After a come-from-behind win in the semifinals, Homestead High School finds itself with the school’s first trip to Camp Randall since 2012.
“It's really special because they are in it together,” described Head Coach David Keel.
“As one of our coach's said at a team dinner a little bit ago, they're ‘all in.’ ”
That was certainly the case last week against Chippewa Falls. Down 13 in the first quarter and down nine in the fourth quarter, Homestead battled back twice to win 27-23.
“We just didn't want it to end there, you know,” explained junior quarterback Eric Zoeller.
“We wanted to keep going. We knew had a special group of seniors [who] are awesome, a phenomenal coaching staff here. We just wanted to go out and go as far as we could.”
It’s been a wild ride to get back to Camp Randall. After starting out the season 2-2, now they’re in a position to capture their fifth state crown.
“You know, it's kind of surreal,” said senior running back Matt Winters.
“We were just joking about it in the beginning of the season but now we're here, so it's great.”
Standing in their way: last week's Team of the Week, Waukesha West.
“In every big game it comes down to two things, in my opinion,” Coach Keel explained. “Who plays the better defense and who controls the turnovers, so controlling turnovers and playing great defense are the two keys to victory.”
Easy, right?
“Exactly,” Keel said with a laugh. “If it was only that way every coach in America would do that, but whoever does those two things best, I think, will be successful.”
