HOLCOMBE — The Lake Holcombe/Cornell football team enters the 2018 season excited for what the year could bring.
It's easy to see why as the Knights return 20 letterwinners from last season's Division 6 playoff qualifier, including many key skill position players as the team makes the move into the North Lakeland Conference.
Third-year coach Troy Story guided the team to the postseason last year and is pleased with the team's attitude coming into the season.
“I know the guys are excited," Story said. "They know what kind of potential they have and we have some really strong leaders out there pushing the young kids.”
Luke Geist returns at quarterback for the Knights after throwing for 902 yards a season ago, earning second team all-conference honors as a signal caller to go with honorable mention accolades as a defensive back. Running back Wyatt Viegut ran for 922 yards and had 277 yards receiving on offense while logging 94 tackles as a defender at linebacker. Triston Jones was an honorable mention all-conference selection on the offensive line, bringing some experience to the trenches where the Knights will need to replace a number of starters from 2017.
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“We’re hoping some guys step up for that," Story said of the turnover along the line.
Kaden Kinney was a second team all-conference linebacker a season ago while Robert Fasbender, Josh Jones, Caleb Balow, Tate Sauerwein and others saw action last year and are in line to make a bigger impact for the team this year as it goes for its third postseason appearance for a co-op entering the sixth season together.
One of the biggest unknowns for the Knights comes with the move to the North Lakeland after playing in the South Lakeland for the first five seasons of the co-op. Lake Holcombe/Cornell joins Cameron, Grantsburg, Saint Croix Falls, Unity and Webster in the new-look league that has been under constant change with more schools opting to make the move to 8-man football in recent years.
Unfamiliarity is a key word with the Knights and their schedule this season. Lake Holcombe/Cornell has four games against teams it did not play a season ago, including conference foes Unity, Saint Croix Falls and Grantsburg.
“Half of our schedule is going to be teams we’ve never played before," Story said. "Without knowing much about them…when people ask me how they think we’re going to do this season it’s hard to say with playing so many new teams. The teams we’re going to be playing that we haven’t seen before have a very good reputation. We’re well aware of how good they are.”
Grantsburg advanced to the Division 5 semifinals in the postseason last year before falling to eventual state champion Amherst and features Wisconsin Badgers recruit Leo Chenal.
The Knights are on the road often early in the season with three nonconference road games to start the season at Augusta (Aug. 17), Ladysmith (Aug. 23) and Flambeau (Aug. 31) before the team has its first home game against Pepin/Alma on Sept. 7 in Holcombe. Following that early flurry of road games, the team does have four of its final six games at home to close the regular season.
Last year Lake Holcombe/Cornell made the postseason before falling to top-seeded Melrose-Mindoro, but got a good idea what the playoffs have to offer. With many of the faces from that team back again this year, Story said a return to the playoffs is firmly on their mind this fall.
“I think we have a well-based group that knows their potential and what they need to do to get back to where they last year," Story said. "They want to make the playoffs again. They know what it feels like, they know the excitement so that was a good taste for them last year.”