Waynesfield-Goshen’s Drew Breitigam (2) threw for 1,280 yards and 22 touchdowns and ran for 564 yards and seven touchdowns during the 2022 regular season.
Jackelyn Johnson | The Lima News
WAYNESFIELD — Waynesfield-Goshen is looking to build on the success of going unbeaten in the regular season and collecting the Northwest Central Conference championship.
“We talked about at the end of last year how much work it took to get where we were last year and if we want to go further, obviously, it’s going to take more of the same and then be willing to give more than we did last year,” head coach Shane Wireman said.
One of the thing the Tigers will have to address immediately is finding replacements for last year’s seniors.
“Just as many schools have done, we graduated a very solid senior class …, many who were multiple-year starters, exit the program,” Wireman said. “I think using the example from the guys that go before you, that last year’s senior class had 10 guys in it, and they set a good example for how we want to do things and, hopefully, some of that leadership and kind of lead by example type of thing, whether it was a vocal leader or something like that would be good at showing these guys kind of how to do the same kind of thing for the underclassmen that are coming from behind them.”
The Tigers do “return another group of 10 seniors who are looking to build upon last season’s success,” Wireman said.
Among them is quarterback Drew Breitigam, who was named the conference’s offensive player of the year after throwing for 1,280 and 22 touchdowns and rushing for 564 yards and seven TDs during the regular season. He was also named first-team all-district and second-team all-state.
“I want to see more younger classmen get more involved and more excited to play cause a lot of them come with the mind-set that I’m young and I’m not going to play and all that stuff but we really lost a lot of guys, and we don’t have a lot of depth so everyone needs to be ready to step in on Friday nights to help us out,” Breitigam said. “We’ve got to come closer as a team. Since we graduated those 10 seniors last year, there are a lot of new kids and we just aren’t as close as we were last year from a personal standpoint. We need to learn to grow together kind of unify that brotherhood a little more.”
Breitigam also received second-team all-NWCC recognition at defensive back.
“Honesty, I look at it the same way either side,” he said.”I love getting hit, I love hitting people. I like being able to help my team however I can.”
Also returning is senior Dalton Jordan, who made The Lima News Dream Team at wide receiver as well as first-team all-NWCC and all-district and second-team all-state after posting 35 receptions for 773 yards and 13 TDs.
“Like coach said, you just got to keep teaching these younger classmen to fill in those spots and try to teach them what they need to do,” said Jordan, who is excited about “going back and defending the NWCC championship and going into my last year just trying to have fun and play ball with all my teammates.”
Jordan was also first team all-NWCC selection at defensive back.
Wireman said an area of emphasis for W-G in order to improve on last year’s success is pass protection.
“That’s something we’ve worked on with the offensive line,” Wireman said.
He said this year the Tigers will be smaller up front “but we think that will help us with what we are trying to do offensively. Not that we aren’t going to still run the ball, but we want to be sure we can pass block.
“Up front in the trenches, we return a (first-team) all-conference selection in senior Drew Cook, and another multi-year starter in senior David Born. Alongside of those we will have a lot of competition to fill out the starting lineup upfront, but we feel strongly about the likes of Jayce Turner, Layden Porter, Ty Stafford and Brody Roberts.
“We got some good playmakers on the outside, and that’s an area we have to get better. We know teams like to try to bring pressure on us. Keep our quarterback in the pocket and things like that. So, those are all things we want to keep getting better at offensively.
“Our backfield will be led by a group of juniors who will take their turn toting the rock, which includes Grant Breitigam, Carson Barnes and Gage Steinke. All three of these backs bring something different to the table and we plan to use each to their strengths.”
W-G also returns Lane Steinke, who made first-team NWCC as a freshman kicker. Barnes was a second-team all-conference tight end and Born, who also plays on the defensive line, was named honorable mention all-NWCC.
W-G’s base defense will be a 4-2-5 but the 3-4 will also likely be employed. Among those back is junior Grant Breitigam, who was named first-team all-NWCC at linebacker.
“I think one thing we want to do better this year is we want more turnovers,” Wireman said. “We had guys around the ball a lot last year with the new coverages we were running. We just want to capitalize more.”
Overall, Wireman believes “we’ve done a pretty good job of developing our younger talent.
“We have guys that haven’t been starters but they’ve been constantly rotating in the last couple years waiting for their chance so I kind of think you’ll see some guys that may surprise people because they are going to think that’s a first-year starter but that’s a guy who’s been kind of waiting in the wings for a couple years to get out there and make an impact. So, I think we will have some guys do that for us.”
“We’ve been trying to preach that every underclassman needs to buy in, show up during the offseason, have good winter workouts and spring workouts,” said Cook, who also plays on the defensive line.” They need to keep showing up throughout the summer and putting in the work we need to succeed in our season.”
“We want to go out and defend that league title,” Wireman said. “If we are kind of walking around with a big head and not taking our job seriously, teams are going to catch up to you.
“We don’t want to get complacent, regardless of who we are playing,” Wireman said. “We still have things we want to work on, and we want to make sure that we get better as a team regardless of who we play on Friday nights. … Our ultimate goal is not just to beat the team we are playing Friday night but we are working towards that Week 12, Week 13, Week 14. So, we want to make sure we are getting better, not just staying the same so that’s something these guys hear a lot from me. Every week we have different goals. We want to meet those goals and get better at things that maybe we’re not putting together as well as we could.”
He also wants to start games off stronger.
We have had since I have been here …, we have a tendency to kind of feel our opponent out and start slow, kind of see what they are about so that’s been an emphasis too. We want to come out that first drive and jump on somebody and not let them throw the first punch. Get the ball let’s go out and get a drive and not wait for two or three possessions before we start playing like we are capable of so, that is something we want to get better at as well.”
He is also hoping for a strong performances from the other conference members at playoff time.
“Hopefully, in the postseason, I want to see some of our teams go out and show other conferences that, yeah, we are small but we can still get on the field and play with you and still challenge you just as well as if we were in your conference,” Wireman said. “We still have good football players … good coaches and there are a lot of good things happening in small town football.
“In terms of goals/expectations, we want to do our very best to defend our league title from last year, and after being eliminated from the playoffs each of the last two years in Week 12, we would like to push our season into Week 13 and hopefully beyond. That being said, we know the amount of work it has taken to accomplish these recent goals, and we know it will take more of the same to try and accomplish such goals again this upcoming season.”
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TEAM PROFILE
Coach: Shane Wireman (eighth season)
Division: VII
Last year’s record: 11-1 (7-0 NWCC)
Ticket information: wgschools.org/o/wga/page/online-ticket-purchasing
Returning 2002 varsity letter winners include: David Born (Sr., OL/DL), Drew Breitigam (Sr., QB/DB), Jay Carter (Sr., OL/DL), Drew Cook (Sr., OL/DL), Landin DeWitt (Sr., WR/DB), Dalton Jordan (Sr., WR/DB), Devon Klenke (Sr.. WR/DB), Keaghan McKercher (Sr., OL/DL), Ty Stafford (Sr., OL/DL), Jonathan Yoder (Sr., OL/DL), Carson Barnes (Jr., RB/LB), Grant Breitigam (Jr., RB/LB), Jordan Gossard (Jr., OL/LB), Jace Kaufman (Jr., QB/WR/DB), Layden Porter (Jr., OL/DL), Cayden Ridgeway (Jr., RB/LB), Troy Spencer (Jr., TE/LB), Gage Steinke (Jr., RB/DB), Jayce Turner (Jr., OL/DL), Bradey Miller (Soph., RB/LB), Lane Steinke (Soph., WR/DB/K)
Promising newcomers include: Brody Roberts (Soph., OL/DL), Levi Werling (Soph., OL/DL), Reed Waitman (Soph., WR/DB), Kolten Webb (Soph., WR/DB)
2023 schedule
(Kickoffs scheduled for 7 p.m.; subject to change)
Aug. 18 — at Mississinawa Valley
Aug. 25 — Crestline
Sept. 1 — at Upper Scioto Valley
Sept. 8 — at Hardin Northern
Sept. 15 — North Baltimore
Sept. 22 — at Cory-Rawson
Sept. 29 — Elgin
Oct. 6 — Perry
Oct. 13 — at Ridgedale
Oct. 20 — at Ridgemont
