Viking football squad forced to end their 2020 campaign early

WAUSA — It was far from the ideal way to finish a football season, but the Wausa Vikings will make do with what the 2020 campaign offered.

First, the Vikings knew going into their scheduled finale with rivals Randolph that the Class D-2 playoffs were not in the cards, but at least they could wrap the COVID-19 pandemic colored season on a high note.

Beat the Cardinals and a young team could have something to build on this offseason.

Alas, a year that almost everyone would prefer to put in the deepest corners of our memories had to have its way one more time as COVID-19 made its presence painfully known in the Randolph hallways and ultimately last Friday’s game was canceled.

“I think our school administration took the correct steps so that we were doing everything we could to minimize the threat of the COVID factor,” Wausa head coach Adrian Alonzo said. “I will say this: if COVID continues to be a factor in our seasons moving forward the NSAA will have to revisit how they are going to handle the power point system. The system we played under this year is not what we need, in the end points matter and just cancelling games hurts every team.”

Still, six games were played, and Alonzo had plenty of things to mull over from his squad.

“I think the biggest positive is that we were able to play all of our JV games and get all of our freshman, sophomore and some junior players meaningful playing time,” he said. “The overall growth of our team will come from experiences that they can grow from. Putting our young kids in situations where they can be successful is so important and I think we achieved that this year.

“I felt like (the varsity) just couldn’t find a grove on the offensive side of the ball. We had guys playing out of position or kids that just didn’t progress like I thought they would. As a coaching staff that falls on us and ultimately on me, I need to be better. We will continue to grow and evolve but we need to take bigger steps each practice and each game.”

Alonzo pointed to the performances of Steel Claussen and Josh Wattier as highlights on the season.

“Steel stepped into a new role after week one and I thought he answered the bell,” Alonzo said. “This senior group will be dearly missed. Josh, to me, was the biggest surprise on the defensive side of the ball. I knew he could play the game but honestly didn’t think he would be top two in tackles. He has been a pleasant surprise for our team this year.”

Wattier, a sophomore, led a roster that was full of underclassmen.

Steel Claussen finished with 593 all-purpose yards while sophomore Jaxon Claussen was second with 579 yards.

Steel Claussen felt that the season was a positive one for his final year especially when it came to the team’s willingness to compete.

“It was a lot different with the whole COVID thing,” he said. “We usually play at seven at night and we had a few in the middle of the day like at two or three that threw us off. It felt different in a lot of good and bad ways. I played quarterback this year which was also a big change.”

“I honestly didn’t think we’d get past week two or three then I looked around at other schools that played two games maybe. Hartington and Wynot missed a few so I think we were really super lucky to be able to play with this whole COVID stuff going on. During the summer I was a little iffy about it.”

Missing out on playing their rivals from Randolph hurt, but Claussen admits to having a lot of sympathy for a bunch of boys he would have preferred to beat them on the field.

“I didn’t know the game was going to get canceled and I was walking through the gym and one of my close friends said, ‘I am sorry,’ and gave me a hug and I didn’t know what happened,” Steel Claussen said. “It turned out our game was canceled due to COVID. I really feel like, especially with Randolph, the past three years we’ve had a real rivalry against them. It’s hard to watch the season end like that and not play a game like that.”

“Oh God, I feel for every team that gets COVID. That’s someone else’s senior, junior, sophomore, freshman year. I just hope no one else has to go through having another game canceled. I feel like it would crush somebody. I feel terrible for Randolph if I am going to be honest with you. I feel terrible for all the teams that had to sit out because of all that.”

Wausa found a way to make it through the season with plenty of struggles yet plenty of optimism.

“I feel we had a lot of problems with the whole COVID thing of course and one of the big ones was that we didn’t tackle right,” Claussen said. “We were a different team in the third and fourth quarter than in the first half. Against Winside, we were playing good in the first and second quarter before falling apart.

“I had some Winside guys tell me that it didn’t feel like we ever let up.”

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