Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Senior Dylan Sumnicht, front, smiles after putting on his Upper Iowa University hat at a signing day ceremony Wednesday at Shawano Community High School. He is flanked by, from left, his sister, Hillary, father, David, and mother, Rhonda.
Leader Photo by Chris Caporale Shawano Community High School senior Kien Moorman checks the time as he signs his official commitment to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville during a ceremony Wednesday. His mother, Tina, sister, Bailey and grandmother, Linda VandeVoort look on.
Two of the most influential players in Shawano football’s recent turnaround committed Wednesday to continue playing football in college.
At a ceremony in the Shawano Community High School gymnasium, wide receiver Dylan Sumnicht signed a national letter of intent to play on scholarship at Upper Iowa University, a private college in Fayette, Iowa, and running back Kien Moorman committed to playing at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
Sumnicht and Moorman helped the Hawks (5-5, 4-4 Bay Conference) reach the playoffs for just the third time in program history in 2016 before losing a Division 3 Level 1 game to Notre Dame Academy.
Head coach Alan Tomow, who helped his athletes through the college recruiting process, said he encouraged them to focus on the school and coaches rather than the competition they will face.
Knocked down
Tomow wanted to challenge Sumnicht early and often.
Sumnicht, whose reserved demeanor on the field can sometimes be difficult to read, came in as a freshman already playing at a high level. Tomow needed to make sure Sumnicht didn’t get bored against lesser competition at either the freshman or junior varsity levels.
“He got knocked down a few times and we weren’t sure he was going to get up,” Tomow said.
Sumnicht consistently improved, however, setting the school record for receiving yards in a season in both his junior and senior campaigns. This past season he posted 1,123 receiving yards to go with 14 touchdowns. He added a punt return score to his tally in the regular-season finale at West De Pere.
He earned first-team all-conference honors each of the past two seasons, and first-team all-region honors and honorable mention all-state as a senior.
“He doesn’t show a ton of emotion, but he competes really hard,” Tomow said. “He has major league speed, he’s got great hands, and it’s deceptive — his quickness — so once he gets behind you, you’re not going to catch him.
“Again, his versatility, his commitment to being a better wide receiver and being a better teammate, just watching him grow up from ninth grade, it’s been awesome.”
Upper Iowa University, situated in a northeastern Iowa town of roughly 1,500 residents, left a good impression with Sumnicht.
“I like the coaches,” Sumnicht said. “The small-town atmosphere is really nice.”
The Peacocks, who went 3-8 in 2016, compete in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and are the only NCAA Division II program in Iowa.
Sumnicht believes he can continue what he started in his four seasons with the Hawks.
“Just looking to continue getting better at football and hopefully make new records and marks,” he said.
Running fast
Moorman, who missed his sophomore season after breaking a bone in his leg, led the Hawks in rushing his final two seasons. He recorded 983 rushing yards in 2016, the most of any Shawano running back since at least 2000.
The Hawks, known more as a passing than running team, got some much-needed balance from Moorman to open up passing lanes for quarterback Jack Hanauer and flex players Connor Klish and Brayden Dickelman.
“I think Kien has really good vision that will help him with any blocking scheme, whether it’s a zone blocking or a gap scheme that we run, but he’s got good acceleration, good vision,” Tomow said. “He’s got good top speed and he’s a competitor.”
Moorman had another explanation for his success.
“They kind of tossed it to me on the outside and (I) outran everyone,” he said. “That’s usually how it went down.”
Platteville has six returning running backs on the roster, so Moorman will have to show the coaches that he deserves a shot at playing.
The Pioneers compete in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, facing Division 3 powerhouse UW-Whitewater and Division 3 2016 runner-up UW-Oshkosh each year.
“I think as long as he’s patient and puts his time in and does what’s asked of him, he’ll have a chance to be a player for them,” Tomow said.
Special seniors
This year’s seniors were freshmen when Tomow took over as the Hawks’ head coach.
“Getting a chance to watch them grow from 14-year-old freshmen to 18-year-old seniors and watching their maturation has been a lot of fun,” Tomow said. “It wasn’t always easy with the adversity we had to face, whether it was injuries or losses, seeing it all come together this season with winning games and being as explosive as we are offensively and have these two be part of it and be senior-heavy, it was a lot of fun.”
Shawano led the Bay in scoring offense this season at 32.1 points per game.
Hanauer, who is recovering from a torn ACL in the playoff loss, is also considering playing in college but will wait a couple of weeks before making his decision.
To potentially have three athletes from the 2017 graduating class playing in college would show how far the program has come in four years, Tomow said.
“We heard from quite a few other coaches that they’re glad they’re graduating and they’re glad they’re seniors,” Tomow said. “But it just shows that coaches remembered them when they were sophomores and from playing early on and just to how far they’ve gotten here.”
Sumnicht, Moorman and their fellow seniors have raised expectations for the program, among the younger players and the opposition.
“I think there was a lot of respect for us and our program,” Tomow said. “It was a big thank you these two and the senior class for helping to re-establish us as a player in our league and someone that can contend for the playoffs each year.”