Another early gauntlet awaits Williamsburg, and this time, the Raiders say, they’re ready

WILLIAMSBURG — He wore a Pink Floyd shirt to practice one day, and yet admitted that he knows virtually none of their music.

He bulked up this summer, not by lifting weights, but by digging graves.

He is the fastest guy on the team, and he plays nose guard.

Meet Owen Douglas, one interesting dude on the Williamsburg High School football team and a returning first-team all-state pick.

“The fastest lineman you’ll ever see,” teammate Gable Dayton said.

Speed is the Raiders’ forte (“We’re more athletic than we are big,” Dayton said). Now, the question is whether they can get off to a faster start this season.

Williamsburg started 0-3 last fall before turning the season around on a dime.

The Raiders rolled through their district, then won three playoff games — including a 32-6 conquest of No. 1 West Marshall — to reach the UNI-Dome before dropping an overtime heartbreaker to West Lyon, 20-14, in the Class 2A semifinals.

They finished 8-4.

That 0-3 start wasn’t against a bunch of chumps. Coach Curt Ritchie loaded the non-district slate with a Murderer’s Row of Iowa City Regina, Van Meter and Solon.

“Even though we were 0-3, we learned to play tough football against a bunch of good teams,” said junior Derek Weisskopf, a University of Iowa commit. “Those are the kind of teams we should be playing.”

The Raiders open with those three teams again — Regina at home Friday, then at Van Meter and home against Solon.

“The guys think they can beat all three of them,” said Ritchie, in his 22nd year at Williamsburg. “This should be one of our best teams. This group of seniors has always been successful. The junior class adds some good players.”

Williamsburg opens at No. 3 in The Gazette’s preseason 2A rankings.

“I believe we can be champions,” Douglas said. “The guys are putting in extra work to do the job.”

Douglas’ extra work throughout the summer was with a local mortician.

“Lots of working. I dug about 15 graves,” he said. “There was a lot of setting headstones, foundations and all of that.

“It’s hard work.”

In May, Douglas anchored Williamsburg’s 2A state-champion 400- and 800-meter relay units and finished fifth in the 100-meter dash.

It bears repeating, he plays nose guard.

“Yeah, that’s a weird mix,” he said.

Douglas does get to show off his speed in the offensive backfield. He ran for 316 yards and six touchdowns last season.

Dayton ran for 832 yards and eight touchdowns, and compiled 68 tackles.

Then there’s Weisskopf, the future Hawkeye and the reigning 2A state high-jump champion (he cleared 6 feet, 7 inches). Last fall, as a sophomore, he caught five touchdown passes, accumulated 80 tackles and picked off three passes.

He’ll play tight end this year when the Raiders have possession.

“(Weisskopf) is extremely competitive,” Ritchie said. “He looks like he’s been a blocking tight end all of his life.”

Williamsburg returns eight starters on each side of the ball, so they should be able to hit the ground running Friday against Regina.

“It depends on our quarterback and our line play,” Ritchie said. “We have a tough schedule to start, but as long as we keep our heads up and keep battling, it’s going to make us better in the end.

“We’re the kind of team that gets better at the end of the year. As long as we can mentally handle it and not stop, we’ll be all right.”

The Raiders feel they can be more than merely all right.

“I think we’re a championship-level team,” Weisskopf said. “We have everything.

“Everything is meshing well. We could be crazy special.”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com