Wildcats Gridiron Club: Welcome

The Wildcats Gridiron Club, representing the football program for Belleville High School, was established in May 2010 to continue the proud tradition of community support for high school football in the Belleville, Exeter, Montrose, Paoli, Primrose and Vineyville communities. The primary function of the Wildcats Gridiron Club is to support the Belleville High School football team.  This support comes in many different ways.  Volunteering time, fund-raising, supporting events like Homecoming, Prom, as well as helping with the development of youth football players in partnership with the Belleville "Bobcats" Youth Football (http://www.babobcatyouthfootball.com) program.  The success of the players on and off the field comes easier with the support and backing of the community.

VISION - Our vision is to build a football tradition that will encourage and support the Belleville High School team, increase interest, participation, and loyalty within the entire school communities.  We will honor and celebrate the memory and tradition of those players who previosly played at Belleville High School.

MISSION - Our mission is to support the Belleville High School Football program on Capital Expenditures that are not included in the high school budget.

GOAL - To reach a  level of excitement by enhancing our team with materials and important equipment not included in the annual school budget.

Please consider joining the Wildcats Gridiron Club.  Contact Jim Achenbach, President at jlcachenbach@frontier.com or Otis Woods, Treasurer @ otiswoods2@gmail.com .  Membership forms, individual, business and sponsorship are available by clicking on the links to the left under website pages, then "Handouts."

Respecfully,

For many individuals, their season started unofficially on July 25^th with a camp to refresh the players “football” mentality, bond as a team, and of course condition the young men into shape, preparing them for the two and a half month season.  “If we can perfect our execution, fundamentals, and conditioning, the wins will just come for us” stated head coach Barry Lengfeld.  That was the Wildcat’s main points of focus for the season before them.

Following the camp, the Wildcats felt they were in a great situation having nine seniors coming out to play their final year.  These leaders included: Collin Adams, Cody Bigler, Trevor Binger, Ty Mauerman, Matt Meier, Wayne Parks, Danny Stenseth, Cody Wiederholt, and T.J. Youngs. 

       For the season opener, the Wildcats traveled to Edgerton on the 19^th of August.  Despite the loss, the offense had had a great opening game, moving the ball downfield led by senior quarterback Collin Adams, putting up 74 yards and a touchdown pass to Matt Meier.  Also, sophomore Garrison Woods averaged 9.7 yards a carry on 17 carries, going for 166 total yards with 3 touchdowns.  The final was Wildcats 27 Edgerton 54.

The next two games were tough for the Wildcats suffering losses to both Parkview and Poynette.  Also, the Wildcats were stricken with multiple injuries having their senior quarterback and a starting right tackle fall against Parkview.  In Poynette, four others were injured, which included two more seniors, which was a big blow to the Wildcat team overall, losing six starters in two weeks.  On the upside, junior, Tanner Wallom, who saw little varsity time as a sophomore, threw for over 100 yards in his first game of taking over at the first string position.  The scores for week two and three were: Wildcats 0 Parkview 33 and Wildcats 0 Poynette 38.

            The next two games on the schedule were against Watertown Luther Prep and their first conference game at home against Waterloo.  The game against Luther Prep was rather lopsided.  The offense was shutdown and could not gain momentum.  The Wildcats leading rusher for the season averaged -1.00 yard per carry.  Against Waterloo, the Wildcats finally found their scoring rhythm from week one, and put up 10 points.  Although the Wildcat receivers achieved a combined total of 109 receiving yards, the game was not won by the defense.  Final scores for weeks four and five were: Wildcats 0 Watertown Luther Prep 42, and Wildcats 10 Waterloo 39.

     For the next two games the Wildcats were able to gradually increase their scoring totals, but unfortunately still lacked defense to keep the game in reach.  For Homecoming against New Glarus/Monticello, the Wildcats were looking to upset their rivals in front of their home crowd.  The game started off close, but the Knights capitalized on Wildcat mistakes putting more points on the board.  Cambridge was the same story as the week before, but the offense looked more comfortable in the process.  Leading in rushing yards against Cambridge was junior, Jacob “Smush” Kowalski, who usually played at fullback, but stepped up and became the halfback, running over the defense for a total of 116 yards on 21 carries with 1 touchdown.  The finals for the sixth and seventh week of football were: Wildcats 13 New Glarus/Monticello 35 and Wildcats 14 Cambridge 52.

            The second to the last game of the year was the biggest game for the Wildcats.  They were playing in Wisconsin Heights on their Homecoming, and the Vanguards hadn’t won a conference game in six years.  The game started out hot for the Wildcat offensive line that consisted of: Matt Goke, Logan Webb, Patrick Deegan, T.J. Youngs, and Jake Miller, who pushed the D-line backwards and credited their team with 6 points on the scoreboard.  In the fourth quarter, the Wildcats were down by seven points with 0:19 seconds to go.  The Wildcats were on the Heights 38 yard line, and threw a quick pass, which was picked off for 6 points, putting the game out of reach for the Wildcats.  For the first time all season the defense had a stellar outing, led by senior T.J. Youngs, who led the game in tackles.  The final was Wildcats 21 Heights 34.

            For the final game of the year, senior night, conference champs, Marshall, came to Belleville.  Unfortunately, Marshall dominated from the start taking the game 0-39.

  Season stat leaders for receiving yards included: senior TE Matt Meier who had 247 yards on 14 receptions and 1 TD, averaging 17.64 yards per catch.  Cody Weiderholt had 107 yards on 5 receptions and 1 TD, averaging 21.40 yards per catch.  Finally, Trevor Binger had 104 yards on 8 catches and 1 TD, averaging 15.00 yards per catch.

            Season passing leaders included: Collin Adams who went 5-14, in game one, for 74 yards and 1 TD averaging 14.80 yards per throw.  Also, Tanner Wallom went 22-56 on the season for 337 yards with 2 TD, averaging 15.32 yards per throw.

            Season rushing leaders included: Garrison Woods who ran for 439 yards on 79 carries with 6 TD, and averaged 6.66 yards per carry.  Also, carrying the ball very well was Jacob Kowalski who ran for 366 yards on 66 carries with 1 TD, and averaging 5.62 yards per carry.

            After the final game, the players huddled and listened to coaches, Barry Lengfeld-defense, Brian Meier-offense, Shane Anderson-offense, Travis Youngs-defense, Jamie Rupp-offense, and Andrew Vetter-special teams, talk about the season and complement the nine wonderful men who were now done with football.  “This is the best group of men and leaders I have ever coached,” stated Lengfeld.  Hugs and handshakes were given out affectionately all around between players, coaches, and seniors.

            Despite the rather rough season for both the JV and Varsity teams, everyone who was out on that field, coaches and players, learned something, whether it be about themselves or others.  Would the Wildcats have liked to have a winning record or have had made the playoffs?  Sure, but what they learned this year is that you stand by your brother in time of need and have his back.  A winning record or going to the playoffs would have been great, but that soon becomes a memory of the past.  The Wildcat football players are not only teammates, but also they are brothers, and family, whose relationships and memories in which they have made, will last a lifetime.

The 2011 Wildcats football season officailly came to a close upon the compeletion of the Belleville High School Fall Sports Awards Banquet.  Recognized were member of the Belleville High School Volleyball team, Belleville High School Cross Country teams, Sugar River Boys Soccer, Football Cheerleading and the Belleville/Albany Wildcats Football squad.  

 In the individual team breakout, the Wildcats Football team named their Team and Conference Award winners.  Those recogonized were:

Team Captains: Cody Bigler, Ty Mauerman

Coaches Awards: Cody Bigler, TJ Youngs

Most Improved: Austin Ross

Most Valuable: Jacob Kowalski

All Capitol South Team

1st Team: Joey Beil- Kicker

2nd Team: Jacob Kowalski- Running Back

2nd Team: TJ Youngs- Offensive Line

2nd Team: Jacob Kowalski- Inside Linebacker

2nd Team: TJ Youngs- Defensive Line

Full Offensive, Defensive and Special Teams statistics will be posted this weekend.  Thank you for all the support and we'll see you in 2012.