By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor
WILTON — Wilton head coach Ryan Hetzler enters his third season as the head coach of the Wilton Beavers coming off of a 5-5 season, one that ended with a first round playoff loss to Pella Christian. Many players return from that team that were district runners-up last year, and Wilton will carry high expectations into the season and a new district.
The Beavers will play in class 1A, District 4 and return 10 returning starters. Wilton has the a lot of team depth. Teams in their district are Columbus Junction, Highland, Louisa-Muscatine, Iowa City Regina, Wapello, Van Buren and Sigourney-Keota. The Beavers will play non-district games against Tipton and Durant. Tipton’s game will open the 2016 season on August 26 and the Durant game will be at home the following week. The Beavers will have four home games this season with back-to-back home games to start October.
Wilton started off slow, 0-2, before winning three straight games and four of their next five games. The Beavers ended the season 5-2 after the first two games. Wins over Bellevue, Durant and Wapello put the Beavers record at 3-2. Wilton lost to state rated Mediapolis and West Branch and beat Alburnett and North Cedar in their final four games.
Wilton will have a new quarterback this season in Jerome Mays. Mays backed up 2015 starter Javin Drake. Drake, an all-district player and All-State punter. Drake passed for 1,655 yards and 8 touchdowns. He also rushed for 526 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Wilton returns two of their top three rushers from last year. Leading rusher Bryce Oveson returns after an 843-yard, 10-touchdown season. Trey Brisker also is back. Mays and even end Evan Reifert will see more touches.
Leading receiver Evan Reifert returns after catching 32 passes for 622 yards and 4 touchdowns. Oveson caught 12 passes for 186 yards and Kaleb Timmsen caught 14 passes for 179 yards. Brisker and Cory Anderson also return having each catching six passes last season.
Oveson and Brisker will anchor the defense after leading the Beavers in tackles last season. Oveson had 108 tackles with 10 tackles for loss to lead the team, while Brisker had 89 tackles and was second on the team in tackles. Timmsen (63 tackles), Tyler Hartman (63 tackles) and Jared Townsend (60 tackles) also return.
On special teams, Reifert should handle the punting duty after averaging 38.7 yards on nine attempts. Drake was a first team All-State punter after averaging 42.6 yards on 32 punts with a long of 55 yards. Timmsen, a steady placekicker, will return to handle those duties. Timmsen was 8-for-10 in field goals with a long of 40 yards and made 24 PAT’s and averaged 42.4 yards per kick-off. The Beavers’ return game will fall on Cory Anderson and others after the graduation of the speedy Cody Navarro. Navarro averaged 19 yards a return on kick-offs and 24.9 yards on punts. Navarrow also will be missed on offense (43 receptions 515 yards) and defense (72 tackles).
Gone From 2015: Javin Drake, Cody Navarro, Chaz Hartman, Gage Maynard, Eli Faison, Collin McCrabb, Ashton Stoelk, Hunter Stoll, Reid Johnson, Braydon Herrold, Kolton Armey, Braeden Vandevoort, Zach Rubendahl and Peyton Hagens.
Back From 2015: Drake Hayes, Kaleb Timmsen, Ethan Fagner, Evan Reifert, Corey Anderson, Kaleb Timmsen, Brady Barrett, Damien Maynard, Bryce OVeson, Derek McQuillen, Brock Hartley, Chantz Stevens, Jerome Mays, Jacob Shepherd, Trey Burnett, Jared Townsend, Cory Anderson, Trey Brisker, Tyler Hartman, Kaelyb Gerlt, Austin Pleggenkuhle, Brian Stillman, Calib Lilly, Calvin Parrott, Jacob Creamer, Zach Rubendall, Ronen Santiago, Chase Miller, Drake Hayes, Brayton Wade
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