Family Ties Strong With Warsaw Tiger Football
August 13, 2021 at 11:21 p.m.
Family Ties Strong With Warsaw Tiger Football
By Chip Davenport-
The 2021 Tiger gridders have the largest collection of sibling teammates, and father-son coaching combinations in at least two decades. They’ll head into the regular season with ten football families including two sets of twins.
The families include:
• Head coach Bart Curtis, and his son, offensive coordinator Mike Curtis
• Kyle Dawson (SR OL), and brother Wyatt Dawson (FR FB)
• Freshman assistant coach Derrick Duncan, and son Bryce Duncan (JR, LB)
• Defensive line coach Chad Gabrich, and son Mason Gabrich (FR, LB)
• Twins Nick Katris (JR, LB), and Theo Katris (JR, DB)
• Freshman assistant coach Jerry Koontz, and sons Dane Koontz (SR, SE), Trey Koontz (JR, DB/HB), and Cole Koontz (FR, OL/DL)
• Twins Brandon Mejia-Ochoa (FR, SE/DB), and Anthony Mejia-Ochoa (FR, SE/DB)
• Freshman head coach Jason Nolin, and son Grady Nolin (SO, QB)
• Omar Ponce (JR, LB), and brother Ivan Ponce (FR OL/DL),
• Jace Sawyer (JR, FB), and brother Jette Woodward (SO, FB/LB)
This assembly of players and coaches should make for some interesting dinner table conversations from now until the Tigers finish their postseason run.
“It's like the main conversation around our house especially during football season,” Trey Koontz said. “So, it's just fun to talk about playing and being part of the team.”
Jerry Koontz has been coaching his sons throughout their formative football years all the way to scholastic levels of competition.
“I remember in elementary school we were doing the math,” eldest brother Dane Koontz remarked. “We were trying to figure out when we would all be in high school the same time. The idea of us all being on the same football was team something we've looked forward to experiencing.”
While there is a trio of Koontzes donning the orange and black, the Dawson brothers, Kyle, and Wyatt, would have been joined by their cousins Jackson and Jeremiah had the latter duo not relocated to Florida at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. The shortest young man among that foursome is 6’4” freshman, Wyatt. The Dawson foursome would likely have played some meaningful minutes in the Warsaw basketball program to boot.
“We were basketball players until my sophomore year when I tried football,” Kyle Dawson noted. “My brother became interested in football watching me play.”
The elder Dawson made an immediate impact on the 2019 Sectional championship squad, starting the second half of the season on the defensive line. This year, though, you’ll see the 6’5” 270-pound senior on the offensive line.
The eldest Dawson athlete, and the eldest Koontz athlete in each family cited a younger sibling as being the most competitive in their respective households.
“He gets pretty competitive at everything, not just sports,” The elder Dawson said of his brother Wyatt. “Whenever you play video games, or like even swimming in the pool he’s always challenging me.”
“Trey is the typical competitive middle child,” the oldest Koontz said. “If we were playing video games, he would keep going until he beat me. If we ran, he’d have to race until he beat me. He’s the most athletic of all of us.”
While older siblings led their kid brothers into the Tiger program, at the coaching level, Curtis the Younger was the first to establish roots in the Lake City. Curtis the Elder took the helm of the Tiger program in February 2018 following the retirement of Phil Jensen, who hired Mike in 2016.
“Back in the day, about ten or eleven years ago,” the Tiger offensive coordinator remarked, “I thought that playing for your dad was going to be one of the hardest things you could ever do as an athlete, or as a football player's son.”
How many adult sons get to work with a father who has already been inducted into the IFCA Hall of Fame? No pressure, right?
“Years later, I have found out that coaching with him is much more difficult,” Curtis the Younger continued. “But it is also much more rewarding. It's a blast. I get to learn from him every day, and I enjoy getting to make these memories with him”
The media day/photo day event last Saturday took a whimsical turn as Bart Curtis summoned defensive coordinator Kris Hueber, whom he informally donned as his adopted son, senior offensive lineman Isaiah Courtois (known on the team as “French Curtis”), and tough-as-nails junior quarterback Tucker Curtis to assemble for the Curtis (football) family photo.
Freshman head coach Jason Nolin has coached for ten years among all levels of local football: the sandlot pee-wee and Young Tiger football programs to his current scholastic competition level.
“I started coaching at the youth level because I really enjoy working with kids and I have a love for football,” Nolin noted. “I have been lucky to get opportunities to continue doing this thanks to coach Curtis.”
Nolin enjoys the satisfaction from seeing his young men create bonds with their teammates, and incidentally he’s creating memories with his son, Grady, a southpaw sophomore quarterback.
Whether it’s a mix of family and (sur)namesakes, father-son/coach-player family ties, or a literal band of brothers, the 2021 Tiger football season will certainly be a family affair.
The 2021 Tiger gridders have the largest collection of sibling teammates, and father-son coaching combinations in at least two decades. They’ll head into the regular season with ten football families including two sets of twins.
The families include:
• Head coach Bart Curtis, and his son, offensive coordinator Mike Curtis
• Kyle Dawson (SR OL), and brother Wyatt Dawson (FR FB)
• Freshman assistant coach Derrick Duncan, and son Bryce Duncan (JR, LB)
• Defensive line coach Chad Gabrich, and son Mason Gabrich (FR, LB)
• Twins Nick Katris (JR, LB), and Theo Katris (JR, DB)
• Freshman assistant coach Jerry Koontz, and sons Dane Koontz (SR, SE), Trey Koontz (JR, DB/HB), and Cole Koontz (FR, OL/DL)
• Twins Brandon Mejia-Ochoa (FR, SE/DB), and Anthony Mejia-Ochoa (FR, SE/DB)
• Freshman head coach Jason Nolin, and son Grady Nolin (SO, QB)
• Omar Ponce (JR, LB), and brother Ivan Ponce (FR OL/DL),
• Jace Sawyer (JR, FB), and brother Jette Woodward (SO, FB/LB)
This assembly of players and coaches should make for some interesting dinner table conversations from now until the Tigers finish their postseason run.
“It's like the main conversation around our house especially during football season,” Trey Koontz said. “So, it's just fun to talk about playing and being part of the team.”
Jerry Koontz has been coaching his sons throughout their formative football years all the way to scholastic levels of competition.
“I remember in elementary school we were doing the math,” eldest brother Dane Koontz remarked. “We were trying to figure out when we would all be in high school the same time. The idea of us all being on the same football was team something we've looked forward to experiencing.”
While there is a trio of Koontzes donning the orange and black, the Dawson brothers, Kyle, and Wyatt, would have been joined by their cousins Jackson and Jeremiah had the latter duo not relocated to Florida at the end of the 2020-2021 school year. The shortest young man among that foursome is 6’4” freshman, Wyatt. The Dawson foursome would likely have played some meaningful minutes in the Warsaw basketball program to boot.
“We were basketball players until my sophomore year when I tried football,” Kyle Dawson noted. “My brother became interested in football watching me play.”
The elder Dawson made an immediate impact on the 2019 Sectional championship squad, starting the second half of the season on the defensive line. This year, though, you’ll see the 6’5” 270-pound senior on the offensive line.
The eldest Dawson athlete, and the eldest Koontz athlete in each family cited a younger sibling as being the most competitive in their respective households.
“He gets pretty competitive at everything, not just sports,” The elder Dawson said of his brother Wyatt. “Whenever you play video games, or like even swimming in the pool he’s always challenging me.”
“Trey is the typical competitive middle child,” the oldest Koontz said. “If we were playing video games, he would keep going until he beat me. If we ran, he’d have to race until he beat me. He’s the most athletic of all of us.”
While older siblings led their kid brothers into the Tiger program, at the coaching level, Curtis the Younger was the first to establish roots in the Lake City. Curtis the Elder took the helm of the Tiger program in February 2018 following the retirement of Phil Jensen, who hired Mike in 2016.
“Back in the day, about ten or eleven years ago,” the Tiger offensive coordinator remarked, “I thought that playing for your dad was going to be one of the hardest things you could ever do as an athlete, or as a football player's son.”
How many adult sons get to work with a father who has already been inducted into the IFCA Hall of Fame? No pressure, right?
“Years later, I have found out that coaching with him is much more difficult,” Curtis the Younger continued. “But it is also much more rewarding. It's a blast. I get to learn from him every day, and I enjoy getting to make these memories with him”
The media day/photo day event last Saturday took a whimsical turn as Bart Curtis summoned defensive coordinator Kris Hueber, whom he informally donned as his adopted son, senior offensive lineman Isaiah Courtois (known on the team as “French Curtis”), and tough-as-nails junior quarterback Tucker Curtis to assemble for the Curtis (football) family photo.
Freshman head coach Jason Nolin has coached for ten years among all levels of local football: the sandlot pee-wee and Young Tiger football programs to his current scholastic competition level.
“I started coaching at the youth level because I really enjoy working with kids and I have a love for football,” Nolin noted. “I have been lucky to get opportunities to continue doing this thanks to coach Curtis.”
Nolin enjoys the satisfaction from seeing his young men create bonds with their teammates, and incidentally he’s creating memories with his son, Grady, a southpaw sophomore quarterback.
Whether it’s a mix of family and (sur)namesakes, father-son/coach-player family ties, or a literal band of brothers, the 2021 Tiger football season will certainly be a family affair.
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