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Onalaska Luther High School football coach Jon Benrud knew his team’s second season in the Minnesota-based Three Rivers Conference-North was going to be challenging.
When the Knights were hit hard by a rash of injuries and sickness — one week 17 of the team’s 65 varsity players were out — things got even harder.
Luther finished 2-7 overall (1-4 TRC-North). The Knights opened with a 16-8 win over Hillsboro, which went on to qualify for the WIAA Division 6 playoffs, and scored four unanswered touchdowns to beat Wabasha-Kellogg 28-20 on Oct. 14.
“Guys would be out for a week or two and try coming back, then they’d go back out again,” Benrud said. “It was bad. But it’s a tough conference, and we didn’t play well defensively, we gave up a lot of big plays, and we weren’t able to score like we should have.”
The offensive and defensive lines were hit the hardest. Benrud said the Knights had a different starting offensive line all eight weeks, with center Ben Hansen as the only constant.
That affected everything on offense. Senior Cody Krueger still rushed for 924 yards, ninth in the Coulee Region, and Nick Pamperin emerged as the possible quarterback of the future after Joey Leibl moved from quarterback to tailback during the season.
“I saw that (Pamperin) has a good head on his shoulders and a lot of composure,” Benrud said. “For a young quarterback and with Joey in the backfield, that might be a good combination.”
Benrud listed linemen Travis McDonald, Grant Eggert, Andrew Hornberg, Nick Trocinski, tight end Chad Coady, defensive backs Aaron Schwartz and Chase Owens, and linebacker Tyler Manke as building blocks for 2010.
“We’re improving our weight room and pushing that, and a lot of guys went to football camps, so it’s a start,” Benrud said. “We had some real good senior leaders this year, and hopefully that leadership will carry on.”
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