Appleton East and Appleton West football teams prepare for 2024 season
The Appleton East and Appleton West soccer teams are preparing for the start of the 2024 season.
APPLETON – Experience and better numbers have the Appleton East Patriots looking forward to the 2024 football season.
Mark Krommenacker, coach for the seventh year, is also pleased with his team’s work in the offseason and is convinced that this work is paying off.
“We’re excited,” Krommenacker said. “We’ve had a good summer. We’ve had a unique summer in that our weight room was renovated and we’ve been out in what we call the Iron Paradise and our weight room out there. But it’s been a lot of fun. We’ve made some changes, but we’ve done some things that I think will help us as athletes regardless of what sport they’re playing. The moves we’ve made, the things we’ve done this summer, I think will pay off for the guys that have bought into it.”
While it would be nice to win more games, the Patriots have a narrower focus this season after finishing 2-7 overall and 1-6 in the Fox Valley Association last season.
“We literally just talk about winning every day,” Krommenacker said. “We don’t talk about any scoreboards or anything like that, because that just comes naturally. We just want to be the best version of ourselves every day, and that’s what we focus on. We just want to build tough people, men, real leaders. Guys that will do the right thing even when it’s hard, even when it’s not popular, and be able to show a little mental toughness because we know there’s always going to be adversity.”
“We’re going to push ourselves to the limit at some point, in every single game. That happens in your life, that happens in school, that happens in the weight room. We just need guys that are tough, that can handle that adversity and get stronger because of it. That’s all we care about. We only care about what’s important right now: winning every day, and the results will take care of themselves.”
Standout veteran running back and defensive back Kyreese White echoed Krommenacker’s sentiments.
“I definitely see it that way,” White said. “Now we’re just focused on winning every day, seizing the moment. Let’s focus on the little things and then we’ll get to the big things. As a team, we’ve handled that pretty well so far, just winning every day. And I think that will show up in the season and that will show up.”
“We’re just really dedicated and have a really strong brotherhood. If you need help from someone on the team, there’s always someone there for you. We’re just really tight, especially this year. We’ve done more stuff to bring the team together. I think brotherhood is going to be a big part of the season.”
White was one of the Patriots’ strongest offensive weapons last year, completing 49 passes for 357 yards (7.3 average) and five touchdowns.
“I just expect absolute dedication,” White said. “This group is a group of guys that are not going to let each other down. I don’t see any of these guys just giving up in the middle of the season. I see this as a group of guys that are committed and want to stay together as a team.”
Veteran halfback and defensive back Dane Owens sees good things ahead if the team sticks together.
“I’m really excited,” Owens said. “I think we have a lot of potential as a team. We have a good connection with each other. I think all the coaches believe in us, we believe in each other. I feel like we’re a brotherhood. Our coaches always preach that, the connection with each other. We have more of that now than in any other year I’ve been here. That’s the part I like the most.”
“We just have to play to our potential. We’re not the biggest, that’s for sure. Other schools have more money in that regard, but if we really work together and believe in ourselves, we can do some good things this season. I’m looking forward to it. We all connect with each other and we all believe in ourselves.”
Krommenacker also believes that this year’s experience is a great advantage.
“We have some seniors and juniors now, so we don’t have to rely on as many sophomores,” Krommenacker said. “It’s great to have those numbers. You can train in a different way that we haven’t been able to do in recent years. Having some upperclassmen who have a chance to play on the field and not have to rely on underclassmen is going to be a big advantage for us.”
One of the strengths of this year’s team is defense, which will also be a key factor in its success.
“Our defensive secondary is pretty athletic,” Krommenacker said. “They fly to the football. We’ve got (junior) Birk Kozlowicz back there. (Junior) Adrian Scaife and (senior) Jacob Weisbach, (junior) Michael Morales. So those four back there bring some athleticism to the secondary.”
On offense, the Patriots rely on some good players from last year.
“In the backfield, we have Kyreese White back, who is incredibly fast,” Krommenacker said. “We have (junior) AJ Thompson back at quarterback this year. We have those guys who played last year, so they bring experience, which I think will benefit us on the field.”
“Just having upperclassmen on the field. Guys who have college football experience will be huge for us. We’re not going to be the biggest team by far. We’re still going to be undersized, especially compared to other teams, but at least we’re bringing home experience.”
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Krommenacker also sees his offensive line as a pillar of the offense.
“Obviously it all starts on the offensive line,” he said. “We have a couple of guys that got some playing time last year. (Junior) Todd Marx at guard is a good player, (senior) Logan Rehberg at tackle is a good returner. Those guys bring some experience to the offensive line and overall having those older players will be an advantage for us this year.”
The Patriots open the season on Thursday at Green Bay Southwest.
