Waunakee HS boys lacrosse completes dominant season as WLF state champions
WAUNAKEE, Wis. — The Waunakee Boys Lacrosse team are the Wisconsin 2021 State Champions! Beginning the season as the number one ranked team in the state, they lived up to that ranking. The team was undefeated with a perfect 20-0 record, dominating their opponents. It was a total team effort resulting in them scoring the most goals of any team in the state as well as allowing the fewest goals of any team in the state. These combined efforts resulted in an average differential of 11.1 goals per game, which would arguably make them the most dominant boys high school team in Wisconsin history.
The success of this team is rooted in the possession of a high lacrosse IQ, a great bond and a high level of confidence in each other. The team was led by a group of 20 upper classmen, including 18 seniors. These players and a group of coaches that have largely been together since they were in fourth grade when they stepped in and began to build the successful foundation of Waunakee lacrosse.
Not only did this group play Waunakee youth lacrosse together, the upper classmen on this team were also the founding members of a local club team — The War Eagles. This club allowed them to stay together and play a high level of competitive lacrosse. They were very successful, winning many Midwest tournaments, without having to disperse among multiple clubs. The very first tournament these boys travelled to was the Black and Blue Tournament in Summerset Minnesota in 2013. Fourteen of these same upper classmen were on that team. The coaches of that team — John Gengler, Mike Reiter, Scott Hogland, and Calvin Kruscheck — have been with these boys every step of the way and are still with the program. John Gengler lead the team as the their head coach this season.
While they are a strong team, they are also skilled individual players with multiple players on the All-Conference team, two players were named All State and All American. Eight team members received scholarships to play lacrosse in college this fall.
This group of young men lost their entire season to COVID last year, and the seniors had a less than ideal senior year of high school for the same reason. The fact that they were able to stick together, stay focused on their goal, and support each other to achieve their goal to close out their senior season in such a challenging year will create a memory not soon forgotten by them or those in the community who followed them.
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