Senior-heavy Bears have high hopes

Last season, the Bonduel High School football team returned to the playoffs, upsetting Oostburg 13-7 in the WIAA Division 5 Level 1 playoffs.

Most of those players are back this season as the Bears hope to once again make some noise in the postseason.

With only two starters from last year’s team lost to graduation — linebacker and locker room leader Jacob Wudtke and defensive lineman John Carpenter, this year’s team has a good chance of being better than last year’s squad.

“I’m just excited to see how we gel as a group,” he said. “Can we fill those two spots that we lost? It was only two spots, but two great players. Can our juniors from last year, are they going to stay the same or are they going to be better? Are we going to be better than we were last year or are we going to be the same as last year? All those things will be interesting to see.”

The Bears will likely be led by a trio of senior running backs: workhorse Hunter VanderLinden (5-foot-10, 190 pounds), battering ram Dan Tauchen (6-2, 175 pounds) and shifty Hunter Berry (5-4, 120 pounds).

VanderLinden, named to All-Central Wisconsin Conference-8 first team a year ago, rushed for 1,401 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 127.4 yards a game. Tauchen, second team All-CWC-8, added 521 yards and five touchdowns. Berry had 257 yards and a pair of scores. All three averaged more than six yards per rush.

“The backfield is back,” Westrich said. “We have a couple of other running backs behind them, so our running backs group should be pretty deep.”

At quarterback, seniors Colton Dobratz and Trevor Pedersen return.

“They’ve both played two years, so they have experience,” Westrich said.

Dobratz (5-11, 165 pounds) passed for 693 yards and nine touchdowns last season. He also threw six interceptions.

The top target for Dobratz last year — tight end/receiver Connor Rosin (6-1, 180 pounds) — also returns for his senior year. Rosin had five touchdowns and caught 16 passes for 271 yards.

Seniors Race McClone, Isaiah Griesbach and Jordan Richter will anchor the offensive line.

On defense, the Bears have a lot of questions. First and foremost will be how Tauchen does in replacing Wudtke, a first-team All-CWC-8 selection, at middle linebacker.

“Jacob is a big loss, great linebacker, a coach’s dream,” Westrich said. “Danny is really tough. He’s going to have to play well. He’s going to have to fill that spot. We’re moving him inside.”

Tauchen will be flanked by VanderLinden and Mitch Sokolski (5-9, 180 pounds).

“Our linebacker group should be pretty solid,” Westrich said. “We also have some juniors coming up that got some playing time as sophomores at the outside linebacker spot.”

Westrich expects his defensive line to smaller than a year ago but stronger.

The biggest competition for the Bears will be in the defensive backfield.

“We have a lot of guys, but we need hitters back there,” Westrich said. “We have numbers to look at, but that’s the biggest question mark for us.”

Bonduel (6-3, 4-3 CWC-8) finished fourth in a strong CWC-8 conference that included state champion Shiocton, as well as Level 4 playoff qualifier Amherst and Level 3 qualifier Iola-Scandinavia.

“That’s what I like about our conference. If you look back at the past six or seven years, winners in our conference go to state or get darn close,” Westrich said. “We’re battle-tested in this conference, and that’s why I like it. It kind shows you where you’re at. Nothing is given. Last year we had four teams win playoff games.”

Bonduel goes into the season knowing its toughest competition is going to be in the conference.

“That’s what our kids have to understand. That’s what they’re competing against, and that’s good for us,” Westrich said.