By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Two Bishop LeBlond seniors that helped in turning the football program around, have officially signed their letters of intent to continue playing football in college.
Wide receiver Trey Icke will stay in St. Joseph, signing with Missouri Western State University, while tight end Jacob Winkelbauer is joining a Benedictine Ravens team that came one game shy of a national championship berth last season.
Icke will go play for head coach Tyler Fenwick at Missouri Western State University, staying at home. For him, it was a talk with Griffons linebacker coach Colin Mcquillan that made Western the perfect fit.
"Everything was so good, the facilities are great, and their strength and conditioning coach he just topped it off, I had to go after talking to him," Icke tells reporters.
Winkelbauer will also stay close to home, albeit a little farther away, joining the Benedictine Ravens, a team that this past season came one game shy of a trip to the national championship. Winkelbauer points to the culture of the Ravens as to why it was the right choice.
"Good stuff, and the players they all liked it, they all looked like they bought into the program and I think they're going to be going some places in a few years," Winkelbauer says.
It will be a slight transition at the next level for both Icke and Winkelbauer after playing four years of 8-man football in high school, shifting to 11-man in college. Winkelbauer though, feels like it won't feel that different.
"We run a lot of 11-man schemes in our eight man game, so I feel like it won't be too hard," Winkelbauer explains.
And for Icke, he says it's just a transition back to a way that he's played nearly his whole life.
"I played tackle football, 11-man, since I was five, so hopefully it's not that different, not that hard," Icke says.
Icke and Winkelbauer were part of two district championship teams at LeBlond, including a second place finish at state in 2022. A massive turnaround happened in their time, with the Golden Eagles not having a winning season prior to that since 2012.
When it comes to the legacy they hope to leave, Winkelbauer points to something coaches have told them, about how their senior class really shifted the culture
"From all the seniors beating up on the freshman, like killshots every practice, and we kind of welcomed freshman, became friends with them, we were more of a team I'd say for the past two years, and that was nice," Winkelbauer says.
Icke echoes that, saying that as a group the seniors really focused on helping to build up the freshman and underclassmen
"Instead of like tearing them down, we were like building them up, making them get better to carry on this tradition, and to just go all the way through to the district championship each year," Icke says.
Icke recorded 20 carries for 144 yds and 88 receptions for 1307 yds with 24 total touchdowns in his senior year. On defense he tallied 77 tackles, three sacks, three ints, one blocked punt, one forced fumble and three fumble recoveries. He was tabbed first team all-state recognition his senior year and second- team all-state recognition his junior year, as well as being an all-district selection his sophomore year.
In his senior season, Winkelbauer had 47 catches for 816 yards with 16 touchdowns. On defense he recorded 70 tackles, 17 for loss, with 10 sacks. He forced two fumbles and had one interception. He earned first team all state in his senior year and was a second team honoree in his sophomore season.
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