Wahoo's Fox Honored as Huskerland's C-1 State Championship Coach
His team following through on sky high preseason expectations, Wahoo's Chad Fox is honored as Huskerland's Class C-1 state championship football coach for 2024.
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It would have been real easy for Wahoo Football to take some rather broad liberties with their 2024 postseason expectations.
After all, from the start, they were the best team in Class C-1.
Still, you have to do the work, keep the faith, keep your eyes on the road if you will, and the guy in charge of all that is Huskerland’s Class C-1 state champion football coach, Chad Fox.
This is the second time in six seasons Coach Fox has been so honored (do the math), leading the Warriors to the only two state titles in program history. And it coulda been third, real easy, except for that bloodied knuckled loss to unbeaten Boone Central in the 2023 state final.
“This was the goal for this team since we lost last year versus Boone Central,” says Coach Fox, who has compiled a spiffy 174-65 career coaching record. “This team understood what actions needed to be taken to achieve that goal and that is what makes this group so special. These guys didn’t assume that they would get back to Memorial Stadium and win - they worked for it and earned it.”
Sure did. Starting with a regular season performance that saw Big Blue win its opener against Nebraska City, 62-0, then draw a deep breath against old friend Ashland-Greenwood in Week 2, winning 28-14, before launching its dominating run for the roses. During the next 11 games the Warriors posted four more shutouts (could been eight, easy), including a second 50-0 win over a good Douglas Count West team in the opening round of the playoffs.
Seeded third in the C-1 playoff draw, which was sorta cute, Wahoo followed with lopsided wins over No. 6 Boys Town (53-14) in the quarterfinals and over No. 7 Auburn (59-7) in the semifinals. In the state final against No. 5 Central City the Warriors were again the dominant winner, 47-7.
“I thought we had a great season and I am very proud of how this team shouldered the expectations of this season all season long and never once did it feel like we were under any pressure,” says Coach Fox. “The preparations for every week of the season and for the state finals were the difference in feeling that pressure and just dealing with whatever opponent we had this season. How we handled the state finals was exactly how we handled every game this season.”
Which is to say, handily.
Wahoo’s 2019 state champion team was also red hot at the end, blasting unbeaten Pierce 38-0 in the on that grey and icy day at Memorial Stadium, but even it comes up short in comparison to the 2024 model.
“This season’s team was very talented and deep, the deepest team I have ever coached with talent across every position into the two-deep (depth chart),” praises Coach Fox. “We battled injuries all year long, but no one from the outside would ever notice, because of the depth of talent we had.”