Sports
The Pointers prepare for Saturday’s game at Central Iowa.
Football stays focused
The Pointer
Dneck184@uwsp.edu
After becoming last year’s WIAC co-champions with UW-Whitewater, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointer football team is preparing for a successful 2009 season. Head coach John Miech and the Pointer football team have been working hard in the offseason in hopes of building on last year’s success.
Coach Miech said that the winning formula for last year was not complicated. “The kids just played very good football last year and we had a lot of strong veteran leadership.” He added that this year’s team is similar to last year’s and he does not anticipate any difficulties in replacing last year’s senior positions.
Miech attributed a good offseason to having success in recruiting. He also credited this summer’s success with newly restored turf on Goerke Field. “The new turf has helped our practicing substantially this offsesason,” he states.
Miech is looking forward to the first game of the season against Central Iowa, one of the winningest Division III teams in the country. Although Miech said he did not want to give too much away, he did note that there would be changes in the special teams, which he said would have a “totally different, revamped design.”
Praise for the team has been strong from polls and sports publications around Wisconsin, with high rankings in polls from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and www.d3football.com. Three of the team’s players were also featured in an article in Inside Wisconsin Sports, a newspaper that highlights athletes from the state’s sports programs ranging from high school to professional levels. Jared Beckwith, Brian Bloom and Matt Lunder were all part of their preseason Wisconsin Division III football team. The Pointers’ total of three representatives on the team is second only to UW- Whitewater, with four.
This attention began accumulating at the end of last season when the WIAC selected UWSP defensive lineman Brad Vickroy as the player of the year and coach Miech as the George Chryst Coach of the Year.
But Miech said these polls and extra attention mean very little to the team and will not be discussed in practice. “Preseason polls are focused on last year, so there’s no need to talk about them,” said Miech. “We won’t be hanging polls in the locker room or talking about them at practice because they don’t mean anything to us. We are focused on this year.”
Pointer football begins this season on Sept. 12 against Central Iowa, and the team will have their first home game on Oct. 3 against UW- Eau Claire.
