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By Mark Hutchinson Freeman Staff OCONOMOWOC — Most football coaches prefer that their players don't dwell in the past. Oconomowoc's Ryan McMillen doesn't mind, though, if his Raccoons uti- lize their memory banks — especially when there's valu- able motivation to be found in them. McMillen's 2015 team entered its season bound and determined not to experience anything even remotely resembling its 1-8 season of 2014 again. The Raccoons' resolve was powerful as they achieved their second 7-0 Wisconsin Little Ten Conference cham- pionship season in three years. They extended their season to the quarterfinal round of the WIAA Division 1 state playoffs before falling 28- 21 to Arrowhead before an overflow crowd at Rux Stadi- um, matching their 11-1 over- all finish of 2013. A substantial cast of char- acters from that squad has returned with lofty aspira- tions. "This team has high expec- tations for itself and I hope it can live up to its own expecta- tions," McMillen said. "I also think the guys are still moti- vated to not let 1-8 happen again, as we were in this same situation after the 2013 sea- son." Oconomowoc welcomes back several key components from one of Wisconsin's most prolific passing attacks last season. Senior quarterback Ben Nienhuis led the state with 2,854 passing yards and ranked second with 36 touch- down passes, while senior wide receiver Zach Clayton caught a state-best 74 passes for 1,075 yards and 16 touch- downs. Both earned first team all- state recognition from the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association. Also back from an offensive unit that averaged 239.2 pass- ing yards and 36 points per outing last season are senior running back Jacob Rams, who rushed 144 times for a team-high 1,081 yards and 15 touchdowns and caught 20 passes for 136 yards and a score, and senior wide receiv- er Christian Gurule, who made 18 receptions for 216 yards. Seniors Jake Ploch and Peter Alexander return as offensive line starters. Oconomowoc's defense brings back five starters from last season — seniors Taishi Ikeda, Jonah Landowski and Adam Dziatkiewicz in the sec- ondary and seniors Jeff Rowan and Ryan Griswold at linebacker. Ikeda's 70 tackles were tops among the Rac- coons' returnees. McMillen has been impressed with the leader- ship his veteran nucleus has displayed from last season through early 2016 practices. "Jeff Rowan, Ben Nienhuis, Jake Rams, Taishi Ikeda, Adam Dziatkiewicz, Adam Brockway and numerous oth- ers did a nice job with their leadership in the offseason," McMillen said. "Rowan, Ikeda, Jacob Ploch and Ben Nienhuis have been very good about verbalizing instruc- tions and helping teach others around them, not to mention being great lead-by-example guys on the field." Oconomowoc lost a talented 2016 class featuring first team all-state tight end Brett Sam- son, now playing at the Uni- versity of South Dakota, defensive end Cameron Wolf and offensive line mainstays Nick Jerred and Derick Klinger. McMillen, though, likes the competition he has seen for starting spots. "Max Caviani, Ryan Hayes, Adam Brockway, Jake Matye and Chris Aschenbrenner have had a good start to their seasons and have picked up their play nicely," McMillen said. "They will continue to get better over time." Email: mhutchinson@conleynet.com OCONOMOWOC The FREEMAN & ENTERPRISE PREP FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2016 • 11 OCONOMOWOC 1399 W. Wisconsin Ave. 262-567-9232 WATERTOWN 305 Summit Ave. 920-390-2524 Check out our website www.pesicekcollision.com Over 40 Years of Trusted Service! 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Key graduation losses: TE/LB Brett Samson, DE Cameron Wolf, OL Nick Jerred, OL Derick Klinger From Page 10 yards, rushed for nearly 900 yards and accounted for 21 touchdowns in a senior season that saw him named the league's first team all-purpose player. He was also a first team punter and second team place kicker. Three players are seeking to become Swittel's heir are sen- ior Jake Graf (6-3, 195) and jun- iors Alex Ratas (6-2, 175) and Justin Parbs (5-10, 165). Other top running backs are juniors Gaven Post (5-7, 160) and Justin Christiansen (5-11, 180). Junior Matt Johnston (6-1, 205) will be the center. The defense has five return- ing starters, led by Santiago- Lloyd at linebacker. Junior line- backer Brad Dati (6-1, 210), jun- ior end Caleb Wright (6-4, 240), senior cornerback Skylar Rashid (6-3, 185) and senior safety Nick Kreul (6-3, 185) also return. Aslin, seniors Nick Williams (6-2, 315) and Brandon Kugler (6-3, 210) and juniors Tommy O'Brien (6-5, 220) and Ron Edwards (5-11, 225) are top line- men, while senior Trevor Byrum (6-2, 215) and sopho- mores Jack Steger (6-3, 200) and Joey Pagel (6-3, 200) are among the linebacking corps. Seniors Zach Byrum (6-2, 185) and Joey Van Ert (6-1, 185), jun- ior Dean Borngesser (5-11, 170) and sophomore Cam McDonald (5-11, 175) are other top defen- sive backs. "We'll try to platoon as much as possible, but there are a cer- tain number of players who can help us both ways," Farley said. "We lost a significant number of all-conference play- ers and senior leaders. We had strong senior leadership, so now we'll have to develop that. It's their team now. "We have a good balance of returning players and upcom- ing players. The returning play- ers had a lot of reps. It's not as if they've never played their positions before, but we do have to replace that tremendous sen- ior leadership and great speed." Farley graduated from Brookfield East as a three-sport athlete. His brother, Andy, is the school's principal. Farley said one of the big attractions to moving to East was "this is where I grew up and the opportunity to work in the school and community I live in is the biggest thing. My entire family lives here." Farley is also marrying the school's track coach, Lisa Foss, in September. The date was set prior to his being named foot- ball coach at the school. Jim Jacobsen will be the team's offensive coordinator and Brendan Gonring will share defensive coordinator duties with Farley. East was runner-up to Brook- field Central in the Greater Metro last season. "They won the title and they beat us so they're the team to beat but Marquette is always good," Farley said. "Menomonee Falls and Hamil- ton are good and the West Allis schools are strong. Given our experience and history you'd have to consider us as a con- tender, but we're not talking about it. "Our goals are to just get bet- ter every single week, to com- pete for a conference champi- onship and make the playoffs." East 2016 Schedule (all games 7 p.m.) Aug. 19: Kettle Moraine Aug. 26: at Waukesha South Sept. 2: Hartford Sept. 9: at Watertown Sept. 16: Beaver Dam Sept. 23: at West Bend East Sept. 30: Slinger Oct. 6: Wisconsin Lutheran Oct. 14: at West Bend West Sue Boyer/Special to the Freeman Oconomowoc senior quarterback Ben Nienhuis works with coach Ryan McMillen in an offseason camp.