Jeff Chaney
Sports Scene
BELDING, MI – The 2013 Belding football team has conjured memories of Redskin teams of years past.
This year’s version is off to its best start since 1998, the last time that Belding played for a state championship.
And that has the Belding faithful the most excited since the 1990s, when iconic coach Irv Sigler was roaming the Belding sidelines, and each year the Redskins made deep runs in the state playoffs.
In the 1990s, Belding went to the playoffs eight times. During that time, the Redskins advanced to the state semifinals twice and to the final game four times. They won it all in 1994 and 1997.
Back then, the team was loaded with talent, like running backs Brent and Paul Cummings and Mick Faasen. And the offensive and defensive lines were huge and rugged, anchored by monsters like Erik Faasen.
Since the 1999 season, when the Redskins made it to the second round of the Division 4 playoffs, Belding has only made it to the playoffs five times, and only in 2007 did it advance past the first round. The team lost to Alma in the second round that year.
This year’s team has players similar to the Cummings brothers and the Faasens. The Redskins have a great offensive backfield that includes senior quarterback Kole Hart, senior fullback Neil McCully, senior running back Nick Price, and junior running back Sam Beckett.
Up front, the offensive line is anchored by senior tackle Bryce Wilker and senior noseguard Jake Krieger.
Just like the Belding fans, the players are excited. “Putting Belding back on the map would be my greatest satisfaction,” Hart said. “Whether that’s the playoffs, or going all the way, that would be my greatest satisfaction.”
This year’s team is in position to make that happen. Through the first four weeks of the season, the Redskins are 4-0 and have outscored their opponents 192-77, including a 49-14 pounding of Leslie September 20.
But the meat of the schedule is still ahead and begins with a four-week stretch that includes games against perennial powers Comstock Park, Allendale, and Hopkins. That stretch starts September 27 at Comstock Park in a tough OK Blue Conference game.
“We have a rough conference, obviously,” Hart said. “As a team, we can be as good as we want to be, if we stay focused at practice and in the games. We can set out to do whatever we want to do.”
Second-year coach Joe Schwander, who played for and coached for Ralph Munger at Rockford High School, says he has been blessed with a humble senior class that struggled last year to a 2-7 record but came back with a strong off-season.
“There has been a lot of talk about this class,” Schwander said. “They have had a lot of success in this class. I think last year was good for them, because they were humbled, and that made them hungry this off-season and motivated.”
Even though his team is off to a great start, Schwander is still cautious. “We have some tough kids now,” he said. “We are one deep, so we need to work on some depth. We are trying to start building a culture. There are a lot of passionate people in Belding – this community wants to support football.”
Winning does that.
“We want to create a program where kids are excited to be part of,” Schwander said. “Since last year ended, six new kids have joined the team, and three of them hadn’t played before.”