WAVERLY, Iowa-- The Wartburg football team returns eight starters on both sides of the ball in addition to both specialists, under the direction of 19^th-year head coach Rick Willis.

"We are excited about the talent and experience that we return, so we certainly have high expectations," said Willis.



Offense
Junior quarterback Matt Sacia (Eldridge) returns after a stellar sophomore season where he threw for 2,700 yards and 24 touchdowns and rushed for almost 300 yards. "It's nice to return a starting quarterback," said Willis. "We like everything about him. We like the way he carries himself as a person, we like his leadership, his athleticism, his decision making, his intelligence, he has a strong arm and is an accurate passer.

"We're very fortunate to have a quarterback like him," he continued. "I'm excited to see him take a step from a year ago. He made a strong impression on a lot of people as a sophomore in his first year as a starter and if he can improve from there, he will be pretty special."

Nine of Sacia's stats from last season rank in the top ten for a single season, including four categories that ranked second-best.  He was also an All-Conference selection.

At the running back positon, three of the top four rushers return in sophomore Dylan Binion (Albany, Ill.), and seniors Parker Hammel (Dubuque) and Connor Schrader (Lake Zurich, Ill.). Schrader had a team-best 660 yards for an average of nearly 6.0 yards/game with eight TDs. Binion averaged 7.0 yards/carry and was "one of the great surprises from camp a year ago," noted Willis. "We look for big things from him." Hammel continues to provide great depth at this position.

The two top receivers return for their senior seasons in Griffin Brennecke (Marion) and Riley Brockway (Postville). Brennecke caught 55 passes for 929 yards and eight touchdowns and set a new school record with his 93-yard reception from Sacia in the season opener at Monmouth last year. Brockway had 59 receptions for 743 yards and five TDs and was an All-Conference selection at receiver and kick return.

Senior Ben Strathman (Maquoketa), junior Nick Wall (Miles), and sophomore Dennison Harrington (Cedar Falls) look to contribute at this spot. "Strathman has played a lot and is a very good receiver for us," said Willis. "Nick has had his best camp and Dennison gives us a different dimension from a speed standpoint."

On the speed front, Harrington is also on the track team, and broke an 11-year old school record in the 60m dash this past season with his time of seven seconds flat.

The tight end position is the most wide open one on offense. "We really have nobody with experience at this position and have moved some people to this spot that are working hard as we try to determine the best way to utilize those guys," said Willis. Those in the mix are sophomores Lee Bonifus (Asbury), Jacob Leisinger (Cedar Falls) and Matt Mulford (New Hampton), and junior Clayton Weltha (Baxter). "Mulford is very athletic and played at tackle a year ago," he continued. "Bonifus was in our quarterback depth as a freshman, Leisinger is a really smart player, and Weltha has moved from the defensive line. Among these four guys, we're trying to figure out which one is going to be the most complete and how to best utilize others situationally."

On the offensive line, the coaching staff is trying to determine the best combination. Four of the top six have started games in seniors Reece Garver (West Des Moines), Hudson Johnston (Maynard), Tom Schiffer (Mason City), and Derek Schipper (Ackley), and juniors Tyler Schager (Kasson, Minn.) and Nic Vetter (Hampton).

Defense
A unique occurrence this season that Willis sees as a bonus, is there are three fifth-year players on defense that were able to get an extra year due to injuries. Those are Blake Beckman, Chris McNutt, and Rob Rottler. McNutt and Rottler each suffered season-ending injuries in last year's opener at Monmouth.

There are also nine seniors on the defensive line, which Willis can't remember this being the case in other seasons. Those include: Sam Ambrose (Bettendorf), Hunter Baldus (Cedar Rapids), Troy Heick (West Liberty), Dillon Rademaker (Greene), Mitch Roe (Waterloo), Hunter Sabers (Rickardsville), Mitch Schertz (Woodbury, Minn.), and Ben Weber (Cascade) and "This group has great experience," said Willis. "There is tremendous competition in terms of how we're going to utilize those guys. We feel good about the depth."

At linebacker, senior Tony Anstoetter (Farley) returns after recording 70 tackles last year. Joining him in the rotation will be Rottler, junior Anthony Davis (Phenix City, Ala.), sophomore Jason Fisher (Nashua), and juniors Connor Frerichs (New Hampton) and Marcus Johnson (Huxley).

In the secondary, junior Peyton Imhoff (Dubuque) returns at corner along with McNutt at safety. Among those competing for the other corner spot are junior Coen Brown (Cedar Rapids), seniors Noah Dalhstrom (Mount Vernon) and Bryce Evans (Ankeny) and newcomer JoJo McNair (Joliet, Ill.).

At the other safety, will be sophomores Cedric Dobbins (Waukee) and Jake Kloft (Maquoketa), senior Reid Mathis (Muscatine) or junior Dane Steidler (Eldridge). "We have a lot of work to do to sort out the depth at those spots," said Willis.

Junior Brayton Brandt (Center Point) returns at kicker and senior Jake Pisarik (Mount Vernon) at punter. Brandt made 93 percent of his extra point attempts and seven field goals, while Pisarik averaged 42.6 yards/punt in addition to being a Second-team All-Region selection.

Two other newcomers, besides McNair, that have also have a chance to contribute are Bennett Goettsch (Iowa Valley) and Ethan Lape (West Union). "We've been impressed by Bennett and Ethan is a highly decorated player from the area who is an explosive and talented football player."

The schedule features six regular season home games for the first time in Willis's tenure and for the third time in school history (1985 and 1995). Also of interest, "three of the first four opponents were in the NCAA Playoffs last year," he noted. "This will be a challengin schedule early on for us."

The team took a trip to Italy in late-May and as a result of that, the head coach from the Italian team is joining the Knights coaching staff for the season and will work with the tight ends. Roberto Rotelli has been the head coach of the Ancona Dolphins for five years. "This is going to be a neat experience for our team and for Roberto," commented Willis.

In the Iowa Conference preseason coaches poll, four teams received at least one first place vote. "It's always hard to win the league, but this is always our goal and it's always a challenge," said Willis. "There are a lot of good teams as you can see from the preseason poll, with four teams receiving a first place vote. Even teams that aren't receiving first place votes can be seen as improved teams.

"Every week is going to be a challenge," he continued. "There's going to be a lot of competition as the year goes on. It will likely be a tight race at the end of November, and will come down to whichever team can stay healthy and find a way to make big plays in critical situations to win close ball games."

The Knights will begin their season in the first night home opener since 2015, against Monmouth on Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. This will be Community Night and will include reduced ticket prices of $5 for adults and $3 for children.