Amherst will honor its first football team and 2012 State Champions Friday
By John Kemmeter
The Amherst High School athletic department will honor its first ever football team from the 1962-63 school year, as well as its 2012 WIAA Division 5 State Championship football team, at the Falcons’ Homecoming Game against Bonduel at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21.
Seniors from the 1962 team will be on hand for the coin toss before the game, along with seniors from the 2012 team, who won the program’s first State Championship 50 years after the sport began at Amherst.
“It should be a fun night,” said Amherst football head coach Mark Lusic. “The first football team ever, they’re in their 70s, and some of those guys are coming back.
“And it will be fun to see the 2012 team,” he said. “They were a special group.”
Amherst’s first football team in 1962 didn’t play any games, but they did have a scrimmage.
The 2012 senior class were sophomores when Lusic took over as the Amherst head coach and went 4-5 in 2010, then were juniors in 2011 when the team won its first playoff game in program history, as the Falcons reached the WIAA Division 5 State Quarterfinals and finished with a 10-2 record.
The next year in 2012, Amherst won its second consecutive Conference Title and third in program history, while the Falcons went 8-0 to finish unbeaten during the regular season for the first time, and followed with playoff wins over Niagara/Goodman/Pembine (64-7) and Marathon (34-7).
In Level 3 against Stratford, the game was tied 14-14 with 3:15 left and Stratford had first-and-goal at the Amherst seven-yard line, but senior defensive lineman Logan Hermsen drew a key holding call on second down to push Stratford back, and senior safety Caleb Glennon picked off a fourth-down pass and returned it to the Stratford 35-yard line with 28.2 seconds left.
Senior All-State quarterback Chris Zblewski threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Ryan Makuski with 12.2 seconds remaining to give the Falcons a 21-14 victory and a trip to the State Semifinals, where they won 34-6 over Colby to advance to the State Championship Game for the first time.
However, Zblewski suffered a season-ending broken fibula in the first half of the win over Colby, and Glennon stepped in to make his first career start at quarterback in the State Championship Game against Lancaster.
Glennon threw touchdowns passes to senior wide receivers Joey Biadasz and Max Strand as Amherst held on to a 13-7 lead late in the fourth quarter, when Makuski threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Biadasz on a trick play on fourth down with 2:18 remaining to seal Amherst’s first State Championship with a 19-7 victory that left the team 13-0.
“That senior class was very, very dynamic,” said Lusic, who also guided Amherst to State Titles in 2015, 2016 and 2017. “They were all sophomores when I started and they kind of grew with me, and they were a fun group.
“I hope they’re all coming back and I can’t wait to see them and just talk to them after, and see what they’re all up to,” he said. “They were very talented, and that group really bought in and they kind of put us on the map with the first State Title.”