By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
The Friday night lights were glistening above the Whitewater Whippets football team as it was looking for its first win of the 2015 season against an in-conference foe, in McFarland. McFarland entered the game at 0-2 overall as well, but for the first time this season, the Whippets were in front of its home crowd.
“Our home crowd at The Perk was fantastic,” Whippets head coach Tom Grosinske said. “It helped having the Booster Club Kickoff cookout celebrating the start of the athletic school year. It was wonderful providing our crowd something to cheer about throughout the night.”
The night began with a crowd-roaring-inducing 85-yard interception return for a touchdown by Whippets cornerback, Sam Leibbrand. The score was then 6-0, and the Whippets never saw itself trail McFarland on the scoreboard from that point on.
“Sam’s interception for a touchdown really set the tone for the game,” Grosinske said. “McFarland had a little drive going and then all of the sudden, the ball goes the other way in a hurry and we have our first points on the board. It got our kids fired up and also got our crowd rolling.”
Grosinske said the team wanted to take advantage of match-ups in the first half, and the Whippets did just that. McFarland answered with a touchdown of its own in the second quarter, tying the game at six. After McFarland’s response, the game went the Whippets’ way.
Running back Jimmy Duval ran for a 10-yard touchdown giving the Whippets the lead back, then Leibbrand’s night only got better. A 26-yard pass from quarterback Daniel Fuller found Leibbrand, and the senior had his second touchdown of the game. Entering halftime, the Whippets led, 20-6.
In the third quarter, much of the same continued, as Fuller found Leibbrand once more, this time from seven yards out. Entering the final quarter, Leibbrand wasn’t done. The final score for the Whippets came much like the first did, this time off a fumble recovery for a touchdown, once again by the senior standout, Leibbrand.
Leibbrand ended the night with an interception, a fumble recovery, seven yards rushing, 98 yards receiving and four total touchdowns. Thanks to his all-around performance, Leibbrand is one of the nominees for the Air National Guard Statewide Player of the Week on WisSports.net. The player with the highest number of voted by 4 p.m. on Thursday will be selected as the Player of the Week.
“Sam is one of our senior captains who has a great football IQ,” Grosinske said. “On defense, he understands what offenses are trying to do and puts himself in position to make a play. Offensively, he runs great routes and [has] great hands. He works hard on both during the practice week and it showed.”
McFarland finished the fourth quarter with a couple scores to make the final score closer, and by the game’s end, the Whippets recorded its first victory of the season, winning 32-22. After the win, the Whippets are now 1-0 in the Rock Valley Conference standings.
Fuller finished the game completing 11 of his 18 passes for 185 yards, and his two scores, both going to Leibbrand. Duval ended the night with 54 yards on the ground and a touchdown.
“Daniel [Fuller] had a real nice game and delivered some quality balls, which let to points,” Grosinske said. “He is only a sophomore so there will be some growing pains, but Daniel is committed to getting better day in and day out which will serve him well. He has an outstanding arm, is a big kid, and we continue to work on mechanics to put him in the best position to deliver the ball regardless of the play called.”
Defensively, Ernie Magana recorded 10 total tackles and Josh Patrick forced two fumbles. McFarland’s quarterback, Brady Wedvick completed eight-of-21 for 78 yards, zero touchdowns and an interception. Meanwhile on the ground, McFarland amassed 232 yards and three scores.
Grosinske said the defense is still learning how to make the correct reads.
“Our pass defense was effective due to our pass rush and coverage by the secondary,” Grosinske said. “We still have work to do in our ground game defense, which we will continue to stress in practice.”
Next for the Whippets is a 7 p.m. game on Friday against Edgerton at Edgerton High School. Edgerton enters the contest 1-2 overall as well after losing to Jefferson last week, 38-14. Despite the 1-2 record, Grosinske said he expects to have to defend a team that can both run and throw the ball effectively.
“We do go to Edgerton and so they will have a great crowd as always,” Grosinske said. “Our goal is to make that home crowd a non-factor by continuing what we did and improving on all aspects of our game.”
