"To my knowledge, between the two schools, there's been no boys team that has played for a state championship game in football. So these kids are the first ones, especially for the co-op," he said of Williams County facing Hillsboro for the North Dakota 9-man football crown at noon Saturday at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks.
The Firestorm have truly earned their berth in the state title contest in capturing consecutive victories on the road against region champions. After running away with a 53-0 win over TGU at home to begin the playoffs, Williams County traveled to Central McLean to earn a 26-8 victory against the team that eliminated the Firestorm from the playoffs last season.
Then came last week's semifinal when Williams County first traveled on snow-covered roads to St. John, where it played on an icy field but won 20-11.
"That's not an easy thing," Schaffer said of claiming two big playoff wins on the road. "The last two weeks we had to go to two regional champion teams and beat them. The big thing that helps is we have a big fan base that shows up and cheers these kids on. That kind of neutralizes the other team's fan base, which really helps." He estimates upward of 500 fans braved the terrible conditions in traveling to St. John, and the weather forecast is looking less favorable as the date nears for the game in Grand Forks. Once there, however, the weather isn't a concern as the game is indoors on turf.
"As a coach, it's going to be great," Schaffer said to play indoors. "It's something different. This is something the kids will remember their lifetime."
He's hoping the turf makes his team faster, as Schaffer is curious to see how quick the Firestorm can be. The spikes are being exchanged for tennis or running shoes, and he is trying to prepare the team for other aspects of playing indoors.
"The ball is going to bounce differently on turf than it does on grass," he said. "You have to prepare for that on kick returns and punts."
The Firestorm coaching staff seems to excel in preparing, starting from the beginning of the season when it faced the task of rebuilding its offensive and defensive lines. Running backs became tight ends, full backs became guards, some linebackers became defensive ends and some defense backs became linebackers, he said.
"So we had to make some switches so we had our best nine out there," Schaffer said.
The team discovered it had something working right away in its first game against perennial power Divide County.
"We really didn't know what our line was going to do. When we played Divide, Divide is always one of those teams that are in the top five in the state every year," he said. "We were able to play with those guys and get a victory. So we knew our line was where we wanted it to be and we just kept working to improve."
Senior quarterback Tyler Lalim, senior running backs Jason Hove and Deland Weyrauch and junior running back Jared Vejtasa and senior wide receiver Levi Solem attract a lot of attention on offense.
"Tyler does a nice job of being able to mix in the run and pass," Schaffer said. "He's a tough kid to bring down. He's not a kid you're going to be able to bring down with just a little shoulder tackle. He has a lot of determination and he's just a tough, tough kid. He does a nice job of throwing the ball too."
Hove, Weyrauch and Vejtasa do a nice job of sharing the running duties, he said.
"They all have different strengths and weaknesses, all three of them," Schaffer said. "They are all three different runners and are very effective."
Junior Kellen Grubb also has stepped up this season at quarterback, where he closed out the win against McLean County after Lalim got injured and was pulled.
"We talked about that too throughout the year. If someone does go down, a replacement has to go in there and we can't miss a beat. That's exactly what Kellen Grubb did," Schaffer said. "Kellen came in, and you could see the difference from him from last year to this year. You can tell he really got into the weight room and he's worked hard to put himself in that situation. We're very happy with Kellen coming in and helping out throughout the year."
Ironically, Grubb also replaced Lalim in last year's loss to Central McLean.
"You watch that game film from this game film, you can tell Kellen put on a lot of muscle, he got bigger and he got thicker and he got stronger and fast just from a year ago," Schaffer said. "It was kind of ironic he did the same thing against the same opponent."
Overall, the Firestorm are fortunate this year in not having a lot of major injuries heading into the title game.
"That definitely has helped us. Usually, a lot of kids get banged up, people go down or out," Schaffer said. "Kids have been healthy. If a kid is hurt or banged up, we've had kids that have stepped up, so I feel we're pretty deep. We go about 14-15 kids deep on either side of the ball at times, and that has definitely helped us."
As much attention the Williams County offense has received, however, it's defense is nothing to overlook.
"Our defense has been overshadowed by our offense a lot throughout the year. But our defense is a very good defense. They are very quick and athletic and make plays," Schaffer said. "They've taken a lot of those high-powered offenses and kept them in line so far. That's what we're going to have to try to do this week."
He describes Hillsboro as a big, physical and athletic team.
"They like to run option and they run it well. They don't pass a lot, but when they do, they do it effectively," he said.
Hillsboro used the brothers Grothmann to defeat playoff nemesis Napoleon-Gackle-Streeter 38-6 this past Saturday. Senior fullback-linebacker Andrew Grothmann had two touchdowns and 109 yards rushing, while junior brother Zach had 141 yards rushing and one touchdown.
"The biggest thing is we want to make them pass. We want to get them down to third and long. We don't want to give them second and short, third and short. Because then they will kind of pound the ball at you and eat up the clock," Schaffer said.
"We want to get them out of the comfort zone and that is going to be tough to do. If we let them sit there and just pound at us, we're going to have trouble," he added.
Despite all of the hoopla associated with the team's first-ever football title appearance, Schaffer said the players remain very focused.
"It's been really a very good group of kids that have stayed focused pretty much throughout the whole year," he said.
Being 12-0 and in the state title game could be considered a surprise by some.
"We thought we'd be competitive this year and make a run at the playoffs. We didn't know how deep we'd go, Schaffer said. "We didn't know what to expect and here we are sitting in the final two."
Along with having a receptive group of athletes, Schaffer also credits his coaching staff with having a big role in the positive way the season has progressed.
"We got a great coaching staff to work with.That really has helped out," he said. "Brodie Odegaard, Steve Purdue, Jeremy Carkuff and Shane Hodenfield, those guys working with these kids and working together makes it fun. And they are great to work with.
"That is why we're where we are right now, is because of these guys too."
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