(Audubon) Audubon was ranked in the top five in the state for most of last season and the Wheeler football team only lost two seniors.
The 2020 campaign ended with a quarterfinal loss at eventual state champion St. Mary’s, Remsen. Audubon played the Hawks as close as any other team did all year. Wheeler head man Sean Birks isn’t delivering any generic coach speak when he talks about the team’s expectations this year. They have a realistic shot to get back to Cedar Falls where they were the state runner-up in 2019. “We’re not afraid to set goals.” Birks says, “We want to win our district, we want to qualify for the playoffs. Those two things go hand in hand and we want to make a deep run in the playoffs and return to the Dome. I don’t think there’s any secret about it.”
Birks says the district route won’t be easy with the likes of CAM, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Woodbine, and others. That’s not to mention the variety of directions they could get sent in the playoffs. “The western side of the state is absolutely loaded and we know that, but we want to do what we can do to push ourselves so we are one of those teams still playing at the end of November.” Birks adds, “You have to set their goals high. The talent we have this year is top notch.”
Coach Birks reports the team is focused and has hit the ground running this fall with all of the experience they have returning. Ethan Klocke and Joel Klocke were the heart and soul of the team and they are the lone seniors to replace. Carter Andreasen will likely see a lot of action as a running back and linebacker. Manny Beisswenger will see an expanded role as a receiver and in the secondary on defense.
Gavin Smith returns at quarterback after accounting for 47 offensive touchdowns with over 1,000 yards passing and more than 1,300 yards rushing last season in his first year as the full-time signal caller. “There’s no surprise. The offense we run revolves around what Gavin’s going to do for us. Luckily he can throw the ball and keep teams honest. Matt Beisswenger and Braden Wessel are back at wide receiver and can hopefully stretch the defense. We can hand it to those guys and hand it to Carter, we have some big guys up front that can hopefully open some holes for us, but Gavin’s obviously a key cog in what we want to do.”
The team’s biggest area of depth and an overall strength is the size they have on their offensive and defensive line. “Up front offensively we have Joey Schramm, Alex Foran, and Cooper Nielsen as three returning starters. Defensively we’ll put Garrett Christensen and Cooper Nielsen at the ends and Joey Schramm in the middle.” Schramm is listed at 6’4″ 260 pounds, Foran checks in at 6’0″ 245 with Nielsen and Christensen both around 6’4″ and 210 pounds. “We are pretty fortunate there to have some size and width and length.”
Audubon gets a good test a week from Friday when they open the season at SE Warren.
Audubon coach Sean Birks:
