FOOTBALL: Returning core has Sparta primed to build on breakthrough season

The 2023 season was a success any way you slice it for the Sparta football team.

Coming off a 1-7 season filled with trials and tribulations in 2022, the Spartans entered last fall with high hopes of something better and made good on that potential. Sparta finished with a winning record of 6-5, punched a postseason ticket for the first time since 2019 and, most notably, treated their fans to the first home playoff win in program history.

When you accomplish something that no team at your school ever has, you've solidified a special place for yourselves. But that type of achievement can also mark a high point for a program over a given stretch of time. With a sizable chunk of the roster returning in 2024, these Spartans are intent on making sure that last year was a launching point, not a peak.

"The talk here is they just want to make it further. They want to play more games," said Sparta head coach Adam Dow. "It really comes down to how well are you playing when you go into the playoffs? Are you playing your best football? And that's what I really focus on with our guys — every single game we need to see improvement if we're going to be, at the end, the type of team that we want to be, where we can make some noise. It doesn't just turn a switch in week nine and oh now we're a team that can make a run. It builds all the way through the season."

Though the Spartans have the benefit of returning eight players on both sides of the ball with prior starting experience, they will have to deal with the loss of some key graduates. Most notable among that group is Thomas Laufenberg, an All-Mississippi Valley Conference first-team selection at both quarterback and linebacker who led the team is passing and rushing and was third in tackles a year ago.

Other significant departures include running back/linebacker Cody Morrow, wide receiver/defensive back Ryne Brueggeman, offensive/defensive lineman Charles Schauf, kicker Imanol Aguilar Sanchez, punter Brodie Schamens and defensive lineman Jesse Schaitel.

However, there still is plenty of quality production coming back for Sparta that provides a solid foundation for the team to build off of in 2024.

Camden McTaggart was one of the anchors of the Spartan defense a year ago as a sophomore, earning a second-team All-MVC selection for his work at middle linebacker. Dow noted that the coaching staff didn't want to risk overtaxing McTaggart by having him play both sides of the ball as an underclassman, but his junior year will see him take over as the team's starting running back in addition to his pivotal defensive role.

"Coming in as a younger guy, the older class with Thomas (Laufenberg), Ryne (Brueggeman), Jesse Schaitel, all of them — they were great leaders to us," McTaggart said. "So I just want to keep passing it down to the younger grades and hopefully, when they're in my position, they can perform at a high level."

The Spartans return most of their starters in the trenches, including senior Cadence Zwiefel, who was an All-MVC honorable mention as a defensive lineman in 2023.

Other returning defensive playmakers with similar or increased responsibilities include seniors Dusty Morrow and Zach Treu at linebacker, seniors Carter Vieth and Levi Nichols on the defensive line, and senior Grant Geier along with juniors David Fabry and Gus Tripp in the secondary.

Treu will assume the full-time starting quarterback role this season, but he already has some varsity experience under his belt from when he filled in as a sophomore after Laufenberg was sidelined with a torn meniscus.

Leading receiver and All-MVC honorable mention Geier is back to set the pace for a receiving corps that will also include senior Reese Ott, junior Kayden Kaat and Tripp, along with senior tight end Nate Guns.

"Losing Thomas was big, but Zach's been putting in all the work," Geier said. "It doesn't really worry me on the offensive side of the ball and (on) defense, I know he's going to do the same thing he did last year."

The groundwork was laid last fall, now it's just a matter of seeing where the Spartans can go from here in their hunt for a return trip to the postseason — and possibly more.

"I want to see us be competitive in every single football game. If we put ourselves in that position in the fourth quarter where you're within striking distance, then it's the team that wants to finish," Dow said. "I want to see a team out there in the middle of the fourth quarter who's competing for a victory."