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WAUKESHA NORTH The FREEMAN & ENTERPRISE 4 • PREP FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2016 Our large, ever-changing selection of beautiful fine jewelry, great prices and friendly service makes our jewelry store ONE-OF-A-KIND 615 N. Barstow St., Waukesha, WI 53186 262-549-5512 Store Hours: Wed-Fri 10-6, Sat 10-3 DAN'S L&L FINE JEWELRY Our inventory changes daily. See our selection of New, Used and Estate Jewelry WHY DO OUR CUSTOMERS REFER FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO: DAN'S L&L FINE JEWELRY 2 5 1 5 0 8 0 0 2 By Tom Badger Freeman Correspondent So far, so ... "Great," is how Waukesha North coach Matt Harris fin- ished the phrase describing North's the first week of practice. "I always thought this would be a four-year process — and we're in year three. It's been awesome. "Every day, I keep saying this was our best practice. We're way ahead of sched- ule and we're set to rock." The Northstars are way ahead because of a talented group of playmaking sen- iors — starting with quar- terback Brennan Demark, running back Malcolm Turner and wide receivers Kendall Gould and Taylor Anderson. "There's a great group of senior leaders here right now," Harris said. "Last year we started with 12 sen- iors and ended with six due to injuries and other things. This year, we have 18 seniors and we're sitting in a lot bet- ter place." Demark, who passed for nearly 1,800 yards as a jun- ior, will be counted upon to move the offense down the field. Harris said Demark (6- foot-3, 205 pounds) has had an "amazing" offseason and "is primed for a big season." Turner (5-9, 160) is expect- ed to get the lion's share of the carries, while Gould (6-2, 175) and Anderson (6-1, 155) have improved their "big play" capabilities. Harris added that senior Jamie Dewitt (6-4, 210) and fresh- man Chimre Dike (5-10, 145) will also be integral parts of North's four-receiver sets. "We don't really say that we're 50/50 run to pass or 60/40," Harris said. "We're going to take what's there for us." The Northstars offense line is strong and experi- enced with three returning starters. Junior center Max Thode (6-0, 205) will be flanked by juniors Jared Coonen (5-10, 235) and Joe Laste (5-10, 225) at guard and by senior Adam Steingrae- ber (6-0, 235) and junior Sean Zsori (6-3, 230) at tackle. "We have five 400-pound squatters on the offensive line," Harris said. North's defensive line is the fastest Harris has ever seen. Junior Will McDonald (6-5, 200) has carried over his athleticism from the basket- ball court to the football field. Junior nose tackle Izzy Bacon (5-11, 230) and sopho- more Brady Jetto (5-11, 230) intend to shore up North's three-man front. Linebacking duties will fall on seniors Israel Pitch- ford (6-3, 210), Royce Ander- son (6-1, 195), Drew Malicki (5-9, 165) and Steingraeber. Gould and senior Noah Neira (5-9, 175) will anchor the secondary with help from senior transfer student Azmar Saab (6-2, 195), sen- ior Jacob Hoeg (6-0, 165) and junior Simon Jensen (5-8, 165). Neira will handle the Harris impressed with progression Northstars bring back playmakers Waukesha North Coach: Matt Harris, 3rd year 2015: 3-6 overall, 1-6 Classic 8 Key returning players: senior QB Brennan Demark, senior RB Mal- colm Turner, senior WR Kendall Gould, senior WR Taylor Ander- son, senior LB/OL Adam Stein- graeber, senior LB/P Noah Neira Key graduation losses: RB Tony Tromblay, OL/DL Alec Barth, Promising newcomers: junior DE Will McDonald, freshman WR Chimre Dike, senior LB Royce Anderson, freshman K Austin Peters See NORTH, PAGE 5 From Page 2 specifically focused on the Xs and Os of the game of foot- ball. "I think our football IQ has gone through the roof," Raebel said. "We've spent a lot of time during camp just learning as much about foot- ball as we can. "They don't realize how much they do know at times. We've been focusing a lot just on getting that football IQ to go up as high as we can going into the season." The Blackshirts must replace honorable mention all-conference quarterback Nolan Heck, who graduated. Heck threw for 1,573 yards and 12 touchdowns. Raebel will try to replace the offensive production Heck created by using sen- iors T.J. Garrity (6-foot-5, 240 pounds) and Charlie Peter- son (6-1, 175) creatively. "We're going to be able to use (Garrity) quite creatively on both sides of the ball," Raebel said. "He's the kind of player that you can really do a lot with that gives defensive coordinators headaches." Peterson will be behind center for most snaps, but Raebel plans to find other spots on the field for the sen- ior to give opponents a differ- ent look. The team will also depend on senior running back and safety Luke LeCaptain (5-11, 185) to be one of the leaders on and off the field. "He's just has a rock solid personality," Raebel said. "Up and down no matter what's happening on the field he's steady and engaged and focused. His highs are pretty low and his lows are pretty high. He's the kind of guy you want out there, especial- ly when you have teams like us where you're going to have big wins and tough games and you have to stay com- posed the whole time." Another key loss from last year's team is running back Anthony Johnson, who rushed for 780 yards and eight touchdowns. The Blackshirts have a state-qualifying hurdler attempting to fill the hole. Senior Jalen Pickett-Vance (5-11, 140) will help to replace the lost offensive threat with speed and quickness. When other conference teams look at Waukesha South, Raebel wants his squad to instill fear. "If you asked around other teams in this conference, they would look at this pro- gram a little bit scared because when we have our full roster and are fully healthy and put things together, we can be a pretty good team," Raebel said. Raebel eventually wants to string a couple of wins together, capture a couple of upsets and show the confer- ence what his team is all about. "I want to learn to compete and start to get an upset here and there," he said. "Then I want to get in the playoffs and out of the conference to show the world how good we are." South's record doesn't mat- ter for the first-year coach at the end of the day. "If we can get out of every single game with our kids having learned and gotten better throughout the entire season, and competed for every single game I would consider that an ideal sea- son," Raebel said. "I just want to make sure they're going nonstop on every play." Email: mcohen@conleynet.com South Robert F. Borkowski/Special to The Freeman Waukesha North quarterback Brennan Demark is back behind center and leads a talented group in 2016. 2016 Schedule (all games 7 p.m.) Aug. 19: Elkhorn Aug. 26: at Whitnall Sept. 2: at Arrowhead Sept. 9: Kettle Moraine Sept. 16: Waukesha West Sept. 23: Waukesha South Sept. 30: Mukwonago Oct. 7: at Muskego Oct. 14: Catholic Memorial