Vikes saw a lot of improvement in 2021

WAUSA — Yes, the season ended in the first round of the D2 playoffs, but the 2021 football campaign was a success in so many ways for the Wausa Vikings.

They finished 4-5 for the best winning percentage under head coach Adrian Alonzo since his first year in charge in 2017 when the Vikings finished 5-4. They followed that up with a 4-6 campaign the following year.

However, after back-to-back onewin seasons and no playoffs either year, the Vikings were a weekly threat to the opposition and became so with a bevy of younger players that should return bigger and better in 2022 and aim for more success.

“Our season was good, it wasn’t great, and we learned what we can do this year,” Alonzo said. “We understand what kind of team we are again. We are working toward learning how to win, which is a big deal. The one thing we did learn is that losing isn’t good.

“We left two games out there which we should have won and that changes your total dynamic. From a coaching perspective, the positive was how the team came together. It was the first time in two years I felt the team believed in each other.”

Josh Wattier, who was one of the best running back in D2 this year, said this year’s team has started changing the culture of the school to one that is more “winning” and makes Wausa more in the mold of “Bloomfield” going forward.

“We all know them or Humphrey because they are always top schools and I am hoping that we are changing the culture so that Wausa can be one of those schools,” Wattier said. “We needed to change our attitude toward the game. We all wanted to play this year and in the past, some just went out to go out. Now, we all wanted to be there: It was the game that we loved, and we all got along.

“I can see that carrying on for a lot of years after.” Wattier said that the old, bad habits

Wattier said that the old, bad habits crept back in during some of the games – such as in the defeat to Wynot which he said, “I don’t know what happened that game,” and said they were not beaten by the better team.

“Winside was another game where we didn’t play as a team,” Wattier said. “The wins that we had, we played as a team. It’s always good to make it to the playoffs. There are 32 teams and we made it. It’s also helping the winning culture aspect.

If they want to get better, they will have to continue to work hard, he said.

“We’ve got to hit the weight room and keep on working to better ourselves every single day. We can’t go into practice or the summer saying, ‘we were 4-4, that’s pretty good.’ You have to want to be more and do better. You have to have the eagerness to go places and be content where you are at,” he said.

He quoted his coaches as saying, “You have to chase the feeling of winning.”

Alonzo said that after the Wynot game, he saw the Vikings “take control” of the team and rallied around each other.

“They knew they had to take care of their own problems on the field during games,” Alonzo said. “I felt we still need to tackle better and that’s going to come with more repetition. We changed their tackling style this year and that was different for them, but they are getting the hang of it.

“We also have to learn how to best utilize our weapons on the field. I felt we were one dimensional at points. If we couldn’t run the ball well, we weren’t doing well. I need to figure out how to include all of my athletes in the game plan every week.”

Alonzo noted the importance of Cashe Carlson, Tucker Wright, Jaxon Claussen and Wattier providing plenty of attack options for the team moving forward.

“We just need to be able to include Cashe and Tucker in our game plan in a bigger way next year,” Alonzo said. “The future of the program looks great. The seniors we are losing now, laid the foundation and never fell off the wagon with us. They went through every change with us and seen what the outcome can be if we put the work in like we were supposed to.

“The future is bright. We have a great class of seventh graders right now. We are going to gain some really good kids next year from the eighthgrade class and our freshmen class this year was huge, and our sophomore class is starting to step up.”

Alonzo said the Vikings will hit the weight room and will work out when they can while coaches are getting together to start planning for August.

“We are going to work as a coaching staff to make sure our kids are being put into positions to be successful,” Alonzo said. “Also having (former Viking and Nebraska Cornhusker) Lance Lundberg on our staff will be a huge addition for us as far as an offensive line standpoint.”