, which is usually a pretty fired-up crowd.
“We just have to keep our mindset on our goals along the way and if we do that, we’ll be good.”
