Win Tickets For 4 To Oak Creek Football's 2018 Home Opener

OAK CREEK, WI — The 2018 football season is a fresh start and the beginning of a new era for the Oak Creek High School varsity football team.

That's because for the first time in 11 years, the team is getting a new head coach. Mike Bartholomew, who had served as the Knights' head coach since 2007, is moving on, and a familar face is taking his place.

Enter Joel Paar - a 48-year-old Racine native who's been a member of Oak Creek's faculty since 1992 and a member of the team's staff since 1997.

Paar says that last year's team was very skill-oriented and graduated a lot of seniors that helped them advance to a second-level playoff game and a 6-4 record. The team will be replacing a lot of those players on both offense and defense, however Paar says that the players coming up are fierce competitors.

One such player is Quinn Stulo, a 6-foot-2 senior, who is returning to become the team's quarterback after playing in the slot last year.

"He's someone who can be very creative with the ball by throwing the ball and running with it," Paar said. "He was very unselfish last year as far as being willing to move to running back because we had a very good quarterback last year. He will be a good leader for us."

The team's starting taiback figures to be Edwin Rodriguez. The team's top wide receiver figures to be Dan Cramer, who qualified at the state level as a hurdler.

Paar says the team's offensive line is battling some injuries early on, but has returning starters that are capable of clearing those critical running lanes. "Ben Ziolkowski is going to be a very special player at tackle, at center we have Austin Stenlund, a returning starter as well as Will Driggett. We're hoping to get the offensive line to be one of our strengths," Paar said.

Defensively, Paar said the team will be stronger based on seniors that have experience and some athletes that will lend their physical attributes to the team. "Seth Pulaski, he's not the biggest kid, but there's nobody with a bigger heart, he's strong as an ox and very fast," Paar said. Our outside linebacker Nolan Parr, he's a wrestler and a three-time state qualifier and will be a competitor. Our top defenser recruit is Thomas Wojnowski - he's our shut-down corner and a big-time player. He brings attitude and aggressiveness and he makes you want to do better."

Dragan Kiesch will be the team's kicker, and Paar said with the experience and training he has, in addition to having skills gained on the soccer field, will make special teams a formidable phase of the game.

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