Merrill Bluejay’s Head Football Coach Reflects On 2023, Looks Ahead to 2024 Season

MERRILL – The Merrill Bluejays Varsity football team kicks off their 2024 season on the road tonight, Friday the 23rd as they take on the Osceola Chieftains.

Head Coach Jason Wadzinski sat with Chad Holmes of the Big High School Sports Show on Wednesday the 21st to discuss the upcoming season. The Coach started by sharing some thoughts regarding last season, stating “Last year was a challenge. We had a number of close, one score games. We had been in a lot of games, we just weren’t able to finish for four quarters.”

Coach Wadzinski was then asked to assess where he felt the team is currently in terms of readiness, to which he responded “I would say right now, we’re where we need to be. It seems to me like we’re trending in the right direction. Maybe progressing the way we need to, hopefully we can come together this year and score some points, stack some success early and get this ball rolling again.”

Wadzinski then spoke about this year’s group of Seniors, sharing “We’re up to 12 Seniors this year. We lost a couple. I think, you know when you have the year you did last year, it’s hard to retain all of those guys. I feel like we have a good core of Seniors. I feel like that’s where you need to focus that particular season’s energy on. There are some great leaders in that class. This is year four for me as a head coach. I’m not sure I’ve ever had a (offensive) line where I had three Seniors starting. That alone should hopefully be a positive for us.”

The Coach then shared a brief overview of the team’s offense. “Quarterbacking this year is gonna be number 0 Aidan Lonsdorf. He coming in kind of in that new role, I think back in Middle School he may have played some Quarterback. He’s more of a quiet leader, but he does lead by example. Jax Hansen and Callum Wheeler (will be our backs) this year. Offensive line, we’ve got three Seniors on that group this year, Joshua Riste, Austin Depies, Carson Brooks”. He also touched on the defense, stating “Defensively, we have a number of guys coming back as well. EJ Weix, we’re gonna use him on both sides of the ball. We’ll put him back at safety, he’s gonna play outside linebacker for us this week.”

Wadzinski was asked what the biggest challenge is when it comes to coaching a high school football team and trying to put them in a position to achieve a winning record. “Retaining athletes, keeping them out for football. It is difficult, football is hard. I think as a staff we can be more uplifting. We need buy-in from a core group of kids at each grade level.” The Bluejays home opener is next Thursday August 29 vs Crandon.

Thanks goes out to the Big High School Sports Show on WXCO Radio!