O-line should pull weight for Spartans
Prior to the 2020 prep football season, the Journal Sentinel will unveil its preseason top 10. Today we take a look at the area's fifth-ranked team.
The star running back who plowed his way to almost 2,000 yards graduated. So did the team's tough-as-nails quarterback, a three year starter.
Brookfield East coach Ben Farley, however, has 1,200 reasons to be excited this season.
That is the approximate weight of the Spartans' offensive line, a position that has been an unsung hero of the team's state championship runs of 2016 and 2019 and in 2020 figures to be critical because of so much turnover at the he skill positions. The situation is similar on the defensive line, where three starters return.
“We think, especially offensive line, we're pretty big up front and have experience there and defensive linewise we're pretty physical and athletic up front. That should be the strength of our team,” Farley said.
The Spartans play physically, and that usually starts with the guys up front. The potential of those units is a major reason East is expected to remain one of the top teams in the Greater Metro despite having unproven talents in the offensive backfield and no returning starters in the secondary after standout safety Hayden Doyle decided to focus on basketball this fall.
The team returns just four starters on offense and five on defense but has back a number of players who were backups. The Spartans also got an extra month of quality practice due to the team's playoff run last season. That kind of work often pays off the following year.
“It's a real positive,” Farley said. “How can five weeks of additional practice hurt you?”
Each line returns an all-conference player.
Senior center Michael Weismueller received honorable mention on the all-Greater Metro team. He'll be flanked by juniors Brady Frey and Andrew Champe at guard. The tackles will be Tyler Rhode and Thatcher Rortvedt, two seniors.
Defensively, back are senior end Ryan Bromberg, a second-team allGMC selection who is the team's top returning tackler, and Harrison Kieler, a senior end who ranked right behind Bromberg in tackles. Frey returns at nose guard, where he started at in every game.
The Spartans had a tough scrimmage Friday against Mukwonago, a favorite in the Class 8. Since the team doesn't have a Week 1 opponent, it has two weeks to prepare for its season opener against Sussex Hamilton Oct. 2.
“We've got to play faster. We've got to play tougher and we can't hurt ourselves against good teams,” Farley said. “The encouraging thing was all the mistakes we made were correctable and we've got some time to correct those and get better.”