Coming off its 36-6 win over conference rival Germantown, who previously beat Homestead in the week four game with a score of 34-29 in the first round of playoffs on Friday, Oct. 23, Homestead’s football team takes on Cedarburg, another conference rival, on Friday, Oct. 29.

Homestead took down the Bulldogs in the last game of the regular season with a score of 35-0 on Friday, Oct. 16.

“We’ve been focused on having high energy practices this week so that we play with high energy on Friday,” Eric Zoeller, junior quarterback, said.

Senior running back Patrick Minkin agreed with Zoeller. “We have been really working on the mental aspects of the game, such as focus and intensity,” Minkin said.

By already playing Cedarburg during the regular season, the boys have been thinking about what plays Cedarburg ran during the first game and how they can prepare for that. “We have been preparing by anticipating what kind of runs Cedarburg will be running against us due to the way we slowed them down last game,” Jake Bruner, senior defensive back, said.

With the team on a big winning streak, the boys feel like they have only a couple of small things to keep improving on. “We just need to keep on sharpening up our fundamentals and to make sure our mental side of the game is ready when Friday night comes,” Minkin said.

“We need to keep focusing on just one week at a time since that’s all that’s guaranteed from here on out,” Zoeller said.

The boys feel like this game will be completely different from past games besides Germantown. There is a different feeling during playoffs and it really stands out to the team.

“Playoffs are different from all the other games because if you lose, your season is over,” Minkin said. “So we have to play with a mentality where we fight every play knowing that that play could be our last high school football play ever. We have to do everything we can to fight for another game.”

Even though Homestead already beat Cedarburg, the team knows that they cannot go into this game thinking they can beat them easily again. It’s a different atmosphere this week.

“If any players think we will be able to walk into this game and do the same thing as last time without preparing fully is sorely mistaken,” Bruner said. “It is playoffs, so we already know Cedarburg is going to come out fired up because it’s do or die. And because we beat them last time, that just adds more fuel to the fire for them.”

“Playing a team we already have played against makes it interesting because you won’t surprise them. But quite honestly, our last game against Cedarburg is irrelevant at this point. This one is what it’s all about,” Zoeller said.

“Playing a team we have already beat is challenging because they are going to come at us with everything they have for revenge while also knowing their football lives are on the line. So although we beat them, we cannot take it easy on them. We have to play the game like they were the ones who beat us,” Minkin ended.

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Hannah O'Leary

Number 42, Matt Winters, senior running back, carries the ball against Nicolet on Friday, Oct. 2.