N.E.W. Lutheran playing through the numbers game

GREEN BAY – N.E.W. Lutheran is probably one of the most creative teams in the state.

It’s a necessity when you’re also one of the smallest.

“You see the black barrel and the blue barrel,” N.E.W. Lutheran coach Dick Hasseler said.  “The blue barrel is our center at practice and the white barrel over there is our right tackle. We bring them out and that’s our offensive line when we practice.”

The Blazers are playing their seventh season as an 8-player team.

However, you could also say they’re an 11-player team this year because that’s how many players they have on the roster as they’re powering through the season.

N.E.W. Lutheran hosts Oneida Nation on Saturday. The Blazers (2-4) are hoping they can win their three remaining games to avoid a losing season for the first time since it switched to 8-player football in 2012.

“They leave it totally out there,” Hasseler said. “They give maximum effort. I pray every day that we don’t get injured because these guys put a lot of work in.”

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N.E.W. Lutheran has four seniors on this year’s team, including a versatile player in senior Luke Bukowski, who has scored touchdowns in a multitude of ways this season.

The Blazers defeated Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah 16-0 on Aug. 31 for their only contested win of the season. The game was scheduled as a replacement for Bowler/Gresham, which forfeited its games in canceling its season.

Hasseler is optimistic about growing the N.E.W. Lutheran roster in future years due to the introduction of an 8-player program at the middle school level in Green Bay for the first time this season.

A majority of the middle school players are from Trinity Lutheran, Pilgrim Lutheran and Providence Academy. The hope is it can act as a feeder program for N.E.W. Lutheran, which had a roster of 20 players just two years ago.

“It’s rather new,” Hasseler said about the middle school program. “Our (conference) has been doing it a couple of years. We got into the game a little late. I hope it’s not too late.”

The Blazers have been trailblazers in the area when it comes 8-player football.

Since making the switch in 2012, N.E.W. Lutheran is 50-15, including a dominating 35-4 stretch from 2012-2015, which included an undefeated season in 2013.

It won the top-seeded game at the WIAA Jamboree that year to claim the unofficial state title.

The WIAA will recognize a state champion for the 8-player division for the first time this year with the introduction of an eight-team playoff in place of the Jamboree, which pitted four games between top teams in the state.

“Eight-player is just going to grow, grow, grow,” Hasseler said. “There is going to be 100 teams in five years. I know it. Because nobody is playing football anymore because football is getting a bad rap.”

There were 32 teams in the state scheduled to play 8-player this year, prompting the introduction of a playoff system.

However, only teams with a three-year enrollment average below 200 are eligible for the postseason.

That was the same case for the WIAA Jamboree in previous years.

It’s a mark Gibraltar is all too familiar with. Its three-year enrollment was over 200 the past couple of years.

The WIAA lists Gibraltar’s three-year average as 191 for this season. Meanwhile, Sevastopol’s is 186 and N.E.W. Lutheran’s is 122.

Article: Gibraltar upends N.E.W. Lutheran

“It’s absolutely frustrating, but I’m also a realist,” Gibraltar coach Jim Laughlin said about being ineligible for the Jamboree in previous years. “They have to put a marker somewhere. Without markers, then anyone can jump in here. So, I get why they did it. Obviously, we would like to be on the other side of it.”

Gibraltar and Sevastopol are two other local teams that have been able to sustain their football programs thanks to the switch to the 8-player game.

The Door County rivals have each qualified for the Jamboree since making the switch in 2013. Sevastopol has won two straight conference titles after going 40 years without one.

Gibraltar and Sevastopol will meet in the regular-season finale on Oct. 12 with the MONLPC 8-player title possibly on the line.

“It has been a fantastic thing for us,” said Laughlin, who has 22 players at Gibraltar this year.

“It has been a huge thing getting guys back interested in football and being competitive to get an attitude that you can come in and succeed in it.”

Players who want to make it to the college level can still do that as well in 8-player football.

For example, Gable Lloyd is a redshirt sophomore tight end on the University of Wisconsin roster after starring at N.E.W. Lutheran in 8-player football.

A player of Lloyd’s caliber is rare for any high school program to see.

Right now, Hasseler wants to see his small roster of players continue to give it their all to finish out the season strong.

“We’re just taking it one week at a time and seeing where we’re at,” Hasseler said.

“No matter how it ends, I want them to finish the season. That’s what we’re doing. We’re praying for health that we can get through each game and start a new game.”