HWC Football Preview: Hornets excited for FB season

HWC's run last year didn't end the way that they had hoped for but gave the returning players for this year a taste of what the postseason is all about. Harvey-Wells County lost in the first round of the playoffs to Central Cass but some gained valuable playing time with unfortunate injuries piling up late last season.

Coach Bret Dockter enters his 9th year as head coach of Harvey-Wells County and his 26th year coaching overall. Dockter knows where his team's strengths and weaknesses lie and he feels that even though the Hornets lost several all-state players to graduation, that his players are ready to carry on the Hornet tradition.

Returning starters for HWC include seniors Gabe Allmaras, Brock Fike and Harrison Lies. Others returning starters include juniors Keaton Keller, Andrew Fry and Gavyn Schuh while Kayl Sieg and Tallen Thorson round out the sophomores with starting experience. Allmaras and Keller were named to the 2nd team All-Region last year while Sieg recorded 52 tackles of which seven were for loss of yardage during his freshman year. Allmaras recorded 47 tackles while Keller had 26 catches for 271 yards.

The Hornets have some very good skills with some great athletes filling those spots. The entire linebacker corps is back and HWC has several guys that played big minutes on the front seven on defense. Dockter points to good team speed and an offensive line that has been jelling very nicely through summer camps and into fall practices. Dockter added, "The players are hungry and they have put in a lot of work over this past summer."

If the Hornets need to improve anywhere quickly, it would be in their secondary and they have a very young group filling those positions. Doctor points out that HWC only has four seniors so the younger players really need to grow up quickly which is sometimes a learning process.

Dockter, who is assisted by Scott Raue, Hunter Schuh, Gary Dockter and David Rask, feels that if the Hornets can stay healthy and continue to improve, he feels like they could be in the mix for a playoff run. The head coach looks at Langdon-Edmore-Munich and Hillsboro/Central Valley as the favorites, and then a dogfight for the rest of the teams.