Young Hornets look to improve in new conference
The Colby Hornets football team will be turning to a number of fresh faces while leaning on a number of returners as they look to establish themselves in their second year in the new CWC-Large conference.
Last season was largely an exercise in feast or famine for the Hornet club. In their three victories in 2024, they outscored their opponents 120 to 23, with the only close matchup coming in their 2820 win over Spencer/Columbus. However, Colby was also subject to a number of double-digit losses, losing by 15 or more in six of their contests, including their 406 round one playoff exit against Northwestern.
As the Hornets look to find more consistency and improve upon their 2024 record of 3-7, they will turn to a handful of returning upperclassmen as well as some younger players to fill in the gaps of last year’s graduating seniors.
Colby will be short the services of five all-conference players, as second-team award winners Jacob Hoppe and Tucker Hayes, along with honorable mentions Tayt Smith, Brody Viegut and Hunter Reynolds have all graduated.
Senior Brennan Geiger is the sole returning all-conference player from last year’s squad. Geiger earned second-team all-conference honors as a defensive lineman in 2024. He was fourth on the team in total tackles with 37 and was tied for the team lead in tackles for a loss, racking up five over the course of the season. He also had two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and a pair of sacks.
Fellow senior Luke Hannula will also be back on the defensive side of the ball after finishing fifth in total tackles in 2024 with 35. Hannula also had one of the team’s three interceptions.
Seniors Tristen Smazal and Caige Swacker, as well as junior Arturo Lopez, all saw some action on defense last season as well and were part of the Hornets offensive line, giving Colby some stability up front. Hannula will be stepping up into the starting quarterback position after some limited varsity time at the helm of the offense last season and Geiger will be stepping back into his position at fullback after helping on the line for much of 2024.
Junior Oliver Steen will join the returners on the offensive line and will be a key piece to what the Hornets will try to accomplish on the line of scrimmage this season.
“I really like our two guards, Arturo and Ollie, so I think up the middle we could do some things,” head coach Logan Rosemeyer said. “I just know last year we got kind of stunned up front I guess. It was hard to move guys, so we’re going to do some different things to help out with that. A little more double teams, maybe more option, to help out with that size difference that we faced last year and going to see again this year.”
Sophomore Carsen Thomsen was also mentioned as someone else who will be getting more reps on the offensive and defensive lines. Fellow sophomores Chase Heeg and Dany Nunez both saw a good helping of varsity snaps both as running backs and in the defensive backfield as freshmen in 2024 and will likely slot in as starters this season. Last season, Heeg was third on the team in rushing with 341 yards on the ground. He averaged 7.0 yards per carry, which led all Colby backs, and scored five rushing touchdowns, which was good for second on the team. Meanwhile, Nunez picked up 104 yards rushing and recorded 11 tackles for the 2024 varsity squad.
“I feel good about the sophomores that we got,” Rosemeyer said. “I think that they are a pretty talented group. I think the biggest place where we are going to see [challenges] is on special teams. I know in the past we’ve been pretty senior heavy and we’ve put a lot of younger guys on special teams to give the seniors a break. But this year that may be a little tough to do so some of our older guys may need to play special teams too.”
“Watching some of [the underclassmen] play last year, we knew they were pretty talented, but just watching them compete, especially in the conference that we are in and against Stanley and Abbotsford in non-conference, and battling through those games was surprising,” he added. “I think even taking that next step is going to be huge for those guys, going out there to show what they’ve got.”
Winning on the line of scrimmage and utilizing the speed of their skill positions will be the keys for the Hornets to find success this season.
“I think our speed is really good,” Rosemeyer noted. “I think some of those young guys are pretty quick, Luke Hannula is pretty quick, and Brennan Geiger, you can tell he’s gotten a lot faster in the last year.”
“I’m excited to see what this group does,” he added. “I know that they are young, but I think that they know what lies ahead throughout the year and I think they’re ready to face those challenges head on.”
The Hornets will have some stiff competition in the CWC-Large. Conference title holder and state champion Stratford seems aligned to be the team to beat, Wittamberg-Birnhamwood has had at least eight wins every year since the shortened 2020 season and third place Amherst often proves to be a tough opponent. Close matchups with Weyauwega-Fremont and Spencer/Columbus last year further illustrated the depth of the conference.
Gaining some familiarity with their new conference rivals after the first year of the new CWC-Large will make year two more interesting, but just as Colby gets to know their opponents better, so do their foes. Two difficult non-conference games will also be important in the new WIAA playoff landscape.
“The guys know that it’s going to be an uphill battle, it’s an extremely tough con- ference,” Rosemeyer said. “With the new playoff qualification system, those first two games against Stanley and Abbotsford are going to be huge, so really getting off to a fast start is going to be pretty critical to what we see down the road.”
The Hornets will be on the road for both contests this season, starting with a trip to Stanley-Boyd for their season opener this Friday, August 22. Last season, the Orioles’ offense came out firing on all cylinders, dealing Colby a 44-22 defeat. Kickoff between the two squads is scheduled for 7 p.m.
