Tigers reload after four-peat effort falls short

MARSHFIELD – A failed two-point conversion attempt in the fourth quarter seemed to give Northwestern all the momentum it needed, as Stratford’s quest for a fourth consecutive state championship ended last November in a Level 4 playoff game in Chippewa Falls.

Fast forward nine months, and the Tigers and their second-year head coach, Marshall Lehman, are ready to turn the page from last season, in which they won 10 straight games and a CWC-Large conference championship following a 0-2 start.

“Every year is a different year,” Lehman told Hub City Times on Aug. 12, as the Tigers prepared for that week’s pre-season scrimmages. “We try to focus on the now, the new group of players that we have. You’ve got new leaders, so you try to use the past as learning, but every year is a new year, so you just tell the kids, ‘We’re focused on this year. Here’s our motto. Here’s our goals for the year, things we’re shooting for.’ We don’t really go back to the past very much besides just to use it as a small learning tool for little things that we could do to get better.”

Stratford has some varsity experience returning from a season ago, but not a lot of starters. Lehman says this year’s version of the Tigers will hang its hat on both sides of the ball up front, along the offensive and defensive lines.

“Returning as a starter is first-team All-Conference player Owen Lueck on the O-line. He’s kind of the anchor there for us. He’s looking to be a player on both sides of the ball and being a senior leader for us.

“Our center’s going to be a new center this year,” Lehman continued. “He has not had a lot of varsity experience, but Jaden Weis has put a lot of time in in the offseason. He’s been working hard and he’s been snapping really well and understands the offense.

“We’ve got Tyler Budtke, who was our Defensive Player of the Year in our conference last year,” Lehman told us. “He’s going to be a two-way player for us. Very hard-nosed kid. Tough kid. He’s really been competing hard this [training] camp so far. He’s the toughest kid on our team. Been a good leader so far, too. He’s really stepped up in that area.

“Kaden Ostricki is another senior who’s really, really just stepped up in the last year. We’re looking at playing him probably at a guard, maybe a tackle spot.

“And then Jake Thomer is another offensive lineman for us that has been working really hard that is looking to play on both sides of the ball as well,” said Lehman. “So it’s going to be four new offensive linemen and a solid anchor returner.

“Connor Kreft, he was our starting tight end last year and D-end for us. He’s back on both sides of the ball,” Lehman added. “Big leader for our team as well.

“We’ve got Kolton Haupt, who played on both sides of the ball last year, more as a running back for us and filling in for injuries at times,” said Lehman. “And he rotated around on our back end, our defensive backs. He kind of moved around back there, played a lot of different spots for us off and on. So, he’ll be back.”

Lehman added Haupt has been taking most of the snaps at quarterback during pre-season workouts.

“He’s been a quarterback all the way through his career, just not at the varsity level,” Lehman said. “He’s a talented guy in open space, really shifty, so we started utilizing him at running back last year when we had some injury issues early in the season, and so now he’s got that confidence as a running back. He’s a baseball kid, throws the ball, pitches, so he has the arm to be a quarterback and he has the legs to be running around, too. And we like dual-threat quarterbacks in our system.”

Senior Aaron Knetter will assume starting running back duties.

“He wants the ball in his hands and he’s excited to be in that role,” said Lehman. “Also a pretty quick kid and physical kid at linebacker for us, too.”

Junior Declan Fisher will serve as a wing back, while sophomores Adolfo Cano-Aguilera and Drew Bluhm will serve as backfield backups.

The Tigers, meanwhile, will have all new wide receivers heading into this season.

“We’ve got a senior in Austin Niehaus,” Lehman shared. “Fast track kid as well that’s looking to fill a role at receiver for us. Matthew Schoenfuss, another kid who’s getting some reps at quarterback, is a junior who’s pretty shifty that we’re kind of getting in our slot receiver area.”

The Tigers will feature all new starters at linebacker this year as well.

“John Mews, a senior who played some linebacker last year for us a little bit, is looking to step into a bigger role. Aaron Knetter is going to be one of our linebackers, as well as Kaden Ostricki and Jake Thomer,” Lehman told us. “All four of those guys are competing for roles to play. We like to get them all on the field as much as possible, so one of them might do some D-line stuff as well for us. We run a 3-3 on defense, so they won’t all be on the field at the exact same time, but it’s good to have a guy or two that can rotate pretty consistently during the game.

“We run a 3-3-5, so we have five defensive backs,” the former defensive coordinator shared.

“Kolten Haupt is our free safety. He played defensive back for us last year, so he’s got some experience.

Declan Fisher and Drew Bluhm are also listed as safeties, while Austin Niehaus, Matthew Schoenfuss, Cano-Aguilera and Tim Cavadini will platoon at cornerback.             

Stratford, meanwhile, has not been immune to the trend of lower numbers in its football program.

“Probably the lowest we’ve had – right around 39 to 40 kids – since I’ve been in Stratford,” Lehman shared with us. “The numbers have definitely dropped, somewhat unexpectedly.

“I think this group has a lot of talent and a lot of drive, a lot of grit, leadership,” Lehman continued. “It’s going to be new for us. We’re the first team in the state to ever have to go up two divisions, so we’re going to be in Division 4 in the playoffs now, so that’s going to be a challenge.”

Craig Martens is Stratford’s new offensive coordinator this season.

Kellen Kafka coaches the offensive and defensive lines.

Ryan Bloom serves as an offensive assistant and coaches special teams, running backs and linebackers.

Blake Lehman oversees defensive backs and wide receivers.

Tanner Schlender coaches quarterbacks and defensive backs.

Tim Kreft is serving as an offensive and defensive line assistant.

The Tigers will host Mosinee Aug. 21 in their season opener, then travel to Edgar to face the Wildcats on Aug. 28.

Stratford opens its conference schedule Sept. 4 at Spencer/Columbus.