One team, one goal
By CONOR NICHOLL
QUINTER -- After a 50-0 victory against Palco in Week 2, seventh-year Quinter head football coach Greg Woolf announced to his players he had stomach cancer. The players, all close to the perpetually jovial Woolf, were shocked.
Quinter, then 2-0 and ranked in the top five in Eight-Man, Division I, had to adjust quickly. That Friday, the Bulldogs faced Sharon Springs, an eight-man power that was 33-4 in its past 37 contests. Quinter, led by a strong senior class with aspirations of a state championship, could have come unhinged. They trailed 26-12 at the end of the first half against Sharon Springs.
"We just let things get to our heads too much," senior running back Jordon Hargitt said.
At intermission, Woolf, a deeply religious man, came into the locker room and issued a strong message. In the second half, Sharon Springs never crossed midfield. Quinter lost 26-24, but the season changed.
"He yelled, 'Yes guys, I have cancer,' " Hargitt said. " 'You have to get over it. It's life.' We have to just get our heads going right. We played a great second half. Unfortunately, we couldn't come up with the win. From there on out, that was a huge turning point.
"Realizing this isn't the end, we are going to help him fight through this battle, through everything," he added. "I think it helped just him saying that, saying hey, we are going to make it through this. We just pulled together, and it hasn't been the same since. We have just been ready to go."
Quinter has won eight straight games, including a 50-0 victory against Macksville in the second round of the state playoffs Saturday.
The Bulldogs, 10-1, will travel to Clifton-Clyde for the sub-state championship game Saturday. The Bulldogs have adjusted well with the coaching change. Assistant coach Brian Roesch took over interim head coaching duties, and Woolf has filled the motivational role.
Every third Tuesday, he leaves the team and heads to Omaha, Neb, for treatment. His next treatment will come a week from Tuesday -- the week of the eight-man state championships in Newton.
"What good would it do the team if I kept trying to come back and be the head coach?" Woolf said. "That's the week of state. I'm not saying we are going to make state. I think we have got as good a shot as anybody. But we were looking at that, and that is not good for the kids. We have got to have somebody in there to really call the shots through the whole deal, and that is when Brian stepped in. That was a good step in. I couldn't be more happier."
At first, the change was difficult for Quinter. Woolf's announcement after the Palco win brought tears to many players, including senior all-state center Zach Nemechek, a team leader on the football field, a student assistant for Woolf in the classroom and one of many role models for Woolf's young son, Brock. The rest of the team is close with Woolf, too, including Hargitt, senior quarterback Brady Reed, senior lineman Cody Corwin and senior wideout Matt Bird.
"We know that he has to go through his treatments and everything," Hargitt said. "We are always praying for him on his trips. Throughout this whole year, we have come together better as a unit, I think. Even stronger. (It) has made us a great team."
Even with the illness and coaching change, Woolf has retained his positive demeanor and friendship with his team.
"Coach Woolf has a rapport with athletes and with youth in general that is unbelievable," Roesch said. "He just loves kids and just loves to be around them."
During Wednesday's practice, Woolf joked with the serious Roesch, telling his friend, "We're in the state playoffs. God is good, Brian."
With treatment, Woolf looks forward to heading to Omaha.
"That means I'm one day closer, I'm one treatment closer," he said.
Woolf also finds motivation from friends and colleagues. He recently saw a sign in the teacher's workroom at Quinter Elementary School. Someone's wife had posted a sign that read "100 percent cancer free" after her husband had fully recovered.
"She just found out the other day that all of his treatments worked. I see something like that, and it just makes me feel good," he said. "It just means that I am just one day closer. I have some bad days, but today is just a really good day. I have some bad days, but it's kind of like what I tell the team.
"We do this as a team, so I feed off of them and they help me with that," he added. "I know that I'm going to have a roller-coaster ride, but we do in football games. If I have a bad day, I know I will eventually have a good one."
Once he was diagnosed, Woolf knew he would have to make a coaching change. He talked with Roesch and assistant coach Jeff Ruckman about keeping the "kids going on the track." Quinter set a goal of a state championship before the season, and Woolf wanted to have a consistent presence with his squad.
"That meant I would have to give up control," Woolf said. " I had to give it to Brian. Here is the thing, I would play for Brian in a heartbeat. If I was a player, I would love to play for Brian. ... He is giving everything he has got, and the kids are responding to him. They are definitely prepared. They know everything that is coming."
Roesch, who has coached with Woolf in Colby and Quinter, is a longtime assistant. In practices, Nemechek, a NCAA Division I prospect, has run most of the warm-ups, and Roesch and Ruckman have run through the scouting reports.
"I love being an assistant, and I just love being around the kids and being able to come out here and coach," Roesch said. "But I've been a head coach at the eight-man level before, so it wasn't anything new that I hadn't done before. It's kind of bittersweet since I would still like to see Coach Woolf doing what he likes to do."
Woolf enjoys being around the team. For one game, Woolf was up in the box but quickly moved down to the field so he could talk with the players and provide encouragement.
"It just doesn't work, so all three of us are going to be on the sidelines," Roesch said. "When he is on the sideline, he is a motivator."
The players have adjusted as well. After Woolf's speech and the loss to Sharon Springs, Quinter has won eight straight contests, all but one by at least 25 points.
"We never use it as a motivation because we don't have to," Woolf said. "The kids have understood that things changed up and that we talked about that a little bit, life giving you curveballs and you just have to go with it."
The streak included critical wins against Kensington-Thunder Ridge (42-28) and Hill City (38-12) in district play, teams that finished with a combined 15-6 record. In the postseason, Quinter has beaten Mankato-Rock Hills and Macksville by scores of 56-6 and 50-0.
"You can tell when he has his off days and he is in pain and everything," Hargitt said. "We figure, 'If he is fighting through this, why can't we get through one day of practice?' He is leading us through this, and we are all there to support him and his family and everybody in the community is behind him, so that's great."