Team speed, experience make Pirates a team to watch 
by Matt Frey
The Star News
August 27, 2009 —  Since 2005, few Division 7 prep football teams in Wisconsin have equaled the success the Gilman Pirates have had. As the 2009 season gets underway, it appears many of the pieces are in place for Gilman to continue that success.
For the second straight year, Gilman doesn’t have a big senior class to lean on. Only six of last year’s players graduated, and this year’s team features just five seniors. But all of those seniors and many of the juniors played key roles in Gilman’s 2008 Cloverwood Conference championship and its run to Level 3 of the WIAA playoffs.
With that experience and some luck with health, it’s hoped improved play on the field will follow.
“Practice really has gone pretty well so far,” fifth-year head coach Robin Rosemeyer said Monday. “We have a lot of starters back, which helps, but some of them are playing new positions. So it’s taking some time there to get them acclimated to those positions.”
After a decent showing at a five-team scrimmage at Bruce last Friday, the Pirates kick off their regular season this Friday at 7 p.m. by hosting a young Wisconsin Rapids Assumption squad. A trip to Abbotsford follows on September 4.
Like last year, Gilman is a bit undersized this fall, but the Pirates feel they can make up for that with their athleticism, experience and their desire to play physical football despite that lack of size.
“Team speed is definitely a strength,” Rosemeyer said. “It’s probably not real hard to see that’s one of our strong points. Experience is another. We only have five seniors, but they all played important roles last year. A lot of juniors played last year and got a lot of experience.”
Few Division 7 teams in the area are likely to match Gilman’s skill players. Senior Shawn Hoehn is back at quarterback after a solid junior year. He also got quite a bit of time there as a sophomore. He completed 57 percent of his passes a year ago. Senior Troy Madlon, who rushed for 409 yards and nine touchdowns last fall, and junior Cody Rosemeyer bring their version of power and quickness to the backfield, while sophomore Austin Zach looks like a promising fullback. Juniors Corey Tallier and Jamison Szemraj, two more good all-around athletes, should each see plenty of snaps at wingback and flanker positions. Senior Jason Kulesa and juniors Travis Gallick and Wade Hendricks will man the end spots. Kulesa caught 13 passes and averaged more than 17 yards a catch in 2008. Rosemeyer actually is the top returning pass catcher. He caught 27 balls for 359 yards and six touchdowns last fall. Statistically, Gilman had the Cloverwood’s second-best passing attack in 2008, averaging 137 yards per game.
“We always believed in running the ball first, but when you have players with the ability to catch the ball, and a quarterback who can throw it like we do, the offensive balance should be there for us,” coach Rosemeyer said. “I feel we’re ahead of where we were at this time last year with our passing game. We struggled early last year and got better as the year went on.”
Senior Mike Seng, who is coming off a spring knee surgery, is back to play center and anchor the offensive line. Juniors Kade Latz and Jacob Olson are back on one side of the line. Olson earned honorable mention all-conference honors as a sophomore. Junior Sam Wojcik is the other starting tackle while senior Darren Quinnell moves from tight end to guard, and according to Rosemeyer, is doing well at his new spot. Juniors Steven Warminski and Jared Siemek are the top backups on the offensive line.
Defensively, Gilman ranked second in the Cloverwood last fall against the run, allowing only 119 yards per game. The Pirates stuffed the run pretty well too in last week’s scrimmage. The coaches hope that’s a good omen for the upcoming season.
Up front, Wojcik returns at nose tackle. He earned honorable mention as a sophomore. Latz, Olson and Warminski provide some size and strength inside too. Quinnell is a returning starter at defensive end. Kulesa and Hendricks will see some time at end too, depending on the particular defensive alignments being used.
Madlon and Zach look to be the team’s top inside linebackers. In the secondary, Gilman figures to be very strong with Hoehn, Rosemeyer, Szemraj, Gallick and Tallier all expected to get chances to make plays.
“It’s hard to tell how good we’re going to be,” coach Rosemeyer said of the defense. “Our speed hopefully will help us not give up big plays. I think our kids can play physical football. We’re not real big, but we have kids who like to get after it.”
The Cloverwood Conference had a pretty successful first year. The 10-team league sent six of its teams to the WIAA playoffs, though only two won a game. Gilman was the only team to win two.
The Pirates emerged from what was a tight four-team scrum at the top of the standings and won the league at 8-1. They finished 10-2 overall and certainly are one of the favorites in 2009.
“We may be the defending champions, but we also got a lot of breaks to get there,” Rosemeyer said. “A lot of things went our way. We won some close games. We had a stretch of a few games in a row where we were down by 11 points or more in the first half. It was nice that we were able to make some comebacks, but we don’t want to be putting ourselves in that position every Friday.”
Thorp, Owen-Withee and Loyal all went 7-2 in the conference last fall. All had their share of key losses, but they bring a few key players back too. Newman Catholic earned its first playoff berth since joining the WIAA and could be a team to watch. Greenwood also is coming off a playoff berth and will need some players to step up and fill spots vacated by graduated seniors.

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