By Cole Van Nuys

Amherst senior wide receiver/safety

Friday nights, cold air, roaring fans, everybody has their eyes on the prize. One more trip to the sacred land. One more chance to leave it all on the field. Football is Amherst, Amherst is football.

Senior wide receiver/safety Cole Van Nuys (4) and the top-ranked Amherst High School football team will face sixth-ranked Lake Country Lutheran in the WIAA Division 5 State Championship Game at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison at 4 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16.
(John Kemmeter photo)

The Amherst Falcons, who have had an impressive season, losing only one game by one point to the best team in Division 6, and able to steamroll other opponents during the regular and postseason games.

Amherst’s head coach, Mark Lusic, who has been coaching the team for his eighth year now, has made it so this team can succeed. He tells us how the media and all of that stuff is cool and all, but at the end of the day if you don’t win nobody cares. Nobody is coming back to ask, “So how is Amherst doing now since they got knocked out?”

Lusic tells us how “Us” the players are the ones who make it all possible. So let’s talk about them and we’ll start with Marcus Glodowski, who for his first year at quarterback has played amazingly, and is able to run and pass over any opponents. Bryce Holderman and Max Villnow as linebackers both are able to pick up runners and blitz in a heartbeat and take them down, and are the heart of the defense.

These are the leaders of our team, besides Chandler Benn, who unfortunately had a season-ending injury early in the season. We rely on these people day in and day out to come to practice and lead the rest of us to where we all want to go. Everyone on this team will take this leadership role too. We are all growing together.

I feel a lot of people don’t understand how long our football season actually is. Last year, the season ended on November 17, 2016, after winning Amherst’s third Division 5 State Championship and coming back to celebrate with fans and family.

The day after, I, along with my buddies, went back down to Madison to finish watching the rest of the state games. That was our day off.

The Saturday after winning state, my buddies and I went and asked coach Zblewski if he was opening the weight room that Monday. He said he would, and the season ended and started just like that.

Before I knew it, everyone from juniors preparing to finish their last season, to 8th graders getting ready to start their high school journey with football, were all in the weight room getting bigger and stronger preparing for the season.

All in all, playing for this Amherst football team is probably the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. The support that we have received throughout the years is incredible and everyone on the team really does thank everyone in and outside our community for our four years of high school, and I really hope the support stays alive for many years to come.

And I hope to see everyone at Camp Randall this Thursday at 4 p.m. to support the team on their fourth trip to state in a row.