Arcadia quarterbacks, offense ready to fight for playoff berth

Following a 2023 season that saw Arcadia High School’s varsity football program win two games, there is hope among the Raiders, who began the 2024 season with practice last week.

An inexperienced Arcadia team scored more than one offensive touchdown in only three games last season, a year that ended with a 2-9 record.

Coach Derek Updike believes his team will be improved, but another schedule against tough Coulee Conference teams awaits the Raiders this fall. Staying around a .500 record in its seven conference games is one of Arcadia’s targets for this season.

“The conference will be strong, and we’ll be fighting and scrapping to win games. Our goal as a team is to be competitive enough to give us a chance of maybe sneaking into the playoffs,” Updike said.

Arcadia, which finished winless in the Coulee in 2023, expects to have more options on offense this year. That starts at quarterback, where senior Kaiden Rotering and sophomore Carter Wegman are both likely to see snaps.

Rotering was tasked with throwing the ball often last year due to long yardage situations late in offensive series. He finished the year with nearly 800 passing yards, nine touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

Wegman played quarterback in five games for the Raiders, tossing one touchdown and three picks while completing 39.3 percent of his throws for 123 yards. 

“We feel like we have both Kaiden and Carter that are capable, but we also feel like they are capable at slot receiver/running back type players, so seeing how that plays out will be interesting if we can get some rhythm with one guy or the other at quarterback. But we’re feeling really pretty good about that position right now.”

Updike said last year's added experience on the offensive line should improve the team’s running game from last season, when Max Blaschko was the team’s leader with 298 yards.

Blaschko, a junior, will lead a “thunder and lightning” approach similar to the Wisconsin Badgers in which bigger, stronger players such as Blaschko get carries followed by a pivot to a twitchier, quicker option in Logan Breska, Max Sobotta or Ted Teske.

“We feel like we can be more balanced,” Updike said. “And as long as we play our cards right and keep people fresh during games and during the year that we can try to move the ball a little better and hopefully rely on a couple explosive plays here and there to keep us competitive on that side of the ball.”

Blaschko will play on the interior defensive line and is likely to be a focus for other teams. Behind him will be Sobotta — a three-year starter at linebacker who co-led Arcadia with 92 tackles in 2023 alongside Teske, a safety.

The Raiders open the season on Aug. 23 at Webster (4-6 last season) of the Lakeland Conference. The Raiders host county opponent Whitehall on Aug. 30 before opening conference play on Sept. 6 against defending Division 5 state champion Aquinas.

“If this team can be physical, stay healthy and stay together, I think we’re the kind of team you don’t really want to play,” Updike said. “We don’t have that individual superstar, but we have a lot of really nice players, and those are hard teams to defend.”