SYRACUSE - For the first time in Tom Wogomon's coaching tenure at Wawasee High School, he has some experience on his football team.
In his fourth year leading the Warriors, Wogomon returns 20 lettermen from a year ago."We have a number of seniors that have been playing since they were sophomores," Wogomon said. "This group of seniors has been a group that understands what needs to happen in the offseason to be successful."
Of the 13 seniors on the Warriors' roster, 10 return as letterwinners, while the other 10 lettermen come from the junior class.
Last season, success came early for the Warriors, defeating Whitko and Garrett in the first two games of the year, but then things went south, losing their next eight.
"Our kids don't want to talk about last year," Wogomon said about the 2-10 campaign. "We want to learn from the experience, but the kids are looking to the future."
In his first three years at Wawasee, Wogomon has had small numbers and has been small on experience too, resulting in a 5-25 record in that span.
With so many returnees, Wogomon is optimistic about returning Wawasee to a winning program.
"A number of these players have been playing since they were sophomores," the he said. "However, they've experienced a lot of losing, which has kind of created a culture of losing."
Wogomon noticed that mentality last season, when his team would hang around for a half, but eventually succomb to their opponents.
"We need to close out games," he said.
However, reversing a culture of losing while playing in the always-tough Northern Lakes Conference can be a big hill to climb.
"The NLC can stand up against most conferences in the state, for mid-sized schools," Wogomon said. "Every NLC coach could say the same thing. That's a good thing, but if you're trying to overcome losing, it can be a horrible thing."
To get over that hill, Wogomon is going to rely on an experienced defense.
"We gave up a lot of yards and a lot of points last year, but we return 11 guys that started at least two games," Wogomon said. "They are a core that can play competitive football."
The Warriors' defense surrendered 309.7 yards a game last season, including 217 on the ground.
In order to slow down the rushing attack against them, Wawasee returns linemen on each side of the ball.
"Any coach that has a successful season will always say they had good line play," Wogomon said. "That's been a focal point for us. The nice thing is, we have a nucleus back. For the first time, I don't have to replace the lines."
Returnees on the line are seniors Jake Collins and David Garlinger, as well as junior Kory Workman. Other linemen will be Josh Dingeldein, Justin Fick, Austin Vuittonet, Dimitri Kaplanis, Chad Eppley and John Essex.
If the defensive line can get some penetration, that will only make the secondary's job easier, even though it returns a lot of experience with seniors Tom Kehoe, Camron Erb, Trevor McKibben and junior Zac Patrick.
"We have a secondary with added up experience of 10 years," Wogomon said.
Rounding out the defense will be the linebacking corp of Jake Clark, Jordan Schmitt, Tyler Hare, Brian Clark, John Zarse and Jake Schwartz.
While the line will be important to the defense, it will be even more so for the offense, which averaged 13.4 points a game.
Junior Andrew Hepler led Wawasee with 24.6 yards rushing a game last season, but has been moved to receiver this year, leaving the rushing load to McKibben, who averaged 17.9 yards a game last year.
"Trevor McKibben will be a tailback and we have a couple of sophomores who could also play, along with a junior," Wogomon said. "Sophomore Derrick Sorensen has put in a good camp."
At quarterback, Wogomon is still weighing his options about who will replace the graduated Jake Sommers between Hare and junior Bauer Schmeltz.
"We have a good competition going on at quarterback," Wogomon said. "Competition is a good thing. We went into our scrimmage without knowing who will be first string. We may even go into the first game without knowing. We'll just wait to see how they play in a competitive environment.
"Bauer Schmeltz has speed and can really move with the football," he added. "He can really put the ball on a rope and has nice mechanics. Tyler is a senior that is looked up to and is a gutty performer."
No matter who the quarterback is, he'll be making his throws to receivers Ben Klaybor, Hepler, Kehoe and Dingeldein, who missed last season with an ACL injury.
"He's a two-time captain, so it's nice to get his leadership back," Wogomon said about Dingeldein.
Other key offensive players will be Schmitt at fullback and Ryan Lindsey at receiver.
One strong position for the Warriors over the years has been punter, with Jake Sommers filling in for the graduated Steve McBride last year.
This season, Wogomon's not sure who's going to be doing the kicking for the team.
"Our big concern is kicking and punting," Wogomon said.
If the offense can do its job this year, punting may not be that big of a concern.
And after struggles for the past three years, Wawasee may be primed to change its fortunes.
"The kids are serious about being successful," Wogomon said.
The Warriors will get their first chance to show that attitude when they open their regular season Friday at Whitko.
