We had the chance to interview Waukee Northwest Head Coach Corey Kopatich on the upcoming Fall football season for our preview of the Wolves this fall.

The Wolves have a lot of returning talent, top quarterback, top receivers, a Power 4 D1 Commit lineman who transferred in, and more. The Wolves have many returning lettermen and are anxious to get after it and make it back to the playoffs this fall. A very tough schedule awaits in their district 5A Group 1, and in the non-district games against strong teams in Ankeny, Valley, and their cross-town rivals Waukee.

We appreciate Coach Kopatich’s commentary and answers that are shared below.

Q1. What excites you the most about this fall season at Waukee Northwest?

“We are returning quite a few players on both sides of the ball, and we have had a really good offseason.  The Players have worked really hard since November in the strength program through our summer football practices.  So, I am most excited to get out there this fall and compete and hopefully see our players’ hard work pay off.”

Q2. Can you give us some background on returning players and (new) players that you are excited about for the Fall Season?

“We return most of our offensive production.  Mack Heitland was 1st team all-district and had a great year last season as a sophomore at Quarterback (148/199 Passing, 74.4%, 1,832 Yds, 28 TDs and 6 INTs)

We return Wide Receiver Jordon Green (45 Catches, 670 Yards, 9 TDs) who was 1st team all-state as a sophomore (Green also 396 return yards).  Isaiah Oliver was a 1st team all-district Wide Receiver (36 Catches, 430 Yards, 6 TDs).

Elliot Combe was 1st team all-district Wide Receiver last year (19 Catches, 282 Yards, 6 TDs). Ryan Woodruff was having a really good season for us at RB (49 Carries, 258 Yards, 3 TDs) until he tore his ACL in week 4 vs Dowling.  And then our Offensive line has really physically developed over the offseason.  Henry Mohr and Greyson Beattie were both 1st team all-district Offensive Line. Plus, we just added Dalton DeBoer (read our story on Dalton DeBoer recent Wake Forest Commit transfer here)

Defensively, we return a lot of kids that started or played a lot of varsity football for us last fall.  That includes Brady Fitz (41.5 Tackles, 1TFL), Joe Vinyard (16 Tackles, 1 TFL) and Austin Van Horn (41 Tackles) at Linebackers.   

We have Blake Ludwig (26.5 Tackles, 1 Sack) and Hayden Grisham (9 Tackles, 1 TFL) who return in the secondary.  Plus, we have Jackson Davis (34 Tackles, 5.5 Sacks, 8.5 TFLs) and Anel Heco (12.5 Tackles, 1 Sack, 1 TFL) back on the defensive line.” 

 

Q3. The CIML will once again be rugged, you open up week one on the road at Ankeny and then have WDM Valley at home. What do you think about this fall’s schedule?

The past 4 years we have played one of the toughest ranked schedules in 5A and this year will be no different.  All of these teams in Central Iowa have very talented players and great coaching staffs.   With our schedule we can not take a night off, and as we saw last year, when we lost 5 close games to 5 of the top 10 teams in the state and missed the playoffs. 

So, we have to come ready to play each week and find a way to win those close games this fall.  Ankeny and Valley are two great programs and will be a big test for us in the first two weeks of the season.

Q4. What are your goals for Waukee Northwest Football this year?

As a coach and a program you always want to win a state title, but that’s not something we really talk about.  We are focused on maximizing the potential of our players, team, and program. A lot of coaches say this, but we really are just focused on one practice at a time and one game at a time.  With the quality of teams on our schedule, you really can not afford to look ahead.  So, our goal is to be the best Northwest Football we possibly can be and see where that takes us.  

We have 550 kids in your Northwest Youth Football Program that we created just 3 years ago.   We will have around 80-90 8th graders, 70-80 Freshmen, and around 130 JV/Varsity (10th-12th).  So, we have really good participation numbers throughout our entire program.  

Yes, it’s always a challenge when you are starting a program from the ground up.  Everything we have is new.  So, over the past 4 years we have had to create new traditions. 

I think we have one of the best stadium experiences and home crowds anywhere in the state.   And then from a football program standpoint we just want to stay true to our values.  We want a team that is tough and plays hard.  

I am very fortunate that we have a great staff.  Year to year, we will always bring in a new coach or two, but the core of our staff has been together for almost 15 years when we were all assistants at Waukee High School for Scott Carlson, who is also now on our staff as linebacker coach.  We have a great group of coaches that have a ton of experience, but more importantly, do things the right way and care about kids.”

Sports Guys Iowa Commentary

The building of a new football program is always interesting to watch and monitor. Iowa, only has 3.24 Million people, and rarely does a new public high school open. When they do open, they are often carved out of a school district, that has been in existence in the city for over 100 years. The only recent new Iowa public schools (since 1985) are Ankeny Centennial (2013) and Iowa City Liberty (2017). Northwest Waukee is the newest public school in the state, and only open since 2021. Everything is new, the school, the field, what do we call the mascot, what colors do we put on the uniforms, and so on.

It’s an immense challenge. For the academics side, a new school is often a big draw. Having new everything is a draw for parents to go with the re-districting, but athletically, it can be a challenge.

Young Men and Women in the program have ties to the school they have been playing for, and it often takes time for that loyalty that comes faster with academics to get there with Athletics.

Northwest Waukee has been somewhat an anomaly, as they have athletically went from “is the paint on the new gym walls dry” to contending and winning titles in boys and girls sports like Track, Basketball, Baseball/Softball and more.

The hardest sport to go from “is the paint dry to contending” is usually football as you need the most players of any high school sport. The overall growth of the Northwest program has been impressive in the first few years.

Northwest Football was competitive year one, with playoff appearances and wins already. Last year’s 4-5 season had losses Waukee, Johnston, Valley, Dowling and Ankeny Centennial (5 teams that were all playoff teams). Any 5A program in the Des Moines area, is going to face a gauntlet every year.

This year’s schedule for the Wolves is another big challenge. When I look at the On3/Rivals predictions they have Northwest finishing the regular season at 5-4. I view these predictive models for high school as “directional at best”, but at least they give you something to observe and argue over.

The Northwest Waukee staff is building a program. They appear to have a masonry block-by-block approach – with working to have strong participation numbers in their youth programs, 8th grade, Freshmen, JV and Varsity. They have the right numbers and that bodes well for the future.

Offensively this fall the Wolves might return the most offensive production of any 5A metro team (we have not written all our previews to know for sure yet). The Wolves had a Power 4 offensive lineman commit arrive (Dalton DeBoer move in the district). They have a QB who can chuck it, and three top receivers returning to go get it.

Defensively, Northwest has a lot of returning letterman. Last year’s sophomores and juniors who got on the field a lot in 2024 will be bigger, stronger, and highly motivated to get back to the playoffs.

It will be interesting to watch, and looking at it from the outside, the Wolves could be a team that wins 3-4 regular season games or 7-8. They have a lot of experience returning, and that means a great deal in high school, when combined with an experienced staff that has stability.

The first few weeks – Valley, Ankeny, and then on the road to Iowa City and Cedar Rapids Prairie will be a real test for the Wolves. If they can come out of those games with some wins then they should be in a good position to get back to the playoffs. Once you get to the dance…anything can happen.

I have an inkling it could be a good year for the Wolves and their staff, who are building a program brick-by-brick.

As always, we appreciate your comments and support.