A standout college football career coming to a close

Friday, November 8, 2013
Steve Kodad/McCook Gazette Former McCook High School standout Joe Vetrovsky (50), a senior and starting center for the Doane College Tigers, kneels with his team after Doane claimed a 56-13 win over Dordt (Iowa) Nov. 2 in Crete. (Reprints available at McCookGazette.com)

CRETE, Neb. -- The McCook High School football program mantra stays with former Bison players long after their prep gridiron careers are over.

One of the top offensive linemen who competed during McCook's magical run the last decade is just two games away from completing a stellar collegiate football career. Joe Vetrovsky has carried his love and admiration for the Bison program through two college stops, including a very successful three-year stint at Doane College in Crete.

Vetrovsky is a 6-foot-2, 287-pound starting center for the Tigers. The 2009 McCook High School graduate played the final home game of his college career Saturday, Nov. 2, at Al Papik Field on the picturesque Doane campus in Crete. Vetrovsky and his teammates celebrated Doane's Senior Day festivities with a 56-13 victory over Dordt College from Iowa.

Steve Kodad/McCook Gazette McCook freshman Austin Cherry (24) chases a play in the second half of Doane's 56-13 win over Dordt (Iowa) at Crete Saturday, Nov. 2. Cherry is a reserve safety for the Tigers in his first college football season. (Reprints available at McCookGazette.com)

"It was a great experience, obviously being Senior Day here. It's been a long but a great three years here," Vetrovsky said. "I've enjoyed every minute of it. It was awesome to come out today and be playing as well as we did, and for everyone to show up."

Vetrovsky started his college football career at Nebraska-Kearney after starting two years at center for the Bison. After a redshirt year at UNK, Joe started for the Lopers during the 2010 season. But he grew dissatisfied with his UNK experience and made the decision to transfer.

DOANE ASSISTANT coach Grant Mollring is a former UNK coach who took the job as offensive coordinator at the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Doane program four years ago. Mollring recruited Vetrovsky to UNK and coached Joe for two years. Grant quickly re-recruited Joe for Doane after he found out Vetrovsky was also leaving the Lopers.

Steve Kodad/McCook Gazette Doane College junior and former Southwest High School star Justin Malleck (32) pushes upfield against Dordt (Iowa) in action Nov. 2 at Al Papik Field in Crete. Malleck is a backup linebacker for the Doane defense. (Reprints available at McCookGazette.com)

"I recruited Joe to UNK," Mollring said. "So when I made the switch over here he was looking for a little bit better fit. We jumped on it and I'm glad to get him here. He's the unquestioned leader of our offensive line. He's a captain for us, does a great job. He's a coach on the field, so we know that we can trust him with just about anything out there.

"More importantly, he takes care of his business off the field, and that's what we all like about him. He's very professional in everything he does. We're excited that he's a Doane Tiger and sad that that career is coming to an end. We'll miss him for sure."

WE ARE ONE -- the motto of the McCook football program -- is instilled in the hearts and minds of past, present and future Bison. Vetrovsky still follows his alma mater. No doubt he used those bragging rights after McCook topped Crete, 17-6, at Weiland Field Friday, Nov. 1, in the first round of the Class B state high school playoffs.

Steve Kodad/McCook Gazette Doane College senior Joe Vetrovsky (50) of McCook guards the Tiger quarterback on this pass play against Dordt (Iowa) No. 2 in Crete. (Reprints available at McCookGazette.com)

Joe said he still listens to Bison games on radio broadcasts and live streams on the internet. Vetrovsky said he also got to know many of the players on this year's McCook team during summer workouts.

"I've been fortunate here, I've been able to go home during the summers and work in the weight room with those kids. I know a lot of those kids. Hopefully I've had a little bit of impact on them. It's kind of rewarding and an awesome feeling when you know hopefully you'd have had a little bit of impact on each of those kids. Then you hope they go have a successful season.

"It's over like that, just like here -- you never know when you start out. The end seems so far away, then all of a sudden, bam! You're here (end of senior season). You really have to step back and appreciate the things you have."

THE FORMER McCOOK standout isn't surprised that the Bison have had such a successful season, with a 9-1 record going into the Friday, Nov. 8 playoff quarterfinal battle against Aurora at Weiland Field.

"I was able to watch the Aurora game, the first game. I went (to McCook) and watched, we didn't have a game yet (at Doane)," he said. "I saw so much potential. I sat there and I was talking to my brother Ben, and I was like 'This could be a very dangerous team come the end of the year if these kids get any kind of motivation, any kind of confidence.'

"Listening to the radio (Crete game), it was just phenomenal. I've watched Crete, and obviously that team isn't what they've been in the past, but they're still a quality football team and has had some success out here in the east. So that just is a testament to how well our boys are playing right now in McCook. They can match up against anybody.

"A young team like that, Coach (Jeff) Gross and his staff do a phenomenal job of getting kids to progress throughout their careers, getting them from where they start out they just get better and better every year. They never plateau, they're always getting better, and that just goes with coaching."

VETROVSKY STARTED two years at center for the Bison during his junior and senior seasons (2007 and 2008), and also alternated at defensive tackle as a senior. He was the starting center as a junior for the McCook team that lost to Crete 14-7 in overtime in the 2007 Class B state championship game at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.

Vetrovsky is thankful for the high level of instruction he received from coaches and teachers during his school days in McCook.

"I was in that era, the Decade of Dominance, as they say, and had huge success," Joe said. "Coach Gross and all those coaches there made me what I am today. Everything -- the way I play, the attitude I have -- comes from Coach Gross and those coaches down there. They really just drove me to be a better person, and it carried over into college.

"We had a lot of fun, won a lot of football games. I got to play in a state title game my junior year and got beat by the guys (Crete) we beat last (Friday). A little cross-state rivalry there.

"I'm always looking (the Bison) up every week. McCook always has a special place in my heart."

Vetrovsky said he is pleased with his decision to switch to Doane.

"I couldn't ask for a better experience coming here," he said. "Transferring in here, I didn't know quite what to expect. Doane was having its own struggles. I really didn't know what was going to happen. It's just been a phenomenal three years. We've won so many football games and have been so successful.

"I just pray and hope that it just continues, and it will because we have just a great coaching staff here, a great fan base, just a great program. It's just a great school to be a part of, a tight-knit family atmosphere. I couldn't ask for a better experience, and I'm really just blessed the way it worked out for me."

DOANE HAS TWO regular-season games remaining this season, both on the road. The Tigers will face Briar Cliff (Iowa) Saturday, Nov. 9 at the Dakota Dome in Vermillion, S.D. before a meeting with Morningside Nov. 16 in Sioux City, Iowa. Morningside is ranked number-one in the current NAIA national poll.

The Tigers finished 8-2 in Vetrovsky's first season (2011) and 7-3 last fall. Doane takes a 5-3 record into the final two regular-season games of Vetrovsky's career. The Tigers have a slight chance to make the NAIA playoffs, Vetrovsky said, if Doane can win both its final two games.

Joe's parents are Rhonda Vetrovsky, an attorney in McCook, and retired teacher-coach Larry Vetrovsky of Beatrice. Larry was a long-time defensive line and special teams coach for the Beatrice High School football program.

Younger brother Ben was also a standout football player and golfer for the Bison during his prep career, and sister Megan capped her Bison high school golf career by winning the Class B girls state championship earlier this fall.

VETROVSKY will graduate from Doane this December with a degree in K-12 Special Education. His future plans include teaching and coaching, and a return to McCook to help coach the Bison is at the top of his list.

"That would be a dream to be able to go back to your hometown and coach and be a part of that program and teach in that school system and have the same impact on students that so many had on me and made me what I am today," Joe said. "McCook Schools made me what I am right now, and I owe it all to that. All the people I was around that had an influence on me."

College graduation is just around the corner, and it will soon be time for Joe Vetrovsky to go out to join the working world. He knows that his football playing days will soon be over.

"I'm trying to enjoy this (football)," he said. "It kind of hits you. We start all the way back in the off-season, then you start fall camp, then your first game. Now you're here at your last home game. It just flies by like crazy.

"It's hard to believe the end is here, but it's been awesome."

TWO OTHER GAZETTE area players are on the Doane roster, and both saw playing time against Dordt Nov. 2.

Justin Malleck from Southwest is a junior linebacker and McCook freshman Austin Cherry is a reserve safety.

Grant Mollring, Doane's offensive coordinator, also has ties to the area. The Cambridge High School graduate is the son of Jeff "Coach Mo" Mollring, former Bison assistant coach. Brother Scott is currently a McCook High School teacher and assistant for the Bison football program.

Coach Mo has been working with his son part-time helping coach the Tigers during fall camp in recent years.

"He comes down for two-a-days and eats free food and hangs out and enjoys being around the guys," Grant said of his dad. "They all know him (at Doane), so when he shows up for games they're pretty excited to see him."

Jeff Mollring was a standout on the Doane football program in the early 1970s.

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