The world of semi-pro football is still reeling from the upset of the year over the weekend.
The Sheboygan County SaberCats knocked off the two-time defending champion Illinois Cowboys 34-22, thanks to a last-second pass breakup from Zay Kelly and a pick-six by Antonio Fontanez.
We spoke with Head Coach TJ Schouten, who noted that this win was not only important for the team from a standings perspective, but also for many of the players individually.
“We have a lot of players who have played the Cowboys on different teams, in different leagues, and for a lot of the guys on the teams, this is the first time they beat the Cowboys,” he noted. “So there’s a lot of excitement.”
The win has garnered a lot of attention from people inside the semi-pro space, including Inside the Lines, which ranks teams from around the country.
Shortly after the win, Inside the Lines made a post about the upset.
“He started off with, if he could pick one team to protect the world if the world was being invaded by Martians, he would pick the Sheboygan County SaberCats,” TJ recalled. “It had me laughing.”
While the win is exciting for everyone, TJ is already getting ready for the next matchup.
“At the end of the day, we need to make sure we focus on the next game,” he said. “We don’t want to fall into a trap game, where we take someone lightly and they come up and upset us.”
The Cats will have a couple of weeks off before returning to their home field at Lakeland University on Saturday, July 19th, for a matchup with the Southern Lakes Blue Devils.
TJ was also on WOMT Sports Talk Monday night.
You can hear more about what he had to say by going to SeehaferPodcasts.com.
