Looking to light up the scoreboard

OZAUKEE HIGH SCHOOL’S football team has made the playoffs eight of the last nine seasons. This year, some of their key players include (front row, from left) Jonny Melendez, Jaysen Delleree, Jack Genzmer, Cael Large, Austin Wadkins, Ty Szczerbinski, Beau Sczcerbinski, John Brooks, Jon Behrens, (back row) Zach Bell, Trevor Decker, Braxton Gahan, Jacob Eibs, Andy Caswell, Brent Hoffmann, Mason Kell, Logan Bell, Brandon Harbison, Dakota Hart and Cole Thomas. Photo by Sam Arendt
The perennial playoff participants Ozaukee Warriors look to return to the second season by burying opponents on the ground.
The Warriors, who went 6-3 in the Big East Conference last year, hope to reach the postseason for the second straight season and the ninth time in the last 10 under coach Jim Lippe, this time by keeping the scoreboard operator a little busier than last year.
“Our defense played really well,” Lippe said. “Our goal this year is to score a lot more points.”
Much of that may be done by running the football.
The versatile Brent Hoffmann, whose offensive repertoire includes quarterback, running back, fullback and wide receiver, is slated to play running back. He had 725 yards rushing and eight touchdowns last year.
Hoffmann will split carries with sophomore Jack Genzmer, who performs beyond his years, Lippe said.
“He doesn’t look like a sophomore and doesn’t play like one,” he said.
Genzmer had an 80-yard touchdown run and a total of 154 yards rushing in last year’s level-one playoff loss to Mineral Point. For the season, Genzmer had nearly 500 yards rushing and four scores as a freshman.
“Brent and Jack in the backfield will be a really great combo. It gives us two experienced guys who are really fast,” Lippe said.
Both backs, he said, have a combination of speed and power.
Junior Ty Szczerbinski takes over under center after starting on the junior varsity squad last year. Mitchell Weyker, who handled the bulk of the passing last season, graduated.
“He throws a really nice ball,” Lippe said of Szczerbinski.
Szczerbinski will also do some blocking as fullback when Hoffmann steps in at quarterback. Lippe is using a single-wing offense, hearkening back to his scheme from the 2010-11 season.
“I think it fits our personnel very well,” he said.
Through the air, senior Logan Bell at tight end will be one target. He returns after making the Big East second team last season, when he caught nine balls for 146 yards and a score.
“He’s a really nice football player,” Lippe said.
Andrew Caswell backs up Bell.
At receiver, Jacob Eibs and Jonny Melendez get the call, with Cael Large and Jason Delleree behind them.
Up front, the offensive line will be anchored by three-year starter Dakota Hart, who received Big East Conference honorable mention recognition last season. He will play right tackle.
Sophomore Trevor Becker will play center, Braxton Gahan will play left tackle and Zach Bell will hold down left tackle. All started as freshmen.
Bell is 6-feet-1-inch tall and 265 pounds.
“He is a bull,” Lippe said.
Senior Beau Szczerbinski, Ty’s cousin, will play right guard.
The Warriors lost first-team all-conference lineman Ben Berweger to graduation.
A couple of junior linemen, Lippe said, had offseason surgery and will miss the year. He hopes to get them back next season.
On the defensive line, tackles will be handled by committee. Bell, Hart, Beau Szczerbinski and sophomores David Cresci, Hunter Plaskey and Brady Drollinger.
For those playing on both sides of the ball, “We’re pretty good about figuring out how we can get kids some rest,” Lippe said.
At defensive end, Gahan and seniors Jon Behrens and Cole Thomas will rotate.
Linebacker, Lippe said, “is probably the absolute strength of our team.”
Hoffmann returns after making the Big East first team at outside linebacker. This year, he will play inside and start for his fourth straight season,
Bell is back after making the all-conference second team and will start at inside linebacker for the third straight season.
Junior Brandon Harbinson moves from inside to outside, swapping with Hoffmann, and Large will start for the first time on the other side.
Senior John Brooks, a solid special teams player, is the backup outside linebacker, Lippe said.
“He’s a really good kid and important to us,” he said.
“That kid is like the Energizer bunny,” Lippe said. “He is tough as nails. He takes on anybody.”
At cornerback, junior Austin Wadkins will start for the first time, along with Jonny Melendez.
Delleree could play some outside linebacker and in the defensive secondary as well, Lippe said.
Free safety is between Jacob Eibs and Genzmer.
The Warriors plan to run a 4-4 defense.
Hoffmann or Braxton are slated to kick.
“They’re both pretty good,” Lippe said.
Melendez and Genzmer will use their speed to return punts and kicks.
While the playoffs are always a goal, Lippe only looks to the next week.
“We really believe in taking it one game at a time,” he said.
To compete for a conference title, the Warriors will have to have a good record heading into the fifth week of the season when they visit the two-time defending champ Cedar Grove-Belgium. Ozaukee was the last team to beat the Rockets in a Big East game back in 2016.
The teams haven’t played the last two years since the Big East is too big of a conference for each team to play one another. The Warriors also return to face another rival, Oostburg, after a two-year break.
Lippe said he looks forward to renewing the nearby rivalries rather than traveling farther for games.
Ozaukee has five home games for the first time since 2015, starting Friday, Aug. 23, when veterans and first responders get in free and receive a free hat. Veterans will be honored between after the first quarter and first responders after the third quarter.
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