FROM HORSEPLAY to Heroes

It’s easier to predict the weather a month in advance than it is to prognosticate pre-season high school football rankings. There are reasons why a team should be good, or bad, and there are stats to back it up, but every single year there will be a team that surprises the experts. One can measure stats in 40-yard dash times and bench presses, but no one has found a way to measure the strongest muscle in a high school athlete; the heart.

"Pre-season  rankings  don't  define  you,"  said River Falls senior fullback/defensive end Cade Myszewski when the Wildcats were  predicted  to  finish  fifth.  "They  don't  know the grit we have." “We’ve worked really hard to have a huge cohesive team," said River Falls senior safe ty/wide receiver Wyatt Bell. “We want everyone to feel just as important as the next guy. When our careers are over, then it’s the younger guys’ turn to pass on the Wildcat legacy to the next group."  The best time to measure heart isn’t done after a miraculous win; everything is easier when a team wins. The Wildcats did come into last Friday night’s game against Chippewa Falls 6-0 and ranked #3 in the state. No, the best time to measure heart is after a  gut-wrenching loss.

None can be more gut-wrenching than this  past Friday. The Cardinals were attempting a  game-winning  34-yard  field  goal  in  over time, but after the Wildcats blocked the kick, Chippewa  Falls'  ouensive  lineman  Thomas  Clary scooped it up and then, as he was being tackled, pitched it back to Dawson Goodman, who scampered 24 yards for the Chippewa Falls’ game-winning overtime victory.

If I’m alive for 50 more years, I may never see a play like that again.

Here's  where  the  starting  gun  goes  ou  for the heart-o-meter and you’ll see why the Wildcats will be just fine.  Wildcat senior linebacker/runningback Gavin Kohel is the unquestioned alpha-dog leader for the Wildcats. This is a kid who tore a knee ligament last March, wrestled in the state meet a week later, and was ready for the first day of football practice in August. It  cannot be overstated how unbelievable this is.  Torn  knee  ligaments  do  not  heal  in  five  months. They just don’t. It’s a statistical sci- entific fact, but, then again, the Wildcat se niors could care less about stats. They blow their nose with them.

The human mind can do incredible things and Kohel's brain has completely flipped the  normal mind set. It’s not that he doesn’t acknowledge pain; he seems like he welcomes it. It's his sacrifice. His wrestler mentality has 

figured out how to wrap pain in a gift bag and  give it to his teammates like a brotherly peace ouering.     "It's so easy to fight for the coaches and  the team, it makes you never want to quit,"  says Kohel. “The guys around you make you feel like you can push through anything. I didn’t do it, they did it (pointing to his fellow senior captains), because I have to play with them on Friday nights."     Says Myszewski about Kohel’s knee, "He's not going to let it stop him."  On  the  first  play  of  overtime  last  Friday  night, Gavin Kohel fumbled the ball. The Cardinals recovered.

“I could barely look at any of the guys in the eyes after that play," said Kohel, "but I  looked at Bell (Wyatt) and our eyes met and he says ‘Shut up, make the next play and for- get about it." Bell knew his teammate needed tough love during the heat of battle. After the game, it was a much diuerent story.    “I gave him (Gavin) a hug after the game and told him it happens and on to the next game," senior wide receiver/cornerback Jor dan Karras said.

“A player not afraid to make mistakes is way better than a player that is," said Kohel.  “It’s so much easier when you have the support from your teammates and coaches. That all comes from Coach Scherz." That’s the thing with measuring heart; players having it is one thing and harnessing and combining it for a team is entirely different.

“We have people who want to be a part of the team and work their butt ou for the guy  next  to  them,"  says  Kohel.  "And  that's  all  because of Coach Scherz. We have the best coaching  stau  in  the  state  and  it's  not  even  close."  “We felt how it feels to lose and I think we needed that," said Karras. "I don't think  we're going to lose again." "I promise you," said Kohel. "This week  will be the best week of practice." Tackle Cancer Night

Friday, Oct. 7 the Wildcat football team will host Menomonie at 7 p.m. for “Tackle Cancer Night." All proceeds from the event  will benefit Rhino's, an organization support ing families dealing with cancer in the local area. The Wildcats will be wearing pink and making signs.

“Each player will be playing for someone they love that's been auected by cancer," said  Kohel. "It's going to be really cool."  Playing with heart and having a heart are two great qualities. Wildcat football has both.