H.S. football preview: Gwinn

If there is a U.P. football team that is under the radar primed for a big year, it’s the Gwinn Modeltowners. Gwinn head coach Darren Sinnaeve returns a lot of experience at a number of key positions on the field.

Quarterback Justin Nyquist, running back Luke Sinnaeve, and fullback Owen DeVooght are all seniors. If the Modeltowners can stay injury free, they have a good chance of making the postseason for the first time since 1999.

“The thing about football its not like basketball. You make a mistake in basketball, you lose two points. You make a mistake in football, its hard to recover. If we keep the mistakes down, we’ll be competitive with anyone that we play,” said Darren Sinnaeve.

“Obviously like everyone else, we would like to win the (Mid Pen) conference. We haven’t had a winning record in a while here, so our goal is to make the playoffs. I think we have the kids to accomplish those goals,” Sinnaeve added.

“We have 11 guys that will bust their butts every single play. We have great coaches and we’re just ready to get back on the field,” said DeVooght. “A good season for us is 6-3, but I think we’ll be a little bit better than that.”

“This summer we had a lot of people working in the gym getting after it,” said John Sicotte, a senior offensive lineman for the Modeltowners. “We’re hoping for a good season and that’s what we’re shooting for. We have good lineman and great (running) backs. I’m looking for us to have a good season.”

Gwinn opens up the regular season at home on Thursday, Aug. 22 against Gladstone.