SPARTA — If there was a point of emphasis in the offseason for the Sparta High School football team, it was learning how to finish games.
The Spartans were 4-5 overall and 2-5 in the MVC last season, but first-year coach Nick Kingeter knows how close the Spartans were from changing that record drastically.
Sparta led Logan before allowing a 23-point fourth quarter in a 43-21 loss. It led Onalaska 10-9 at halftime before yielding 21 points in the third quarter of a 37-10 defeat.
The Spartans scored 14 fourth-quarter points to tie Reedsburg before losing that game 37-31 in overtime.
“Our leadership team came up with a number of goals for us this year, and one of them was to finish games,” Kingeter said. “We were so close a few times last year, but we couldn’t finish the game.”
Sparta hopes to reverse that trend with a few returning playmakers and a slew of younger talent and put that group on the practice field Tuesday morning as teams kicked the official start of fall workouts.
Improving on a sixth-place finish will require better second-half play, and that point will be stressed with regularity moving forward.
Kingeter begins his preparation by figuring out to maximize the use of experienced all-conference players like quarterback Everett Laufenberg and junior linebacker Hunter Huntington.
Both will be even more important pieces on the field this season due to those surrounding them. Some dynamic contributors have graduated, and Kingeter will be trying some new and inexperienced faces in spots that yielded success a year ago. Both are also confident in those stepping in.
“I was ‘will” (linebacker) last year, but I’m looking to play ‘mike’ this year, and we’ll have some sophomores in there with me,” said Huntington, who was credited with 30 solo tackles (98 overall) and nine stops behind the line of scrimmage as a sophomore. They are all looking really good.”
Kingeter said that change as well as an expanded role as a fullback or running back will put some more on Huntington’s shoulders. But he also anticipates that being something his junior can handle.
“He’s a do-it-all kind of guy,” Kingeter said. “He’s a very physical presence. He’s a wrestler and reads the field very well.
“He’s our leader on defense and was very successful last year.”
The influx of sophomores anticipated to play meaningful snaps has evolved, in part, to a small junior class. Kingeter said he will have a number in the high 70s — possibly inching over 80 — in the program.
“We will have a lot of young, sophomore skill guys,” he said. “It will be a matter of building them up to where our seniors were last year. They’ve been very competitive, and we are excited to get them up to varsity and having them spend time with us.”
Laufenberg will be important in that with his control of the offense after passing for 1,301 yards and 13 touchdowns during his first season as a starter. Huntington, junior Simon Schmitz, senior Parker Benish have the returning experience in the backfield, but Huntington is the only returning player to catch a pass last season, and he caught seven.
“I need to be able to lead the team better, and I feel like I didn’t hit throws the way I can last year,” Laufenberg said. “I need to be able to get our playmakers the ball consistently. That’s what they are there for.”
Kingeter said there is more he can ask of his quarterback, and some of that might come from Laufenberg’s natural speed after he ran a 4.7-second 40 on Tuesday morning. The throwing, he said, is there.”
“For him it’s all about consistency and finishing,” Kingeter said. “He needs to stay calm, cool, relaxed and relying on his teammates.
“He needs to be confident in himself because he’s a great athlete.”
Benish and Schmitz and senior Wyatt Morrow are other returning players who have to make an impact on both sides of the ball. Benish and Schmitz anchor the defensive backfield, and Morrow plays both sides in the trenches.
