Any reader that enjoys a crisp fall evening under the lights may know that Wheat Ridge High School Farmer Football has had some tumultuous seasons in recent years.
However, as you may also be aware, the current coaching staff led by Brandon Wilkes has had significant successes in rebuilding the team to their former and future glory. Rest assured there is no sign of stopping this momentum.
Coach Wilkes’s pride in these Farmers is clear when he boasts, “The team has matured a lot. The guys have gone from just hoping to win and be successful to truly expecting to win and be successful. That expectation for success is what we strive for in this program”
The team this year is set up to bring energy, excitement and success. “We are positioned now better than we have been in years. Our goals are to have a team of more than 60 kids, we are expected to have a winning season, make playoffs, and to send multiple players to college on scholarships.”
Coach Wilkes shared some wins both off and on the field as well. ,”We have seen some pretty remarkable success stories from our athletes: 40 kids went to team camp this year. We had the best league record since 2015 last year, not to mention, multiple kids receiving scholarships to play football over the last 2 years including Wolf Leroux, Frank Erickson, Bennett Wilkes and, Moses Archuleta.”
Another source of pride for the Farmer family is that the community sponsorship levels have soared under the leadership of Ben Leroux and Brenda Ritz who have rebooted the booster club under the name the Fighting 43s (in honor of Farmer alum Freddy Stienmark).
Thanks to the new sponsors and team fundraising “we were able to secure three team sets of Adidas jerseys (Blue, Gold, White) 12 new speed flex helmets, and were able to assist some of the men in joining the team for special camps and retreats through scholarships to camps at UNC, CSU, Idaho State etc…”
Ben Leroux feels that a special thanks goes out to the city of Wheat Ridge for the forthcoming year. “They have awarded the team a generous grant that will help in taking our team to even greater heights through more safety equipment, coaches training, team meals and more. We are incredibly grateful and proud to be a part of this city.”
On a recent podcast called “Playmaker’s Corner Episode 378” Coach V predicts that the Farmers will go 7 and 3 which is sure to put the team into the playoffs this year. The team and coaches accept the challenge and intend to prove him right and then some.
It is safe to say that Wheat Ridge Farmers football is back! Coach promises, “We will make the community proud. Come out to the games and support our athletes. One town, one team!”
