Blugolds open season with PdC on Friday
It scratched and clawed to a 4-5 record last season with a shot at the playoffs in the final week.
The Aquinas High School football team lost that final regular-season game 28-20 on the road at Tomah.
The Blugolds lost 14 seniors from the 2015 campaign, and this year face a daunting task of competing with small numbers – just 38 are out for football between the freshmen and seniors.
“Our school is much smaller than those that we compete against,” Aquinas coach Tom Lee said, and talked how there just hasn’t been a lot of boys at the school, even blaming himself – jokingly – for having a daughter.
Lee says 6-foot-3, 194-pound senior C.J. Nolte will be the starting quarterback, but two other players have the ability to play the position.
“We’re going to have a package for Conley (Malone) and we’ve got Jake Savoldelli as a sophomore,” Lee said. “So, we have three quarterbacks we think can function and that we think we can be successful with.”
Aquinas starts the season on the road Friday night against Prairie du Chien, which went 6-4 last season.
“They have some strong, athletic kids,” Lee said. “I like their QB. They have a defensive end that’s just hell on wheels. We’ll have our hands full. It’ll be a fun challenge.”