{"id":1237,"date":"2019-05-02T21:04:54","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T02:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/?p=1237"},"modified":"2019-05-02T21:04:54","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T02:04:54","slug":"2019-warriors-season-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/blog\/2019\/05\/02\/2019-warriors-season-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 Warriors Season Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Coach Sawyer previews the 2019 Winona State Warriors Football Season.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Winona State University Warriors football team started spring practice in preparation for their upcoming 2019 season.<\/p>\n

The Warriors, who missed the playoffs in 2018, finished 8-3 and are returning 17 starters from last year\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

The 2019 team will have 15 practices including the spring game on April 27. The Warriors, who lost 14 starters to injury during the 2018 season, are looking to put an injury-plagued season behind them.<\/p>\n

Senior linebacker Nick Pridgeon, who suffered a knee injury in the second game of the 2018 season, said his goal for 2019 is to stay healthy.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally just comeback strong,\u201d Pridgeon said. \u201cJust really finish out the season.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pridgeon said he should be cleared from his ACL injury by mid-summer.<\/p>\n

Tom Sawyer, WSU\u2019s head football coach, said the future is bright this year.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/Schouweiler_HeadCoachTomSawyer.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

\u201cThe silver lining is a lot of other kids got experience,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cWe got all of those kids that were injured they\u2019re all back, plus the experience our other kids got.\u201d<\/p>\n

For three years, the Warriors have been in a trend of getting speed up front. Now, with more scholarship money, they were able to put the money to get higher-profile, larger athletes for the offensive line.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Winona State Warriors offense huddles up after doing practice drills.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTwo years ago, we signed four kids, last year we signed five,\u201d Sawyer said. This year, the Warriors have five additional guys coming, putting them over the 300 pound-average mark.<\/p>\n

The Warriors, with their rebuilt offensive line, know they have a job to do, which is to be physical.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/Schouweiler_Final-Carter-Berlin-Interview-2019.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n

Joe Holtzclaw, offensive line coach, said his close-knit unit will be different.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to protect the passer first and foremost,\u201d Holtzclaw said.<\/p>\n

When running the ball, Holtzclaw said the offensive line is physical by nature.<\/p>\n

On the defensive side of the ball, defensive assistant Lee Pronschinske, said he wants his group to continue flying around and cause turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always want to communicate, disrupt the ball and create turnovers,\u201d Pronschinske said. \u201cThat\u2019s big when the defense can get the offense the ball back on a short field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pronschinske said he is already seeing the linebackers and defensive backs causing turnovers in practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t been too handsy because we\u2019re playing against our own teammates, so we don\u2019t want to get too physical, maybe cause an injury,\u201d Pronschinske said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve been playing off a little bit that way, but it\u2019s still been nice to see our guys fly around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pridgeon said the defense has to focus on their technique and it all starts with attention to detail and accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a young group but a lot of talent,\u201d Pridgeon said. \u201cA lot of leadership in the young group as well. Really our main focus going into the season is trying to do the best as we can and reach our full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sawyer said he wants the preparation and planning to be right, to give them their best chance at a win.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to make sure we\u2019re planning right, preparing them right and give us the best chance to win,\u201d Sawyer said.<\/p>\n

The Warriors start their 2019 season at Maxwell Field Saturday, Sept. 7, against Wayne State College of Wayne, Nebraska.<\/p>\n

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The Winona State University Warriors football team started spring practice in preparation for their upcoming 2019 season. The Warriors, who missed the playoffs in 2018, finished 8-3 and are returning 17 starters from last year\u2019s team. The 2019 team will have 15 practices including the spring game on April 27. The Warriors, who lost 14 … Continue reading 2019 Warriors Season Preview<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[412,1,505,198,49],"tags":[409,6,506],"class_list":["post-1237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","category-uncategorized","category-warriors-football","category-winona","category-winona-state-university","tag-sports","tag-winona-state-university","tag-winona-state-warriors-football"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/298"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1237"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1246,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1237\/revisions\/1246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/educate.winona.edu\/winona360\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}