Kewaunee fueling with Diesel on offense

There’s a new sheriff in town, and his vehicle runs — and passes — on Diesel.

That would be 6-foot-4, 180-pound junior quarterback Diesel Bosdeck, who earned first-team All-Packerland Conference honors as a wide receiver last season.

Bosdeck admitted feeling “a little bit” of pressure following in the footsteps of 2025 Offensive Player of the Year, Brett Paulsen.

“But I’m just going to go with it, be myself, just do what I do and try winning that way,” Bosdeck said. “We have a ton of playmakers on the outside, and our line has been very solid. So it’s just getting (the ball) to those guys and let them do their thing.”

Entering his 11th year as head coach, Randy Charles said the big thing is not to try to be Paulsen.

“Diesel needs to play within his strengths,” Charles said. “Every year we have to change and adapt to who we have on the field, not try to force a system to work if you don’t have the personnel for it.”

Losing first-team All-Packerland players Paulsen, Waylon Delain, Mitchell Boeder, Trevor Gauthier, Connor Kilgore and Bryce Tulachka to graduation means there were a lot of question marks heading into the season.

“But it’s nothing new,” Charles said. “It happens every year. And because it happens every year, the guys have really stepped up to the challenge. They’re hungry for more.”

Kewaunee went 9-2 last year, bookending a perfect 7-0 conference campaign (and two non-conference wins) with season-opening and season-ending losses, the first 33-30 on a field goal at Racine Lutheran and the last a crushing 37-36 loss to Bonduel — a team it beat 14-7 during the season — in a WIAA Level 2 home playoff game. 

The Bears are again a ranked team, and could be expected to battle with Kewaunee for the top spot. 

Unlike last year, where the Storm hosted Bonduel twice, Kewaunee is away for the Sept. 4 conference opener.

“I expect a grind it out game,” Charles said. “You’ve just got to make sure you put yourself in position come the fourth quarter to hopefully make something happen.”

Before that, the Storm travels to Fox Valley Lutheran this week and hosts Luxemburg-Casco next Friday in a pair of non-league games.

“We have some athletes that can play ball,” Charles said. “The biggest thing is just staying focused in the daily grind and the process, just getting better every single day.”

Looking ahead can be a distraction, he said.

“We have a lot we need to do, and can’t afford to waste any days or reps focusing on things that are outside of our control,” Charles said. “We have playmakers, and it’s important to get as many involved as we can.”

Ball security — “protect the rock,” Charles said — is being preached on offense while the defense is hoping to reduce the number of big plays given up while looking for opportunities to turn the ball over via a fumble recovery, interception or fourth-down stop.

Besides Bosdeck, other first-team selections back are offensive linemen Gregorio Medina and Ben VanGoethem and defensive lineman Blake Bortolini, all seniors. Junior Dane Harrell returns at tight end and linebacker. He was second-team all-conference a year ago. 

“Returning four starters on the offensive line, we’re definitely looking for them to be a big part of what we want to do,” Charles said.

Joe Kassner returns as JV coach and Austin Kassner is the new defensive coordinator. Will Walerius is a new receivers coach.

“Our coaching has definitely changed and adapted the last couple of years,” Charles said. “In order to continue to have success, we can’t rely on what worked in the past. We talk about that in order to achieve something you’ve never had, you must do something different than what you are currently doing. We look to do that as a team, and as coaches.”