Photo Credit - Manitowoc Lutheran High School
The Manitowoc Lutheran football team moves up from fifth to fourth in this week’s Bound Wisconsin Division Six High School Coaches Football poll released on Tuesday.
The Lancers are 3-0 in The Big East and 5-0 overall following their 42-0 victory over the Bison of Random Lake/Ozaukee last Friday night.
Head Coach Ryan Hulse tells seehafernews.com that he’s been blessed to coach this fine group of young men.
“These kids are motivated to excel at the highest level and feel blessed to play the game they love,” he explained. “These are very coachable kids, and they’ve worked hard to get to this point.”
The Lancers lost a home game to Horicon/Hustisford by a score of 21-0 on September 20th, 2024.
A players’ only meeting was held right afterwards, and since then, they have won 22 of their last 24 games, including 14 straight in the Big East Conference.
Coach Hulse says it was a marquee point in the program’s turnaround that has fostered a winning culture to this day.
“I just think that they are great stewards of the gifts God has given them,” he told SeehaferNews.com. “They may be different than the ones their teammate has, but the chemistry they have is undeniable, and it’s produced very good results.”
Defensively is where Manitowoc Lutheran has excelled. They’ve not allowed a single point all year long, with the only points allowed coming on a Brillion defensive touchdown back in week two.
The Lancers head coach has a luxury that most small schools aren’t afforded that can put his players in the best position to succeed.
“They are playing assignment-sound football, which is awesome,” Hulce said with pride. “We’ve got even different defensive linemen that can rotate in and out, which keeps everyone fresh. That can wear on the opposition, allowing for Roman (Di Marco) and Evan (Wagner) to go do what they do best.”
He refers to junior linebackers Roman Di Marco and Evan Wagner, who exclusively play defense.
Di Marco has a team-leading 40 tackles, 33 of which are solo, and also leads the team.
Wagner has 25 total tackles, 22 of which are solo. Additionally, they have six others that have recorded double-digit tackles.
The Lancers have recorded 228 total tackles through five games, an average of nearly 46 per game, with 176 being solo, which is slightly above 37 per game, just shy of 7.5 per contest.
Translated, they swarm to the ball and don’t hardly miss any chance to bring down an opposing ball carrier.
Manitowoc Lutheran will look for their 15th consecutive Big East Conference win and 23rd in their last 25 games when they host Oostburg Friday night for Homecoming at Coach Heidrich Field.
The kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
Meanwhile, Bonduel jumps past Lomira into the top spot in D-6.
In Division Five, Brillion, whose only loss came to Manitowoc Lutheran back in week two, is ranked ninth.
Northeast Conference powers Freedom and Little Chute remain first and second, respectively, in Division Four.
The undefeated Plymouth Panthers jumped three places from sixth to third in Division Three, with Winneconne checking in at number seven.
The Tritons of Notre Dame Academy of Green Bay remain atop the Division Two poll, while in Division One Bay Port and West De Pere are ranked second and third, respectively, and the Lightning of Appleton North are ranked eighth.
In Division Seven, Lourdes Academy of Oshkosh checks in at number seven. In eight-man football, Valley Christian is ranked fourth, while the Pioneers of Sevastopol debut at number nine.
