Brookfield/Elm Grove Monthly
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/159852
SEPTEMBER 2013 Freeman Brookfield & Elm Grove/Page 7A Tough to repeat last year Central grad makes switch to defense at UW Brookfield East finished with school-record 10 victories By Mark Hutchinson Freeman Staff By Tony Mooren Freeman Correspondent BROOKFIELD – The points kept piling up, game after game. Two months after the season had begun, the 2012 Brookfield East High School football team had its first unbeaten league championship. The roll continued for the first two rounds of the WIAA playoffs as the Spartans finished with a school-record 10 victories before bowing to Whitefish Bay 24-14 in the state quarterfinals. East gobbled up several Greater Metro Conference postseason honors. League coaches selected Alec James as the GMC's top defensive lineman and Brian Smith the top defensive back, while Tom Swittel was voted Coach of the Year. Now Swittel must replace 19 graduated starters in a quest for a fourth straight playoff season – the current three straight is already a school record. "We certainly have a lot of work to do," Swittel said. "We're so inexperienced and we're replacing four (assistant) coaches, too, so there's a lot of new things going on. This is a team that, generally speaking, has to learn how to walk before it runs. I'm not expecting us to be in midseason form right now." Surprisingly, East's defense dominated its offense in an intrasquad scrimmage – surprising in that the team's only three returning starters are on offense: first-team all-league senior quarterback Zach Damico (5-foot 11, 160 pounds), senior guard Noah Pulsifer (6-0, 210) and junior center PJ LeClaire (5-11, 220). Junior Connor Allen (5-11, 140) was a first-team kicker and second-team punter. That trio will be joined on offense by senior running Robert F. Borkowski/Special to The Freeman Brookfield East senior wide receiver Will Sutton makes a reception from quarterback Zach Damico, then runs past Waukesha West sophomore linebacker Sam Hietpas before being knocked out of bounds during a nonconference opener this season. East lost 23-7. back Gerald Childs (5-11, 180), senior lineman Harold Britton (6-4, 250), junior lineman Will Wiemero (5-11, 235) and sophomore linemen Mike Caliendo (6-3, 240) and Jack Leonovicz (6-1, 205), as well as senior receivers Dominic Freres (5-11, 160) and Cole Larson (5-11, 150) and senior slotbacks Will Sutton (6-1, 155) and Nate Schieble (5-10, 160). "Last year we relied a lot on (graduated) Zach Schober," Swittel said. "Our offense is trying to find its niche this year, but one thing was apparent in our scrimmage: Sutton and Schieble are home-run guys. They're faster than heck so we need to figure out how to get them the ball." Damico also will be a fac- tor after throwing for 1,100 yards and running for nearly 900 more during the regular season for a team that averaged 34.1 points a game until meeting Bay . And Swittel labels Pulsifer as one of the finest linemen he's coached. The defense is expected to include senior linemen Evan Kiekhover (6-3, 205), Peter Ditter (5-10, 180) and Tim Beilfuss (5-10, 210); senior ends Cal Durni (6-1, 205) and Vince Schimborski (6-2, 205). Top linebackers are senior Matt Noonan (6-0, 175), juniors Michah Childs (5-8, 175) and Drew Hepperla (510, 190) and sophomore Jake Roy (6-0, 190). Vying for spots in the secondary are seniors Brad Carstens (6-1, 175), Eric Memmel (5-10, 160) and Zach Copeland (5-1, 150) and juniors Christian Halfide (59, 165), Dan Magyar (5-10, 170), Alex McGuire (5-11, 185), Vinh Nguyen-Van (5-10, 170) and Adam Van Rens (63), 190). "A lot of our (new) guys are seniors but they just haven't played much," Swittel said. "And we have no experience on defense, but they are fired up about football. They're dedicated and motivated. They saw us win and they want to win. My first two years here I spent time talking to the kids that they could win, and now they have won. "These guys believe that we can repeat as conference champions and we should be a very competitive football team." the Denver Broncos; James White, who begins his senior season with 2,571 rushing yards and 32 touchdowns; and Melvin Gordon, now a redshirt sophomore who totaled 621 rushing yards, averaging 10 per carry, in his debut season at UW. The Badgers had a pressing need in the secondary, where senior strong safety Dezmen Southward is the only returning starter. "There are a lot of question marks in the back end on defense," Andersen said. "That will hopefully become a little clearer quickly We've got a lot of . people competing. "Dez is obviously the staple of that crew. He's been a very good leader since we've been here, and his leadership will be important as we develop our young players and some older players change positions. We'll try to get some solid play at the safety spots at camp." Lewis seized his opportunity to get more playing time by accepting Andersen's offer to shift from offense to defense. And he already is finding a comfort zone. "At running back, all eyes are on you and you're supposed to make the play," he said. "But at defensive back, you're one of 11 and you're just supposed to take care of your responsibility . Every position is vital in our defense, but safety is more so because that's the guy people see last if somebody gets beat. That's the person who's supposed to make the play, and I'm taking a lot of pride in that." The idea of delivering hits rather than absorbing them appeals to Lewis. "I've always liked the physical part of the game," he said. "Now I can be the one enforcing the hit. The pass coverage is the fun part – I think it's the easy part." MADISON – Several football scouting services ranked Jeff Lewis as Wisconsin's premier prep running back during his senior season at Brookfield Central High School in 2009. Lewis' improvisational skills were among the many qualities that helped him earn that elite status and a scholarship to the University of Wisconsin. Four years later, Lewis' ability to improvise is being tested more than ever as he enters his redshirt junior season at UW. A running back during his first three years in Madison, Lewis is making the transition to safety – and playing defense for the first time since he was a junior varsity linebacker as a sophomore at Central. The change was put in motion shortly after Gary Andersen was hired as UW's 29th head football coach in December. "When coach Andersen got here, he offered me the opportunity to play defense if I wanted to," Lewis said. "He said he would never force me to do that. He just put it out there. After the spring, I told him I'd give it a try and see if I liked it. "I've got the athleticism for it. I feel like my hands are pretty good. Most importantly, I wanted to feel comfortable. I made the switch in the spring so I could get a head start on the summer. I've been watching film like crazy and learning the playbook. If you know where you're supposed to be, you can take care of the rest of the things at the end of the day ." Lewis, who redshirted in 2010, rushed 37 times for 200 yards and two touchdowns in his first two seasons as a Badger. He spent 2012 playing behind Montee Ball, selected in the second round of the 2013 National Email: mhutchinson@conleynet.com Football League Draft by Join us for the 2013 Women in Science Luncheon Series! Women researchers and physicians at the Medical College of Wisconsin are making discoveries that are saving lives and improving treatments for patients with complex injuries and diseases. 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