Notre Dame Academy maintains winning formula
GREEN BAY – Preseason practices are crucial to building a strong program.
It’s the time where the pieces are put into place for a team’s varsity lineup.
The drills are equally as important to introducing a new freshmen class to the high school system.
Perhaps nobody does that better in the area than Notre Dame Academy.
“Our freshmen class comes from 12 or 13 different middle schools,” Notre Dame coach Mike Rader said. “They all have this new group of people they need to get to know.
“The high school experience can be a challenge for a lot of people, so we talk about every senior having to know every freshman’s name and then the opposite. That’s an important part of it because football is a brotherhood, and something you’ll remember for the rest of your life. We’ll talk more about that than the actual wins and losses.”
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The strong bonds the Tritons build into their program have led to a fair share of wins over the years.
Notre Dame will be aiming to qualify for the WIAA playoffs for a 19th time in 20 years this season.
It’s coming off a 9-3 campaign, which saw it advance to the Division 3 state quarterfinals. It marked the fourth straight year the Tritons won at least two playoff games.
A largely new cast of players will look to carry on that success.
Notre Dame has to replace its leading passer (Wes Glime), rusher (Brandon Limoni), receivers (Tommy Martzahl and Josh Cribben) and tacklers (Mitch Chosa and Cribben). They were all first- or second-team all-Fox River Classic Conference performers.
“We were very clear at the start of contact days for the summer that there is lots of opportunity here,” Rader said.
“There’s lots of opportunity and it’s up to everyone to take advantage of every rep in practice to see what’s going to happen.”
The team’s biggest strength heading into the season will be the experience and size it returns up front.
Joel Meglic, Hunter Soletski and Judah Gartzke are returning starters on the offensive line. Meglic and Soletski are both seniors and have received interest from NCAA Division II programs.
“We haven’t had that in a while, some linemen coming back with a little bit of (size) behind them and a little bit of college potential,” Rader said.
Senior Ben Smet is expected to step up as a leader on the perimeter at receiver and safety.
While most of the lineup will be new faces, Notre Dame’s formula for winning won’t change. It all comes back to getting off to a strong start in preseason practices.
“We’ve been pretty consistent,” Rader said. “A lot of the stuff we do now is the same stuff we did when I was a player here almost 30 years ago now. In some respects, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Notre Dame Academy at a glance
Coach: Mike Rader, 3rd season, 19-6
Last year: 9-3
All-conference players to replace:
Wes Glime, QB, 1st team
Brandon Limoni, RB, 2nd team
Tommy Martzahl, WR, 1st team
Fuzz French, OL/DL, HM/2nd team
Josh Cribben, DE/TE, 1st team/2nd team
Mitch Chosa, ILB, 1st team
Grady Brick, OLB, 2nd team
Matthew Re, DB, HM
All conference players returning:
Joel Meglic, sr., OL, 1st team
2019 Schedule
Aug. 22 Sheboygan North
Aug. 29 at Sheboygan South
Sept. 6 Bay Port
Sept. 13 at De Pere
Sept. 20 at Pulaski
Sept. 27 Ashwaubenon
Oct. 4 at G.B. Preble
Oct. 11 G.B. Southwest
Oct. 18 at Manitowoc