Holding the Rope, One Game at a Time: A Season Recap

For many senior football players at Whitnall High School, the playoff game against Wisconsin Lutheran, on Oct. 19, could’ve been the last time they put on pads and played the wonderful sport. Even though they lost, all the members of the team should be satisfied with how the season went overall.

Coming off a 3-6 record in 2011, many players weren’t expecting anything special to happen the following year. But some attitudes were changed when Whitnall made the decision to look for new leadership in former Milwaukee Hamilton head coach Jeff Wallack and his staff. 

All spring and early summer, Coach Wallack showed the players, and some of the parents, that he meant business with the intense workouts that were labeled as Breakfast Club. Here the players were put to the test, physically, as they had to undergo conditioning in the early hours of the morning before school. 

As the season got underway, the players and coaches set some goals they felt were appropriate to work toward as the season progressed. The first on their list was to beat cross-town rival, New Berlin Eisenhower. They knew that the task that was put in front of them wasn’t going to be easy, so all throughout August players gave it all they got, in practice, so they were prepared to match up against the Lions.

When game time came, then Falcons were truly put to the test. The Lions of Eisenhower came out and scored 21 points in the first half. Luckily, the Falcon offense came to play as well. With their tremendous efforts the score at half was 21-14. At this point, players realized that their goal was within their grasp and they just had to go out and fight to get it. That’s exactly was they did. With a few key stops by the defense, and the continued success of the offense, the Falcons took home a victory, 36-28. The excitement was evident in every players face as they made their way of the field.

“I was excited for what lied ahead.” said outside linebacker Trevor Fuller. 

Unfortunately, the excitement would die down after the result of the game the following week.

After a tough loss to a quick Wauwatosa West team, Whitnall had to regain its focus on what lied ahead. In this case, it was to win the home opener of the 6.5 million dollar stadium that opened up on Sept. 5.

“With the new field and the atmosphere like it was, I was incredibly excited,” said Michael Langenohl about his thoughts before the game.

The Falcons would be facing a big Greenfield Hawk squad, which were predicted to win the Woodland Conference East Title this year. The Falcons knew what challenged lied ahead, and they faced it head on. It was a purely defensive battle all night, with the Falcons only giving up six points the whole game. The Falcons needed something to shatter the hope of a Hustling Hawk comeback and that came to them in the fourth quarter. With clock draining down, and the score 14-6, the Hawks went to the air to try to claim the first victory at Falcon Field.  Unfortunately for them, the fierce Falcon defense had a different plan. Senior defensive back, Sam Mentikowski, picked off the ball and ran it back for 96 yards and the touchdown. That truly set the tone for the rest of the season.

Following the grand opening the Falcons added to their record by beating St. Francis and an arduous South Milwaukee Rocket team, which made something very clear. The Falcons could achieve something that hasn’t been done in over 12 years, and that’s to take the conference title. From that point on, the Falcons set their scopes on the title and never looked back. Even though they suffered losses to the Brown Deer Falcons and the New Berlin West Viking, their homecoming victory against Cudahy guaranteed them a piece of the title.

Even though the season has ended all the players and coaches were satisfied with outcome. This season will always be looked at as the season that kick started a trend, a trend of victory within the Whitnall Falcons Football program.