Celebrating 1970s Colby football

Longtime Colby head football coach Duane Teska and the teams from the 1970s were honored at halftime during the Hornets’ varsity football game this past Friday. Teska coached football for over 25 years at Colby and accumulated 194 wins and 10 conference championships over the course of his career.

Coach Teska actually started out as the first head wrestling coach at Colby in 1963. It was the first year the wrestling team was formed at Colby High. He built up the team by recruiting scrappy kids from the halls at Colby High and later recruited many kids off of the football squad. In 1967 he sent Colby’s first State qualifier, Arvie Leonard, to Madison to the State Wrestling tournament. He was the head Wrestling coach thru 1969 when he handed that role off to Vic Bundgard in 1970 so he could focus on the football program.

Coach Teska’s first year as head foot-

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ball coach was in 1964. Teska took over a team that had won just two games total over the three prior seasons.

The team improved under Teska’s lead, to 5-4 in 1964 and 6-2 in 1965.

Due to the improvement in the team, the Colby School District decided to build the new field with lights, so they were able to play night games for the first time in 1966. The team responded with an 8-1 record in their first season under the lights. The field was dedicated on Oct. 12, 1966 during a home game against Loyal.

The teams went 3-6 in 1967, and 2-8 in 1968. The ‘68 team had injuries to several key senior starters and was forced to have seven sophomores in their starting lineup for most of their season. They even had a freshman, Dave Becherer, starting at defensive end. In 1969 that same young team stumbled out of the blocks and went 3-7.

1970 Season - Record 9-1

The 1970 season was a breakout season for Coach Teska after slipping below .500 in the prior three seasons. The wins would keep coming for the next several years for the Hornets.

The only loss in the 1970 season was 14-7 to Greenwood. Colby had a fumble at the 1/2 yd line that would have tied the score late in the game.

The team had a big non-conference win over large school LaCrosse Logan 10-6 on a long field goal by Dave Becherer. They also had an important conference win in a 19-14 match-up over a tough Thorp team. The teamed tied for first place in the conference.

The 1970 team out-scored opponents 259-34 and had seven shutouts. At the time, there were no playoffs; the WIAA would later add the tournament in 1978.

All-conference two-way players that year were: Doug Ayer O& D lineman, and Tom Peissig RB and LB.

One way: Bob Harris CB, Don Johnson OT, Dave Becherer DE, Rich Dums QB, Honorable mention: Norm Miller DL, Jerry Eggebrecht DB, Dale Krebsbach DE, Jim Polster OL.

1971 Season - Record 9-1

The team’s sole loss in the ‘71 season was a 22-18 heartbreaker to Fall Creek. The team had six players out of that matchup due to injury. The team had tough wins over Loyal 22-21 and Neillsville 147 and they claimed their second Cloverbelt conference championship that year with a 42-0 win over Cornell. The Hornets outscored opponents 245-73.

All-Conference Players: Two-way: Dave Becherer Kicker and DE One-way: Steve Brill DL, Rich Dums QB, Don Johnson OT, Jim Polster OG, Bill Neitzel LB, Gene Ruppert DL, Randy Schultz RB.

All-State Honorable Mention were Becherer, Neitzel, Dums, and Schultz.

For the first time ever for Colby, Dave Becherer was named to the Channel 7 All-Star team that season.

1972 Season - Record 9-1

The team’s sole loss was in the season opener, a non-conference game against Mondovi that the Hornets lost 32-26.

That opening loss marked the last time Colby would lose a game over the next 3 seasons as they went on to win 9 games in a row to finish the 1972 season.

The team marked two close wins in conference, a 14-11 win over a perennially tough Thorp team, and a 23-14 win over a very good Owen-Withee squad. The team went on to win its third consecutive Cloverbelt conference title in the 1972 season.

All-Conference Players: First Team Selections; Dean Ruppert OL, Randy Schultz RB, Al Becker QB, Blaine Caskey WR, Rich Hainzlberger DL, Gus Wenzel LB, Bill Neitzel LB, Dan Singstock DE, Gene Ruppert DL.

Honorable Mention; Dave Sommers DB, Steve Yaron DL, Kurt Mertens RB.

1973 Season - Record 9-0

The 1973 team’s senior dominated squad put together its first undefeated season and the Hornets ran to another conference title, making it a fourth title in a row for Coach Teska. The team’s defense was solid and gave up only six points in two separate games, and only 19 total points all season. The offense racked up a total of 304 points, averaging over 33 points per game. The team moved the undefeated winning streak to 19 wins in a row at season’s end.

Colby moved into the top 10 rankings in Division 2 in both the API (Press) and UPI (Coaches) polls.

All-Conference Players: Gus Wenzel LB, Kurt Mertens RB, Rocky Schmidt DE, Tom Waldhart OL, Conrad Aichele TE, Tim Rau DB, Brad Ayer QB.

The team also had its second Channel 7 All-Star that season, landing Gus Wenzel on the exclusive team at the linebacker position.

1974 Season - Record 10-0

The ‘74 Colby team had a new starting lineup in the wake of the previous season’s senior dominated team. With a good balance of seniors and juniors, the Hornets started off with a tough come-from-behind 14-13 win over Division 1 neighbor Medford. The team jelled together and rolled on to a midseason defeat of a tough top ten Neillsville team by a score of 17-16. Colby

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continued its winning ways and had worked their way into the Cloverbelt Conference title game in the final game of the year.

Coach Teska’s teams of the 70s had moved to a 47-3 overall team record and Colby had gradually moved up to a number two ranking in the state in Division 2 over that period of time, moving into the final game of the 1974 season.

With a season ending with a 28-0 win in the conference championship game over Cadott, “The Streak” had moved to 28 games, and was currently the longest active winning streak in the state. The team also rolled to its fifth consecutive Cloverbelt conference title. That final win of the season, combined with a season ending loss by previously number one ranked team Chilton, Colby moved into the number one spot in the final Division 2 football poll of the 1974 season. It was the first number one final state ranking in Colby Football history.

All conference players that year included: John Dahl OL, Darrell Klessig DL, David “Fuzzy” Brill DE, Jack Harris WR, Tim Rau DB, Brad Ayer QB, Jeff Peissig RB.

1975 Season - Record 8-2

“The Streak” climbed to 32 games in a row in the 1975 season as the Hornets won the first four games of the year. However, it came to an end as Colby was dealt a heart breaking 17-14 loss to rival Neillsville on a 50 yard field goal. After the streak ending loss, the Hornets won the rest of the season games moving into the final conference playoff game. With injuries to some key starters, they lost to Fall Creek in the playoff final. The 1975 team had run the streak to within five games of the state record of 38 wins in a row.

Under Coach Duane Teska’s guidance, his teams had put together 54 wins with just five losses over six seasons to start the decade.

All Conference Players: First Team: Al Carlson DT, Jim Yaron OT, Steve Waldhart OG, Jeff Peissig LB.

Honorable Mention: Brad Caskey WR, Jerry Mueller DT, Brian Tyznik RB, Dan Mielke OT.

The team landed their third Channel 7 All-Star selection of the decade with Jeff Peissig being named as a first team selection at Linebacker.

The team found out that year would be their last as a member of the Cloverbelt conference, as the WIAA moved the Hornets into the Lumberjack conference beginning with the 1976 season.

The WIAA also announced that they would begin sponsoring a state tournament for football, crowning a true state champion in each division, beginning with the 1978 season.

The Colby Streak of the ‘70’s was the effort of a lot of players over six seasons, with consistent coaching by Teska and his many assistants.