The Oshkosh North football team has struggled to go to playoffs in past years, but this year, after a couple tweaks, they have finally done it.
To have a better chance at playoffs, they moved conferences in the division they had originally applied to in 2020. However, they were denied. Activities Director Craig Lieder also noted they moved conferences for competition.
“We moved conferences so we can get to a conference that is more competitive for us. So we’re going to play Green Bay, Sheyboyagan and they have traditionally struggled and we in our district have also struggled. Manitowoc and Notre Dame are top tier teams but we’ll have a good chance to win 5 conference games if things go well. It gives us an opportunity to win the playoff games.”
Lieder explained moving conferences was a long process of constant trying, and nowhere as easy as it seems.
“It’s quite a lengthy process, there is a mountain of paperwork, and it’s a very time consuming process. We have been trying for this current conference change for over a year and a half ago. It’s not just a, ‘Hey, we don’t want to play with them anymore’, you have to apply and go through a lengthy process, and they do ask very thorough questions about why.”
Lieder thought moving conferences was a good move, and at the end of the day, he does not care what other people think. He wants what is best for his team.
“I think the new conference fits us, enrollment wise and socio-economic wise. I think it’s a more level playing field as far as the other FVA people. I don’t know what they think, and I don’t really care what they think.”
Now the hottest talk is definitely the school rivalry between Oshkosh North and West.
“We are still playing West, but it will be earlier in the year. If it were up to me, I would never play them again. It’s not because we can’t compete, I think rivalries are good, but sometimes I think this is an unhealthy one. I’m a non-Oshkosh guy, but I know we will continue to play Oshkosh West while these schools are open. They will play each other in a non-conference,” Lieder said.
Assistant coach Christopher Kujawa emphasized that he was proud of the boys last year, noting their good attitudes about playing and losing. However, the age gaps on the football team were apparent last year.
“I think we got an opportunity for younger kids to play with older kids and get a good experience. Their attitudes were also fantastic, there were a lot of groups we knew collectively were not going to win, but these kids came into practice with a good attitude and we had a lot of good practices. I know it didn’t look like it on the playing field, we just don’t have a lot of older kids. We have 15-16 year olds playing 17-18 year olds, which was very evident.”
This year, North now embodies an older football team with more juniors and seniors, who have more experience.
Kujawa has a final word of advice for his players.
“We have to get bigger, better and stronger. The biggest thing we need to work on is improving academically, because when you have an intelligent team you can do a lot more things emphatically and we are not anywhere near where we need to be academically. It’s not just what we can do to get bigger, better, and stronger, but what we can do to get smarter.”
The Spartans will showcase just how much they improved this year through playoffs.
