‘Stronger together’

MT. PLEASANT — The 2019 football team at Mt. Pleasant High School would like the credit for a saying that is currently popular.

The great Chicago Bears running back, Walter Payton, is credited with the quote, “We are stronger together than we are alone.”

“Stronger together“ has gained notice because of the worldwide pandemic, but the 2019 Panthers were together and stronger for it before the novel coronavirus hit, tying the best season record since the 2008 team was 11-1.

That team didn’t get to play spring sports or have a graduation because of the virus. The 2020 team had one game canceled plus had numerous players miss other games.

Homecoming for the Panthers in 2020 was too much togetherness. Many on the football team were quarantined because they were close to somebody who had tested positive for COVID-19.

"The situation helped us find a way to work together so, in a way, it unified us,“ senior Lincoln Henriksen said. ”But it hurt. It hurt us.“

So many seniors were quarantined that the Panthers played a freshman in the Fort Madison game. Former Mt. Pleasant coach Bob Jensen told current head coach Shawn Striegel that the quarterback on the mythical state champion team was the only freshmen he knew of that had been on the field for a varsity game. That was the early 1960s.

The Panthers have had numerous Division I players, even a few who played in the NFL, but none played as freshmen.

“It is a luxury we have had here,” Striegel said, “a luxury that was not having a pandemic, I guess.”

Even this season the pandemic rages on with a more virulent strain concerning the coach.

“It brought the team together, but as a coach, I felt I did the worst job coaching because I was so worried about all the other things,” Striegel said. “Ninety percent of my energy was managing things instead of teaching. I do not feel like I was prepared as I should have been for games.”

It wasn’t that Panthers were diseased, it was quarantines because they were close to diseased people.

Striegel said there wasn’t a single positive test of a team player that he knows of, yet taking the proper precautions was paramount.

“Even though we lost games, it was because of the situation, and we still got better every week because we always kept the right mentality about it,” senior Isaiah Albright said.

It paid off because the Panthers rallied in time for the playoffs and led the eventual state champion Lancers of North Scott at halftime of the second round Class 3A postseason game. The team was stronger together at North Scott, leading 20-19 at halftime in Mt. Pleasant’s second postseason game. But the final score was 58-26. North Scott went on to be the Class 3A state champions.

Class 3A was last year, too. Class 4A is a new level with the creation of 5A in March.

Albright said it doesn’t matter that the Panthers are up to 4A. “I say bring it on, we want the competition.”

Fort Madison also is in 4A, and the Panthers lost to the Bloodhounds 44-7. A rule was loosened about quarantine if one was wearing a mask in the classroom. That enabled Carson Coleman to make his only start at quarterback as a junior, going 12-for-22 passing for 188 yards with 13 rushes for 20 yards.

"It was tough trying to play when I hadn’t done anything for a week being in quarantine.“ Coleman is concentrating on his footwork with the hope to start every game at the position this season.

“I think those changes we had to make for COVID brought us closer together as a team,” Coleman said.

Facing adversity can help or hurt. In the case of the Panthers, it did both.

It is hard to become one unit when you have to maintain distance from one another.

Only one game was not played (Sept. 25 versus Keokuk) but numerous games were played short-handed, which can both help and hurt. Younger players get seasoning, but more talented players aren’t in the game.

Hendrickson is looking forward to playing the Lancers since “we know what to expect, so we’ll be ready, and we want to beat them even more now that they are the state champs.”

Henriksen’s favorite part of playing football is the camaraderie.

“Football is smart, tough and physical. I love the grind, waking up early for weights, going to bed late from watching film, practicing hard. Weights, speed, agility, it’s all there. When you make a great play, it’s nice to hear the crowd. But that isn’t the best. When your buddies are right there cheering you, that’s what it’s about. That’s what brings up the adrenaline, really elevates your heartbeat.“

Albright, a senior running back and middle linebacker, wants to be the best at his position but doesn’t have a certain number of tackles or a specific yardage total as a goal because that “would be limiting.”

“Being relied upon would have to be my favorite part of the game because then it is about team,” Albright said.

Coleman is getting reps at quarterback and safety but past quarterbacks just played offense.

"I want to throw it down field. What is the reason I’m playing this position? Then let me prove it.“

Coleman saw a turning point last season. “COVID knocked us down a little bit. Recovering from it was mental.”

Senior Dylan Hagans, a running back and linebacker, is a defensive-minded guy, but there is no defense when a pandemic affects every part of daily life. Unless teammates step up and help one another.

“I like to hit people, hit them hard legally, Hagans said. ”It’s more rewarding to connect legally than if you did something illegal.“

“Our older guys did a good job of mentoring younger guys, Hagans said. ”It was not just them getting themselves ready, but they made sure they got the whole team ready, even the younger guys. Everybody, juniors, sophomores, freshmen, everybody.

“And it wasn’t just the games, they put motivation into us at every practice.”

That type of spirit not only makes the freshmen better but sets up a culture so when they’re seniors, they mentor underclassmen, pandemic or not.

Hagans said playing varsity could make one nervous but being strong together will create faith. “I trusted the coaches and trusted the other 10 guys on the field. I felt they were going to trust me, so it felt good.”

As an underclassman, Hagans first impressed coaches with his play on special teams. “Just connecting on that hit felt great. It was a very exciting moment, best moment ever.”

Hagans wants more moments like that and less ones spent in quarantines.

“To inspire myself, I use doubters as well as people that encourage me,” Hagans said.

It is a more complete way of motivation, using both sides of the spectrum.

“There are the ones that tell me, I’ll never do this or never be that, but then there’s my teammates” Hagans said. “They will always believe in me, always encourage me, tell me they know I’ll make this tackle, I’ll make that block, I’ll make the play. I couldn’t ask for better.”

“In what we do, our spirit is together, and we are stronger for it,” Striegel said.