FOX CROSSING – A winning culture doesn't happen overnight and the St. Mary Catholic football team can certainly attest to that.
The Zephyrs' football program – once considered almost dead in the water – has made quite a revival in recent years. St. Mary Catholic is four years removed from being an 8-player team and is now a No. 2 seed in the WIAA Division 6 playoffs.
SMC (7-2) hosts Fall Creek (5-4) in a playoff opener Friday, Oct. 23. It's the second consecutive playoff appearance for the Zephyrs, who before last season hadn't reached the playoffs since 2002.
"We're building the culture here. That's always been our intent," SMC senior center Gibson Rause said. "I'm not always going to be here. These are the last couple of games I get to play, but I really hope that going forward that St. Mary's can be a program that is just at the very top all the time."
Second-year SMC coach Rob Detterman pointed to former head coaches Jeremy Clifton and Josh Young for triggering the uptick in interest in the Zephyrs football program in recent years.
"[Clifton] did a good job in rebuilding the numbers and Josh Young came and did a good job with 8-man football, won some games," Detterman said. "They came back up to 11 and it's just a different game. You have those two linemen, it's very physical.
"When the job opened up, I was interested into getting back into coaching at that time. We tried to install standards and a culture that is crucial to being successful in football, and we've had some luck. We had great seniors last year and we've had good kids this year that have continued where we started."
St. Mary Catholic made the move to 11-man football in 2023 and finished 2-8. A season of 1-8 followed as the Zephyrs slowly adjusted back to the 11-man game. That paid off with a 5-5 record last season and the team's first playoff appearance in 23 years, a 49-21 loss to Bonduel in the first round.
St. Mary Catholic took another leap this season and won a share of the Eastern Wisconsin Conference title and has won four consecutive games, including a 31-6 victory over Brillion in Week 9 that helped secure the conference crown. SMC's two losses this year have come to a pair of playoff teams: Hilbert in Week 1 and Valders in Week 5.
The Zephyrs are a solid defensive team, allowing 12.1 points a game, and the offense has shown a propensity for big plays and averages 28.6 points.
Senior Tarver Trinkner is a dual-threat quarterback, throwing for 985 yards and 11 touchdowns while also running for 568 yards (6.8 average) and six scores. Dominic Todd, a senior, is the main ballcarrier with 751 yards on 143 carries (5.3) and eight scores.
Senior receiver Luke Fairweather leads the team in receptions (28) and yards (393) and has five touchdown catches. Senior Dominic Osgood is a superb two-way player and has 14 catches for 269 yards (19.2 average) with two scores and 33 tackles as a defensive back with a forced fumble, three fumble recoveries and two interceptions, including one for a score.
Osgood said the players are thrilled to be a conference champion and hosting a playoff game.
"We didn't even have a conference win two years ago," Osgood said. "So to win the conference championship is amazing and to be a 2-seed, amazing. Host a playoff game, awesome. But we're hungry for more, so we're going to take it day-by-day."
Alex Klinkhammer (72 tackles, 12 for loss) and George Voss (60 tackles, 15 for loss) are also leaders on the defense along with Brennan Dupont, who leads the team with five sacks.
Rause anchors a solid offensive line that has 144 "pancake" blocks, according to the latest stats on Bound Wisconsin.
"I'm just so incredibly excited," Rause said. "I've been with this group all four years and you couldn't have told me freshman year that we'd be a 2-seed, ever. I wouldn't have believed you. So it's awesome to be playing with my brothers and I'd never thought we'd get to this point."
The arrow is tilting upward for the SMC program and Detterman said the program has the right coaching staff in place to improve further.
"One of the most critical things for me when I took the job was No. 1, to hire the right staff. Sometimes staffs get overlooked, but getting the right guys in here and the right people that could have the different personalities and make sure they could all connect," Detterman said. "I'm just really proud of the work they've done ... because for them to be able to lead their group, they have to be good followers. Then they can be good leaders of their groups. They bought into the direction I wanted us as far as our culture and they bring a lot of skill to it. The staff has been amazing."
Ricardo Arguello's WIAA football playoff predictions
Division 1
Top seeds: West De Pere (9-0), Sussex Hamilton (9-0), Muskego (8-1), Bay Port (8-1).
Area matchups: (8) Kimberly (4-5) at (1) West De Pere (9-0), (5) De Pere (6-3) at (4) Neenah (6-3), (6) Appleton North (5-4) at (3) Stevens Point (8-1).
Championship game; other semifinalist predictions: West De Pere over Bay Port; Muskego, Arrowhead.
Division 2
Top seeds: New Richmond (9-0), Green Bay Notre Dame (9-0), Monona Grove (8-1), Union Grove (9-0).
Area matchups: (5) Menomonee Falls (4-5) at (4) Menasha (7-2), (7) Oshkosh North (5-4) at (2) Kaukauna (7-2).
Championship game; other semifinalist predictions: Green Bay Notre Dame over New Richmond; Homestead, Elkhorn.
Division 3
Top seeds: Pewaukee (9-0), Port Washington (9-0), New Berlin West (7-2), La Crosse Logan (9-0).
Area matchups: (7) McFarland (4-5) at (2) Winneconne (9-0), (6) Rhinelander (5-4) at (3) Fox Valley Lutheran (7-2).
Championship game; other semifinalist predictions: Pewaukee over La Crosse Logan; Catholic Memorial, Winneconne.
Division 4
Top seeds: Freedom (9-0), Little Chute (8-1), Lake Mills (8-1), Racine St. Catherine's (8-1).
Area matchups: (8) Black River Falls (4-5) at (1) Freedom (9-0), (8) Denmark (5-4) at (1) Little Chute (8-1), (6) Wrightstown (4-5) at (3) Fuller Collegiate Academy (7-1), (7) Seymour (5-4) at (2) Stratford (8-1), (6) Xavier (5-4) at (3) La Crosse Aquinas (8-1).
Championship game; other semifinalist predictions: Freedom over West Salem; Little Chute, Delavan-Darien.
Division 5
Top seeds: Racine Lutheran (9-0), New Glarus (8-1), Darlington (9-0), Amherst (9-0).
Area matchups: (6) Tomahawk (4-5) at (3) Brillion (7-2), (5) Peshtigo (5-4) at (4) Chilton (5-4).
Championship game; other semifinalist predictions: Darlington over Lake Country Lutheran; New Glarus, Amherst.
Division 6
Top seeds: Mondovi (8-1), Manitowoc Lutheran (9-0), Bonduel (9-0), Edgar (8-1).
Area matchups: (7) Fall Creek (5-4) at (2) St. Mary Catholic (7-2), (5) Weyauwega-Fremont (5-4) at (4) Randolph/Cambria-Friesland (8-1).
Championship game; other semifinalist predictions: Edgar over Mondovi; Kewaunee, Manitowoc Lutheran.
Division 7
Top seeds: Cochrane-Fountain City (9-0), Glenwood City (8-1), Ithaca/Weston (8-0), Coleman (7-2).
Area matchups: (7) Osseo-Fairchild (3-6) at (2) Shiocton (8-1), (8) Manawa (3-6) at (1) Coleman (7-2), (6) Abbotsford (4-5) at (3) Hilbert (6-3).
Championship game; other semifinalist predictions: Coleman over Shiocton; Iowa-Grant, Cochrane-Fountain City.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Winning culture lifts St. Mary Catholic back to football prominence