Hansen takes offensive reins as G-E-T football looks to build on last season

Two years ago when Paul Anderson was coaching the freshman football team at Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, he saw potential in quarterback Ben Hansen.

Now in 2023, the same duo will look for success on the varsity field. Hansen is set to take over as QB1 for the Red Hawks this fall as a junior, taking the place of last year’s starter Cody Schmitz.

The Red Hawks open the season this Friday at Mondovi.

“I know what he (Hansen) can do, and he’s grown quite a bit the last couple years. He has a really good arm — really, really good arm — and he’s much more physical than he was the last couple of years as he’s gotten older,” Anderson said. “It’s his time to be the quarterback. It’s his time to seize it, and he’s got two years here to make it happen.”

Anderson helped G-E-T return to the postseason last fall. The team finished 5-5 overall and 5-2 in Coulee Conference play, good for third in the conference. 

They amassed a Coulee-best 3,030 rushing yards as a team.

The Red Hawks will have to replace its entire backfield after graduating its top three running backs and losing Schmitz. The team graduated 19 seniors last year—including its top four rushers—but Anderson likes what he has seen in the opening weeks of practice.

“The guys coming up are extremely good, super talented. I knew coming in that we would be okay, and we have a whole new crew back there.”

Juniors Max Knapmiller and Kyle Seiling will split running back duties with senior Taylor Haney, and others set to see time in the backfield include juniors Omar Jimenez and Oliver Remus.

Fans can expect a similar offensive approach to last year personnel wise, too—multiple players will get carries on any given night in the double wing offense.

Tight end Jackson Burns could give G-E-T a new threat in the passing game, too.

Running the football helps the offense get into a groove, Anderson said, and there are some new formations with a new quarterback this year, too. Running the ball will still be the team’s primary focus.

“We’ve got a couple years here that could look pretty good,” he said.

The team has 11 seniors this year whom will be asked to step up this fall, including Alex Wieczorek, Haney, Carter Repaal and others.

A large class of 20 juniors will also play a big role this fall.

On defense the Red Hawks boast one of the top coaching staffs in the Coulee Conference, Anderson told the Times last week.

“The staff has been very good, and that’s one of the reasons or maybe the reason why the defense was very successful last year. We lost some guys there, but we got guys stepping up that’ll be good.”

Knapmiller and Haney at middle linebacker will be asked to lead the defense, as will Seiling at safety. Cale Pickering could make big strides on the defensive line, as could Mitchell Erickson in his first year of high school football as a junior.

The Coulee Conference again figures to be one of the state’s best.

“Every team we play is going to be tough again,” Anderson said, pointing to last year’s schedule that saw three opponents end the year in different state championship games, including two Coulee Conference opponents in West Salem and Aquinas.

After returning to the postseason in 2022, Anderson wants to see G-E-T keep building toward higher goals.

“We set the bar a little bit last year, and we just want to keep getting more and more wins in the conference, so that’s the bar we want to set.  You’re going in it to win every game and we think we can. So the bar is always high.”

“We got a really tough schedule, and that’s okay because we want good competition. So we’ll battle and we’ll see what happens at the end.”