Edy Henning wears a lot of different hats, both literally and figuratively. The recently married Hartwick, Iowa native dons a cowboy hat while sawing the fiddle in the highly popular country band, Tyler Richton and the High Bank Boys.
His family can put food on your table, bringing the beef through Walnut Creek Premium Meats. His day job at the Vermeer Corporation as a Senior Brand Experience Specialist has kept him tied to the city of Pella, where he played collegiate football and graduated as a Central Dutch.
Henning’s also wore the hat of an HLV football coach in recent years but is set to take on a bigger role in 2025: the program’s head football coach. “This season will definitely be a full schedule for me. I’ll have to head to work early to get out early, keep things going at home, and obviously run the team. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like there are enough hours in the day, but that just means being more efficient with the time there is,” Henning told SGI in a recent interview.
Henning, a 2016 HLV graduate, is just the second leader of the HLV Warriors this century as he takes over Kevin Smith, who led the program since the late 90s. Smith helped establish the city of Victor as a tough place for small schools around the state to visit and after some seasons that didn’t go as planned,
Henning wants to get back to the program’s old winning ways. “Taking the reins of a program is never easy, and there are definitely some challenges right off the bat. With new schemes and new ways of doing things, everyone on the team is basically walking into pre-season as a freshman. There’s a lot to teach in a short amount of time, but the activities and installs we’ve had so far have gone great. I’m excited to see how far we can come between the start of camp and our first game,” Henning stated.
Having some trusted partners by your side can be beneficial for a first-time head coach and Henning’s got a pair of coaches he knows well joining him for the 2025 season. Another HLV alum, Cody Frahm, is set to be HLV/TC’s defensive coordinator this season. “He comes from another era of successful HLV football, knows the community, and knows the kids. He’ll be great for bridging the gap of the pillars that made Warrior football what it was for so many years, and where we stand now.”
Offensively, Zach Samson will be calling the plays for the Warriors. “He had a distinguished high school career at Quarterback for Baxter and brings lots of great collegiate experience from his stops at Iowa State and Central College, where he was my roommate. We obviously have great chemistry, and I think he’ll have a great approach to developing a dynamic offense for the 8-player game as well as one that fits
our players’ strong suits,” Henning explained.
Henning also noted that he expects to have some volunteers coming in to help fill in with position-level technique.
From a roster standpoint, Henning anticipates around 30 players total from both the HLV and Tri-County school districts on the squad in 2025. The offense will flow through running back Cael Weisskopf and quarterback Keegan Gorsh. Gorsh set the program’s single-season passing record in 2024 and Henning expects him to build off that as he enters another season as a signal-caller.
Henning, a former lineman, noted he’s “super excited” to see how both the offensive and defensive lines develop this season. Things might not have gone how they wanted to in 2024, but he is confident they will learn from their playing experience and be hungry for growth this season.
When asked about his goals for himself and his team this year, Henning has a vision of constant growth and improvement. “Goals for me personally this season are two-fold, finding ways to be efficient and fulfill all the needs in life without missing a beat. From work, home, and the team, and not missing a beat on all the things a head coach needs to do for the program. There’s a lot of tribal knowledge and things you don’t see from the outside when it comes to running a program. For the team, my goal for us this year is to play up to our potential every time we step on the field. We saw flashes of it last year, and our team had talent beyond what our record showed. But this year, I want us to play like we’re capable of and show up competitive in every game we have. That comes down to rebuilding positive habits every day in practice around how we work, how we prepare, and how we compete. If we do those things, I truly believe we will see some real success and be a dangerous team for anyone we have on our schedule.”
HLV/TC will be members of Class Eight-Player District 5 this season. They’ll get a non- district game on the road at the Meskwaki Settlement School in Week One on August 29.
After their season opener, they have three district games scheduled: at home against English Valleys (North English) then on the road against WACO (Wayland) and Iowa Valley (Marengo). A second non-district tilt against Easton Valley is scheduled for Week Five. The Warriors close the second with three district games against Winfield- Mount Union, at Belle Plaine, and the regular season finale versus Lone Tree on Senior Night.
Henning believes their district could be one of the toughest their class has to offer. “Our district has had a lot of contenders and a lot of talent over the last few years, and this year is no different. WACO is always a well-coached, fundamentally sound team, and they’re competitive every year. Belle Plaine had a lot of senior talent last year and are also going through a coaching change, but they had some standout underclassmen last year on their playoff run. It’ll be interesting to see how they look this year. Iowa Valleywas obviously an offensive powerhouse last year, and a lot of their impact players are back again this year. They’ll be a team that anyone will have to show up ready to play.”
How do you think the Warriors will fare in 2025? Let us know what you think! As always, SGI appreciates your support.
