Aug. 20—NAPOLEON, N.D. — In his first year as head coach, Jamison Fettig led Napoleon/Gackle-Streeter to the playoffs — and he did it with five freshmen starters.
The Imperials ended the 2025 season with a 52-8 loss to Hankinson in the 9-man state quarterfinals. Fettig led his crew to an overall record of 8-3. Last season was the first time the Imperials had made the playoffs since 2021.
"We are feeling good," Fettig said. "We had a lot of young players last year — we were short on older kids, and we lost one of our starters in week three and basically had to play the whole season without him.
"We started those five freshmen and then ran through seven of the nine in that grade, so the experience of those kids is the big thing for us," he said.
The Imperials lost Brody McDowell and Bill Schmidt to graduation. The team is welcoming back senior Andre Doll along with 2025 All-Staters Jackson Piatz and Bryce Schneider. Piatz lined up at receiver and safety while Schneider was the team's quarterback and middle linebacker. Doll will be back at right guard and defensive end this fall.
Besides the returning seniors, Fettig said the Imperials will bring back sophomores Carson Piatz and Brooks Grunefelder.
"They were both massive parts of our team last season, and we are expecting big seasons from the both of them," Fettig said.
In total, Fettig is expecting 26 kids out this fall. The Imperials are expecting 18 of their players to be freshmen and sophomores, which will require some different kind of training from Fettig and his coaching staff.
"For us, it's about the mental game," Fettig said of how to train the young athletes. "Everybody knows you are a freshman, but you can't play like one. We just try to drive that into the kids. We don't have another kid to go to, you just have to step up when we need you."
Fettig said typical freshman play involves a lot of second guessing — something he tries to address in practices.
"They are afraid sometimes of letting down the older kids, but we try to tell them that it's OK if they make a mistake once in a while," Fettig said. "We're just trying to make it so that it doesn't happen over and over again.
"It takes a little bit longer, we've got to slow some things down in practice to get everyone on the same page, but for the most part it is working pretty well," he said. "Patience will be a big thing, knowing that it takes a little bit of time to get them where we want them."
Fettig and his crew of youngsters began practices on Aug. 6, but the team has been preparing for the season for a few months now.
"Our kids went to a ... NDSU individual camp this past June and learned a lot there," Fettig said. "There have been boys in the weight room all summer, and we have been having open gyms every Sunday for the past two months coming into the season.
"It's hard to say who will be someone who will go off," he said. "I mean, last year Jackson had 21 receiving touchdowns and Bryce had 3500 yards passing and rushing and 95 tackles on defense and Andre had 12 sacks and six forced fumbles. ... They are the core of our team ... we like to spread the ball around so every one of them could have the opportunity to have a good night."
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