There’s new leadership in the Mishicot football program, but their expectations of success remain the same.
Mishicot has been slowly building a brand of physical football that’s resulted in steady but positive improvement in each of the last three seasons.
Kevin Fix was a huge part of it, having been head coach for the last 13 years.
But he’s stepped down, with long-time assistant Joe Baeten taking over a program that won five games last season and qualified for the playoffs for a second consecutive season.
He tells seehafernews.com that training camp has gone about as well as expected.
“We’ve been working hard all summer to get ready for the season,” he explained to SeehaferNews.com. “It will be nice to start playing games and get into the meat of our schedule. Our staff has a great rhythm and flow going regarding understanding the kids and how to specifically coach them.”
The Indian’s have some quality seniors returning including senior lineman Brady Ledvina.
He will be playing on both the offensive and defensive lines this season and says he’s ready to kick the ball off Thursday night at Oconto.
“This is the most excited I’ve been going into a football season here in Mishicot.” Ledvina revealed. “We’ve worked so hard the last three years to build the program and all of us have worked extremely hard this summer to have our best season yet.”
Another returning senior is T.J. Hagenow who makes the transition from offensive guard to running back.
He’s got some big shoes to fill with the graduation of Benjamin Backus, who accounted for over 2,000 yards from scrimmage and 28 total touchdowns.
“(Ben’s) a huge loss but I feel we will be a bit more balanced and adapt our game plan accordingly,” Hagenow noted. “I feel we’ll have the ability to keep defenses off balance and strike from several different places on the field. I’m excited about the potential this team has go show it on the field.”
Hagenow will also play defense, where he’ll have to make up the slack for graduating seniors Bennett Grossheim, who led the Indians in total tackles (93) solo tackles (41), and tackles for loss with 12.
Jax Vogel, with 46 solo tackles, and Daryn Smith, who had 36 total tackles in 2025 have also graduated.
Gabriel Kunz, with his team-leading 536 receiving yards and 20 total tackles, also graduated, but Coach Baeten truly believes there are plenty of kids ready to step up and fill these huge shoes. Mishicot is also returning home, per se, where after two seasons in the Packerland Conference they are back in the Big East Conference playing familiar foes like Reedsville, Manitowoc Lutheran, Hilbert and Cedar Grove.
Baeten says this team has the potential to build on the foundation they’ve built the last three seasons, but regardless of win-loss, we asked him what a successful 2026 season in Mishicot would be.
“We’ve been the seven-seed and played on the road the last two trips to the playoffs. I’d like us to host a playoff game in October and make a deep postseason run,” he explained. “This is a great group of kids that have worked hard, and I’d like them to be rewarded for it.”
The Indians open on the road Thursday night at Oconto, then host Roncalli in their opener on (Friday) August 28th. They’ll open Big East play on September 4th, hosting the Reedsville Panthers.
