Clippers at Full Strength: New coach leads the return to 11-player competition

Sturgeon Bay kicker Eli Schuster (13) approaches the football as the Clippers go through a kickoff drill during their Aug. 4 practice. Sturgeon Bay is returning to an 11-player schedule for the first time since 2018. Photo by Kevin Boneske.

Sturgeon Bay High School is returning to 11-player football this season with a new head coach. Carl Waterstreet is making the move to head coach after being an assistant under Jim Adams, who headed up the team during the switch to an eight-player schedule when player numbers were down.

Following the start of this season’s practices Aug. 2, Waterstreet said 35 players are on the varsity roster. To not risk injury, he said Sturgeon Bay will not field a junior-varsity team this season.  

The Clippers, who last played an 11-player schedule in 2018, will be part of the revamped, eight-team Packerland Conference for football. Sturgeon Bay will not only resume playing longtime Packerland members Southern Door, Kewaunee and Oconto, but it will also face Peshtigo, Mishicot and Bonduel, as well as Marinette, which is joining the conference for football in place of Clintonville.

Waterstreet, a Southern Door graduate, said he’s looking forward to Sturgeon Bay resuming its rivalry with Southern Door, which is the county’s only other 11-player team. The Southern Door Eagles will face the Clippers during the Oct. 14 regular-season finale at Sturgeon Bay’s Memorial Field.

He said 11-player football will also provide more visibility because recruiters tend to have more interest in those games than the eight-player variety.

Waterstreet said he plans to run an offense built around the team’s speed and to “mix it up” on the defensive side. With only a few seniors, he said the Clippers will be young this season and rely on junior and sophomore players to contribute.

Six of Sturgeon Bay’s nine games are at home, starting with the Aug. 19 season opener, a nonconference contest against Green Bay West.