This time last year at Black Hills, the mindset was “1-8 to State.”
Twelve months later, it’s about maintaining the success the 2022 season produced.
“For the kids coming back, they’re just confident,” coach Garrett Baldwin said. “I think there’s a different level of expectation from them alone. They know what it’s like to win more games than you lose, and nobody ever wants to go the other way. So now, it’s just about the consistency, and they keep falling back on that.”
Last season saw the Wolves make it back to the postseason despite a multi-week struggle with injuries and numbers in October, surviving a Kansas tiebreaker to earn the 2A Evergreen’s third seed and upsetting Mark Morris before running into No. 1 Lynden in the first round of the state tournament.
Now with a whole lot of new players plugged into the depth chart, the name of the game is turning last year’s ceiling into the floor for the future, without falling back to the depths they just emerged from.
“You look at the history of the Wolves, we’ve had so many different head football coaches, especially over the past six, seven years,” said Baldwin, who is entering his third year in charge at Black Hills. “We’re just trying to build that consistency back up, always being in the mix for that league championship, and just winning more ballgames than we lose.”
Baldwin said that last year’s success has already had an impact on turnout, with far more players coming to offseason workouts than in years past, but he’s still expecting to have a small rotation to work with once the games begin.
A lot of that rotation, though, is set to be underclassmen or new starters.
Up front, Black Hills loses second-team all-EvCo lineman Hank Spray, but brings in 6-2, 260-pound sophomore Max Whitehall to anchor the line.
“That kid has been in the weight room with me all offseason,” Baldwin said. “We have a zero-hour session at 6 a.m. throughout the school year, and the kid made all of them. He’s just dedicated, and he’s going to come out here and run guys off the ball.”
Behind him, the Wolves have to replace workhorse back Johnnie Stallings, and will look to junior Jake Weller, who’s already started at cornerback, to pick up the load.
The main consistent pieces from last season will be receiver Maddox Hodge and — perhaps most vitally — quarterback Jaxsen Beck, back for his third year starting under center.
Hodge will also start on defense, along with seniors Travis Carson and Jack Ellison. But the Wolves will have plenty of sophomores on that side of the ball as well, including Darius Mills, Kenny Bell, and Jess Bender.
“We’re excited for those guys,” Baldwin said. “I think they feel it a little bit, like ‘Man, I’m a sophomore and I’m being asked to play varsity, that’s kind of a big deal.’ We’re trying to tell them, ‘It’s bigger than you, you’re going to have to work hard, you’re going to have to make sacrifices … and we’re just going to work through it together.’”
Last year, Black Hills announced its improvement with a win over 1A power Montesano, kicking off a 3-0 start. This time around, the Wolves will have to go on the road to try to beat the Bulldogs again, before getting into the meat of their 2A EvCo schedule.
This time around, though, people will know they’re coming.
“We’re excited that we’re building something special,” Baldwin said. “The community is really buying in; it’s really awesome.”
