ScuttleBu(r)t: Budek’s Phantoms run like Nordics
ScuttleBu(r)t …
West De Pere ran the football 57 times, with no pass plays, in beating Rice Lake 35-14 to qualify for the WIAA Division 3 state championship game.
West De Pere assistant Regan Budek may have wondered if the Phantoms had adopted the offensive philosophy of his North Dickinson High School coach Joe Reddinger, a UP Hall of Famer who was never described as pass-happy.
“Coach Reddinger would have been proud of the running attack, no doubt,” said Budek, West De Pere’s junior varsity head coach who works with the varsity wide receivers.
Miserable weather conditions played a factor in the Phantoms (13-0) rushing for 344 yards. They face Waukesha Catholic Memorial (12-1) on Friday for the state crown.
“Hopefully, in the state game, we won’t have snow and 25 mph wind gusts because I’m fairly certain we will need to complete passes to keep Catholic Memorial’s defense honest,” Budek said. “Looking at film, they are fairly big up front, so passing and any misdirection we can use to create space would be to our benefit.”
Budek started on North Dickinson’s 1980 Class D state finalist team.
“We’ve been fortunate to have a solid offensive line all year long, running quarterback and five running backs that have all received carries because of injuries and different talents they possess for different situations,” said Budek, a West De Pere coach for 15 seasons …