Fast forward to this week, and Coach Muhitch finds himself and his team with another conference title under their belts and facing St. Rita tonight in the Class 7A state quarterfinals, where a victory would be number 80 for Muhitch in this, his eighth season as head coach.
“We always have high expectations for our football team,” says Muhitch whose Tigers have five state-championship trophies in their display case, one coming under his reign. “The kids worked hard all summer and certainly benefited from our stiff competition. Our defense has really come into its own. Those guys are tough, solid and good. We don’t have any superstars. This season has really been a team effort with a lot of shared responsibility.”
WWS (10-1) enters tonight’s contest averaging 37 points per game, with a 27-point average winning margin, and this has allowed the coach to give significant playing time to a lot of kids who would not play much, if at all, in close-game situations.
“This does a couple of things for us,” says Muhitch. “It means that we’ll have more game experience going into next season, but more importantly it makes the entire team feel as though it is sharing in our efforts to succeed. This is a very sharing group of kids.”
As an example, in its past three games, the Tigers have used an average of six ball carriers per game and have thrown passes to seven different receivers. Tailback Matt Rogers is their leading rusher, having rushed for an average of 109 yards per game, while quarterback Riley O’Toole has thrown for an average of 186 yards per contest.
And while these are outstanding numbers, there is another that is much more significant. In the past three games alone, WWS has seen ten different players cross the goal line, including O’Toole, Rogers, running backs Tom Olp and Andrew Horten, and wide receivers Dan Hohenstein, Greg McAndrew, Mack Tracey, Travis Kern, and Steve Kmiotek.
And let’s not forget kicker Nick Immekus whose stats have had college scouts jaws dropping for the past two years. “I began saying this guy is a real weapon way back last season,” Muhitch says of his kicker. People are finally starting to believe me.”
The coach emphasizes the fact that this year’s team is multi-dimensional, a key reason for its success. “We not only have the talent in every facet of the game,” he explains. “We obviously have depth. I couldn’t be happier with the way the team has evolved this season.”
Tonight’s matchup at St. Rita kicks off at 7:00 p.m. You can bet that plenty of Tiger fans are getting ready to make the trip right about now.
