The last (and only) time I chose to write about high school sports was six months ago when my nephew’s De Pere Redbirds became the first 30-0 team in Wisconsin high school basketball history. If you leave the De Pere High School parking lot and drive north on Libal Street you’ll end up at Green Bay East High School. The two schools might only be separated by five miles, but in terms of recent sports success it might as well be a different planet.
I moved to Allouez, Wisconsin, 17 years ago. My wife and I weren’t necessarily thinking about schools when we moved here since our first child was still three months from being born, but I was aware that if we stayed at this house my kids would eventually go to Green Bay East High School. I always revered East High. My dad grew up on the east side and throughout my childhood I was frequently regaled with tales of their adventures. While my dad and three of his brothers attended area Catholic high schools, my Uncle Bill graduated from Green Bay East. I’ve never seen a more proud alum from any school at any level, ever. My dad’s best friends went to East. Dad always told me, “Tough kids go to East.” I was never a tough kid. I’m lucky. I never had to be. Maybe if my kids went to East High it could teach them a toughness that I couldn’t. East High has a mystique. I was excited at the thought of my kids going to high school there.
Fast forward to 2021. My oldest daughter was a freshman at East High and playing in the pep band at a football game. I couldn’t have been more proud attending a football game at East High and seeing my kid playing trumpet with her fellow Red Devils. The band performance was fun. The game? Not so much. The East High Red Devils were beaten 54-0 by Oshkosh West. It was brutal. Two weeks later another band performance and another beating. This time 66-0 at the hands of Notre Dame Academy, where my dad went to school way back in the day when it was called Premontre. The entire season went like that. That East football team went 0-9 and was outscored by opponents 417-34. My son, Andy, was in seventh grade at the time and I remember thinking, “Good thing he’s not a football player.”
Then a funny thing happened. My boy met Kyle Cropsey. Cropsey is a photographer by trade, but he spends the vast majority of his time helping kids on the east side of Green Bay. He’s a proud East alumnus. That’s a running theme. I have yet to come across anyone from East who wasn’t proud as hell of it. He was tired of watching his East High athletics lose, especially football. He started a nonprofit – Rise Up Athletics – to give kids on the east side an opportunity to participate in sports that they hadn’t had before. He was a substitute teacher at Washington Middle School when he saw my son and convinced him to try out for track. When Andy was little we had him try every sport we could think of and he wasn’t interested in any of them. Then this Cropsey guy meets him and next thing you know he’s on the track team?!? After track he announced to us that he’d be playing football in eighth grade. I spent the summer trying to teach Andy anything I could about football. He rode his bike to workouts. The kid we feared would never come out of the basement was suddenly working out every day.
In the meantime, we were going to every East High football game and it was more of the same. in 2022 they improved to 1-8 and the total combined score of their games was 412-14. Their lone win came against rival Green Bay West in a 8-6 homecoming victory that felt more like the Super Bowl. East and West may be arch rivals, but they have more in common than either side would care to admit. High school sports programs decimated by families choosing to choice their kids into more successful area teams or send them to private schools. The last time East has beaten anyone other than West was 2018 when they went 2-8. West hasn’t beaten anyone but East since 2019, when they also went 2-8. The last time East made the playoffs was 2007 when they went 5-5. West hasn’t qualified for the playoffs this century.
As the 2022 East High football season came to a close there was optimism that East could eke out a second win in their final game against a Sheboygan South squad whose lone win at that point had also come against Green Bay West. Not only did East lose the game 56-0, but I saw open revolt on the sidelines. It was truly one of the saddest sports experiences I’ve ever witnessed. I don’t think there were more than 30 East fans at the game, but many who did attend took turns screaming at the coach from the bleachers. Kids were openly quitting on the sidelines. During the 4th quarter I witnessed one senior slam his helmet into the turf, then storm up to the bleachers and yell, “I’m so f***ing glad this is over,” at his parents. This is where my kid is about to have his high school football experience? Yikes.
Then in spring of this year the football coach’s teaching position was eliminated at the high school and rather than take a job elsewhere and continue coaching at East, he resigned as the head football coach. I’ve never met the man and I don’t want to disrespect him. Many of the parents I’ve spoken to have told me he’s a great man and they admire him. I will only say that after what I saw in Sheboygan last year I wasn’t disappointed to learn that my son would be stepping into a football program that was getting a fresh start. That fresh start would be provided by Coach Niko Sila. I met Coach Niko at a Washington Middle School open house last year when he shook my hand and said, “You’re Andy’s dad? Your kid is a BOSS!” I obviously took an immediate liking to him. I liked him even more when he started this football season by inviting all of the players and parents to a cookout where we all had to sign player conduct contracts stating that our kids would be students first, arrive on time, show up every day, show respect on and off the field, be coachable, understand their roles, etc. I wanted to give him a standing ovation as he read the contract aloud in front of everyone in the East High cafeteria that night.
So, how has the season gone? The Red Devils lost their first five games by a combined total score of 255-0. More of the same, right? Not so fast. Changing a program that’s known nothing but losing for the better part of two decades doesn’t happen overnight. Even more challenging when you’re trying to teach passing to a team that’s done nothing but run the ball for their entire football careers. While the growth on the football field is taking time, the culture is already changing. A few moments stand out that most casual fans didn’t get the opportunity to see.
Sheboygan North came to town for East’s homecoming game and jumped out to a massive lead. East didn’t roll over. They started putting together drives. One ended in a heartbreaking fumble at the 10-yard line. Then late in the fourth quarter a season of on-field frustration had a breakthrough as junior quarterback Brant Craw found the end zone. East lost the game 55-8, yet it felt like a huge leap in the right direction. The East faithful who stuck it out for the entire game celebrated like it was a win. We kept thinking the Sheboygan fans on the other side of the field must’ve thought, “What the hell is going on over there? Why are they so happy?” We’re building something over here. Let us have our moment.
After the game nobody wanted to leave. Players and families remained in the parking lot. The Sheboygan North bus waited for the team to board but they were too busy hanging out with the East kids, high fiving and taking pictures together. I didn’t stick around after games for past seasons so I can’t speak to how it used to be, but the display of sportsmanship and brotherhood with their opposition showed me that what Niko is trying to accomplish at East is working.
At last week’s middle school games I was recording game film to help Coach Cropsey. High school practice ended while the 8th graders were playing. A group of high school players stuck around to cheer on the 8th grade squad. They suffered their first loss of the season, 17-14 to a club team that plays football together all year. It wasn’t even another middle school. It took a club team to beat those boys. The high schoolers joined them in their huddle after the game, then made a bridge for them and high fived them as they left the field.
Then there was Friday night. East vs. West for the 118th time. The oldest continuously running rivalry in the state. This time we were playing at West for their homecoming. The game started an hour early because people feared fights would break out. Law enforcement was present. Both teams came in at 0-6 knowing that this was their best opportunity for a win this season. West has shown flashes of offense this season. They scored 32 points in their previous game – more points than they’ve scored in some entire seasons recently. They wasted no time, jumping out to an early 20-0 lead. Did East roll over? Of course not. By the middle of the 4th quarter they had clawed back, down 33-28. Keep in mind, 28 points is more than East has scored in the past two seasons combined. In the end their attempt to take the lead came up literally inches short on a 4th down. West sealed it with another touchdown and East had suffered a 41-28 defeat. I had the privilege of recording game film for the coaching staff on that night as well, so I spent the entire game in the south end zone running a camera. I had a closer view of the East sideline than the average fan. I saw boys throwing helmets. I saw frustration and anger. They wanted this one badly and they came up just short. They were heartbroken. Then something amazing happened.
West celebrated their first victory in two years in the south end zone mere yards from where I was packing up the camera, disappointed that our boys were hurting and knowing that they’d just missed their best chance at their first win of the season, and Coach Niko’s first ever. West had every right to celebrate. Getting that win on homecoming against the arch rival was sweet. It’s a moment I’m sure they’ll never forget. As West celebrated, East went to the north end zone to huddle up and talk it over. By this time most of the fans had filed out of the stadium, but I was fortunate to be there waiting to give the camera back to Coach Cropsey. When West finished celebrating, a photographer who was there asked if the seniors would do a “senior walk” toward the other end zone. Eight West High seniors began their walk together toward midfield as the photographer followed them. As they continued past midfield it occurred to me that they were walking directly toward a dejected team of East High Red Devils. This might not end well.
Then I saw what was easily the coolest moment of the season so far. The East High team got up on their feet and started clapping for the West seniors. The West players continued walking right up to the entire East team and soon there were high fives all around. In what I assume was their lowest moment of the season the East boys showed a level of sportsmanship I wouldn’t expect from professionals, much less a team of frustrated teenagers. Mind you, I was 100 yards away in the opposite end zone, but that’s what I saw. If something completely different was happening I don’t want to know. It’s a moment I’m not sure we would’ve seen before Coach Niko and his staff started leading with respect, integrity, and discipline. On a night when people expected the worst out of these high school kids to the point that there was a shockingly large police presence, the players on the field showed everyone how to conduct themselves.
So, what’s next for the Red Devils? There are three games left in the 2023 season and they’re all winnable. After this season the sky is the limit. Not only do we have a talented bunch of young high schoolers who will be another year older, stronger, and smarter next year, we have a middle school program led by Coach Cropsey that knows nothing but winning. Don’t let the record this year fool you. There’s something special taking place at East High right now. Actually, you know what? I take that back. Let the record fool you. Keep thinking that these are the same old Red Devils you’ve seen for 15 years. It’ll be that much more fun when these moral victories are replaced by actual Ws in the standings.
I’ve spent this entire football season thinking about the fact that I’ve been close to two high school sports programs for the past three seasons: Green Bay East football and De Pere basketball. On the outside it seems these two teams couldn’t be less alike, and up until recently that may have been true. Here’s where they come together. That state champion De Pere basketball program is all about culture. My entire family has De Pere basketball t-shirts with the word “CULTURE” written in huge letters across the back. Their culture is about hard work. Teamwork. Integrity. Sportsmanship. Respect. Winning. Green Bay East football is taking steps toward that same kind of culture this season. When that culture has had a couple years to spread and equal the level of raw talent at East High School, look out. Enjoy the Ws you’re getting at East High’s expense now. They’re about to get much more difficult to come by. You’ve been warned.
Note: The day after this post went up East’s JV football team got some revenge against West, defeating them 48-22. This doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the post. I just enjoyed typing it.
mookiefantana 