By Kevin Cunningham
Correspondent
Second-year Delavan-Darien High School head football coach Bret St. Arnauld cares about few things. And on the football field, his message is simple.
“I wanted my program to establish a winning mentality,” St. Arnauld said. “D-DHS needed to learn how to win, and that is something I was really big into during the off-season. If we understand how to win football games, we are a playoff team last year.”
Just a season ago, St. Arnauld’s Comets began the year 3-0. The team then went on to lose five of its next six and failed to finish with a winning record. Two of the games the team lost were by three points, and another, by seven. To have finished the regular season at 7-2 wouldn’t have been inconceivable.
Much like last year, the Comets football team has started off strong. The team has won its first two games, and in the process has put up 42 and 41 points, respectively. Scoring quick and efficiently is St. Arnauld’s calling card.
“We like to play up-tempo,” St. Arnauld said. “We like to score a lot of points, and I believe we are going to do the best that we can to continue putting up as many as possible. We like to try and wear teams out and get them into situations they don’t want to be in.”
Running a high volume of plays and having the personnel to back it up can help break down oppositions. To this point, it seems to have worked. Junior quarterback, Jacob Benzing, who played wide receiver last season, is a player who not only threatens opponents with his arm, but with his feet as well.
In the first game of the season against East Troy, Benzing threw for 156 yards and ran for another 128. Benzing’s season-opening performance led the Comets to a 42-40 victory after trailing 27-15 by the end of the first quarter.
In the Comets’ second game, Delavan-Darien travelled to Big Foot and Benzing put on another show offensively. The new signal-caller threw for 402 yards and four touchdowns while running for another 80 yards and two scores.
“Our final drive we took seven minutes off the clock and ended the game,” St. Arnauld. “That displayed a lot of heart and character. It is a testament to what we preach to our kids on a daily basis. The score right before half we told Jake (Benzing) that the ball had to be thrown in the end zone or nothing at all.”
As time ran out before the half, Benzing found junior wide receiver Benjamin Ingersoll from eight yards out to give the Comets a 28-21 lead entering the half. From that point on, Benzing scored two more touchdowns, one through the air to another junior wide receiver in Michael Alder and the other thanks to his legs.
Alder finished the night with eight receptions for 190 yards and a touchdown while Ingersoll caught five balls for 122 yards and two scores. Benzing’s 482 total yards capped the 41 points the Comets scored, leading to the 41-28 victory.
St. Arnauld said he has been pleasantly surprised with his offensive line so far, considering he had a senior-led group a season ago. Defensively, the coach said his sophomores have stood out and have worked their tails off.
Only two seniors start on defense and the team had a bend-but-don’t-break approach in the first game and allowed 40 points. Against Big Foot, the defense played more aggressively, but still allowed 21 points in the first half.
Despite the 2-0 start to the season thanks to an offensive showcase, St. Arnauld has seen his team get off to a fast start before. The team’s next game, against Elkhorn Area High School, is on his radar.
“Elkhorn is our biggest rival and it is always an intense game,” St. Arnauld said. “Tom (Lee) runs a great program over there and all that I know is we need to come ready to play. We just need to do the little things and avoid the big mistakes. I am really looking forward to Friday. It should be a great game.”
A year ago, after the Comets’ 3-0 start to the season, Delavan-Darien got Elkhorn at home and fell short, 22-19. This season, the Comets have to travel to Elkhorn. The game is slated for a 7 p.m. start on Friday.
The Elkhorn Elks enter the game with a 1-1 record after losing their opener 35-0 then bouncing back last week to defeat East Troy 28-7. Through two games, the Elks have attempted 11 passes and, to counter, have run the ball 87 times.
A rivalry game on the road is enough to prepare for, and on the field, that is all St. Arnauld cares about. However, the only other thing that weighs on the coach’s mind revolves around the game of life.
“Football can teach our young men so much about life and the ups and downs we see on a daily basis,” St. Arnauld said. “We really are trying to develop character over everything else. I want all of my boys to go on in life and become successful at whatever they want to do.
“Success off the field would be achieving a cumulative GPA of 3.0 amongst all of my football players. That more than anything would equal success in my mind. If we can take care of what we need to academically, then our play on the field will also take care of itself.”
