Kimberly football returns to practice with State Championship goals

KIMBERLY, Wis. (WBAY) - The Kimberly High School football team was back on the turf at Papermaker Stadium on Wednesday morning for the team’s second day of practice. That is just under three months from the last time the Papermaker squad was together.

“It’s definitely different because usually we have time to bulk up in the winter and get a lot stronger,” Kimberly senior running back Colin Obermann said. “Everything is just fresh and I think we are just picking up where we left off last year.”

“Obviously there are some down sides because we don’t get as much time to prepare in the weight room and everything like to bulk up and I mean the upside is we just did all these drills what like a couple of months ago and it’s like we are right back in it like nothing even happened. I think that’s a plus for me for sure,” Kimberly senior middle linebacker Brady Fulcer said.

Kimberly was among the schools in the state of Wisconsin that opted to play in the 2020 Fall Alternate season this past spring. The Papermakers finished the season on May 7 with the 71-47 loss to Fond du Lac in the Fox Valley Classic Football Conference, a ‘super conference’ made up of many Fox Valley Association, Wisconsin Valley Conference and both divisions of the Fox River Classic Conference.

Kimberly returns many key pieces from a team that went 6-1 last season including quarterback Caden Pendleton alongside receivers Owen Pawlikowski and Cam Wnek. The 2021 Kimberly football team has its sights set on another WIAA State Championship run.

“Obviously the goal is to win state and I definitely think we have the talent to do so especially with our wide receiver group and we have a really good quarterback coming back for the third year in a row and I think we have a good running back group too with me and Blake Barry who is a junior so I think we can definitely make a good run for it,” Obermann said.

“I mean obviously, I hope. I think we totally got enough talent here so just are we are going to work every day and be able to achieve it,” Fulcer said.

Since 2013, Kimberly has made a state appearance 6 out of 7 years (excluding 2020 when no State Football Championships took place). The Papermakers will scrimmage West De Pere before its season opener against Stevens Point at Papermaker Stadium on Friday, August 20 at 7 p.m.

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