Wack’s Record-Smashing 2024 A Season Of Seized Opportunity
Nick Henthorn Trending
WHEELING - If records are history, this past year for Wheeling Park football was history-in-the-making.
The Patriots, whose season came to a close a little more than a week ago in the state quarterfinals, saw junior tailback Brennan Wack turn a slew of school rushing records from tales-of-yore old to straight-off-the-lot new in 2024.
As the dust settles from a season that was less rollercoaster, more escalator, Wack now holds the school record for rushing touchdowns in a game, rushing yards in a game, rushing yards in a half, average rushing yards per game, and rushing yards in a season, and has tied the record for rushing touchdowns in a season, sharing the record with Boogie Johnson.
Wack's junior campaign ends with 2,258 rushing yards at 8.4 yards per tote and 31 rushing touchdowns, marks that are hard to match.
"He's a special kid- durable, fast, he has the ability to make you miss, he just has everything that you're looking for in a tailback," Wheeling Park head coach Chris Daugherty said in an interview Wednesday.
"Honestly, from our first scrimmage to the last play of the state quarterfinals, Brennan continued to just get better and better."
Wack's junior season may have been eye-opening, but it was not the first time the Wheeling Park faithful had seen him. Wack was a productive player as a sophomore at slot receiver before making the switch to tailback.
"You'd like to think you've got the kids at all the right positions according to their talents," Daugherty said. "But Brennan had played his sophomore year at slot receiver and at safety on defense. We really thought he had a great sophomore year, but we also thought there was more gas in that tank. We probably under-utilized him his sophomore year, and we had felt like he was a player who could really explode onto the scene as a junior.
"When we had the opening at running back, he was just a natural fit to move from his inside slot receiver position to running back. I can't tell you that any of us knew that this was going to turn into the greatest season by a running back in the history of the school. What we did know was that Brennan was going to work extremely hard and be ready for his opportunity."
The position pivot came late in the offseason after a transference out-of-state created a need for a Patriots lead back. Without as much time to acclimate as others, Wack needed to adapt quickly.
"He had gotten faster, bigger, stronger in the offseason. But we moved him in the first week of August," Daugherty said. "We're a zone team, and zone, it takes a while to catch onto that concept. Most young tailbacks are in a gap scheme offensively. It takes awhile for a running back to fully understand the reads and read the second-level of defenders. Brennan proved to be a fast learner."
"I was a little surprised, but I was glad for the opportunity," Wack said of being tapped for the running back role. "I knew I'd get the ball a little more, so that was pretty exciting. It was a next-man-up mentality."
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Daugherty said his coaching staff knew they had something special on their hands during the third week of practice, when Wheeling Park scrimmaged Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School out of the Cleveland area, a team that boasts some of the top athletes in Ohio, with student-athletes committed to Ohio State, Purdue and elsewhere.
"Very early in that scrimmage, he breaks loose and outruns everybody to the end zone," Daugherty said. "They've got some kids who can run, speed we don't see all the time. That was the first glimpse from our coaching staff that Brennan was going to be just fine."
As for the man himself, it was the Patriots' first game of the year, playing Parkersburg South, where Wack started to see where the year could be going.
"I always knew what I was capable of, but that first actual game against Parkersburg South, I realized it could be a pretty good year," Wack said.
The junior started his season with 177 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns, finishing with 209 all-purpose yards.
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The first major domino to fall came in week three when Wheeling Park traveled to play Musselman. Though a four-hour drive southeast, it didn't take that long for news to travel about Wack's performance- a Wheeling Park-record 298 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
"I saw him continue to get better every game," Daugherty began. "But the Musselman game- before that game we played Spring Mills, a very good football team, and he continued to run down-hill and physical in that game. I thought he played very hard that game, and then the very next week he just exploded and broke the school record at Musselman. That's when you started to see this was going to be something that none of us expected."
What would've been the game of most players' life was not the best game of Wack's season. Or even the second best.
Wack re-broke his record with 302 rushing yards against John Marshall in the Patriots' regular season finale, and then re-re-broke the record in the state quarterfinals against Huntington, a game where he also set the record for rushing touchdowns in a game with 342 yards and five scores.
"I'm not sure I ever expected all of that, but it meant a lot," Wack said of the records. "It was really cool to break those records, especially with how long some of them had been standing. It was a little surreal after that first Musselman game."
The Huntington game, though a bombastic 51-39 defeat, was one in which Wack went out guns-blazing. His 247 yards in the first half against Huntington was also a school record.
"Brennan just seemed to make all the right decisions, especially in the Huntington game," Daugherty said. "If he needed to stick his foot in the ground and go get three tough yards, he did. If he needed to bounce it, he did. He makes people tackle him. To get him to the ground is going to be work and normally it takes more than one kid."
When asked about his season, Wack pointed to everyone but himself.
"We have really good coaches, the o-line this year was amazing," Wack said. "We also have a really good lifting program that helps us a lot in the offseason. I think doing track helped out my speed a lot also."
Park's offensive line this year was composed of Liam Waldek, Kieran Moses, Luke Miller, Hunter Means and Cameron Bryan
"For him to finish his season that way- and credit to the kids around him, his offensive line, those guys had a phenomenal season too," Daugherty said. "And that gets measured in how well your tailback does, how well your quarterback keeps away from sacks. Those two things happened at a high rate for us. That's a credit to our o-line and o-line coach Tim Ickes."
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Wheeling Park relied on Wack to the tune of 268 carries this year- 22.3 a game. While Wack suited up for all 12 of the Patriots' contests, he did have to battle through some pain along the way.
"Probably the most impressive thing is he was injured after the University game," Daugherty explained. "After that game we had a stretch of Steubenville, Morgantown and Fairmont. We thought that was going to be three of the better teams and tougher games we were going to have from a physical standpoint.
"He did not step away in any of those games. He carried the ball in the other hand. He had some weakness in his right arm because of a stinger that just couldn't heal for a while. He never thought about taking time off, he just carried the ball in the other hand. He had 167 against Steubenville, had good nights against Morgantown and Fairmont, and that was not a fully healthy Brennan Wack."
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In a season where expectations were up in the air for a Wheeling Park team that had lost its quarterback, running back, wide receivers and more, the ascendance of Wack was just what the doctor ordered for the Patriots to put together another admirable season on the gridiron.
"All he really cares about is winning and he just wanted to do his part," Daugherty said. "He does have a very high level of belief in himself. Sometimes his attitude may be construed as shy or lacking confidence, but that is false. Brennan believes he is as good as anybody. That's what's wonderful about this story- he never moaned or complained, he never gave a bad attitude when he was playing a position that maybe wasn't his natural position.
"He probably knew better than I did that, 'Hey, I can run the ball,' but he would never say that to me, he wanted to make the best out of whatever opportunities he got. The situation worked out where he got moved to tailback and I think there was a little bit of a fire to prove 'I'm capable and I'm good enough.'"
The record-shattering season has Daugherty talking about yet more accolades with Wack in mind.
"When you look at the Kennedy Award, I think he is that kid," Daugherty said. "Without him, we're not in the state quarterfinals, a hair away from the state semifinals in 4A football. I know there will be athletes out there with numbers close to him, but they didn't play his schedule. They didn't play Steubenville and Spring Mills and Fairmont and Talawanda, I could go on and on. Our schedule is as demanding as anybody's in the state and in the OVAC, and you come out from that and lead the state in rushing."
With his senior season still in-tow, what's next for Wack? It's hard to predict a season more productive than 2024, but Daugherty is certain that from a pure talent perspective, the best has yet to come.
"Here's what you know about Brennan Wack- he will be better than his junior year," the longtime Patriots coach said. "He will be bigger, he will be faster, he will be stronger than he was this year. He knows nothing less than working hard and doing the right things. He will not rest on this season, I can guarantee you that. And there's kids that would- there's adults that would. But he will work like he was a non-starter, that's just his makeup."
"Do I think we're going to have to rely on the run as much next year? Probably not. We're returning our quarterback, we're returning our receivers, we'll be able to throw the ball at a higher rate, especially if people line up to take him away. But that won't mean he's not a better player."
No matter how his senior season plays out, Wack's junior season will go down in the history books. A tip to the record-keepers though- use a pencil.
"I want to try and improve on the little things," Wack said. "I want to be better next year, so I'll be trying to break the record all over again. That'd be pretty nice."