Wayne, Neb. --- A pair of wildcats earn preseason honors as the rest of the squad ranks high in a coaches' preseason poll.

The Wayne State College football team was picked sixth overall and fourth in the South Division of the 2025 Preseason NSIC Football Coaches Poll released Tuesday morning by the league office in Burnsville, Minnesota.

Junior defensive end Carter Sitzman was voted South Division Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, while senior center Will Washenberger was tabbed as the Wildcat Player to Watch on offense.

The Wildcats earned 106 points overall and 22 in the NSIC South Division poll.  WSC is coming off a 7-4 season last year, finishing in a tie for fifth in the NSIC with a 6-4 record in league play. With the addition of Jamestown in the Northern Sun Conference this season, division play is back in the league following a two-year hiatus, with six division games and 10 conference games highlighting Wayne State’s 11-game schedule this season.

Sitzman was tabbed by league coaches as the South Division Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, along with Wayne State’s Defensive Player to Watch.  The 6-4, 260-pound junior defensive end from Lincoln Christian HS earned All-NSIC First Team and D2CCA All-Super Region 4 Second Team honors last season after topping the NSIC in tackles for loss (15.5) and sacks per game (.64).  He finished last season with seven sacks for 37 yards and was third on the team in tackles (54) and is the Wildcats’ top returning tackler. 

Wayne State’s Offensive Player to Watch in the NSIC is 6-3, 300-pound senior center Will Washenberger, who started the last two seasons for the Wildcats and was part of a WSC offensive line last season that allowed the second-fewest sacks in the league after allowing a league-low six sacks in the 2023 season. 

Wayne State is scheduled to open the 2025 football season on Thursday, August 28th, hosting Nebraska-Kearney in a 6 p.m. game at Cunningham Field in Wayne.   The ‘Cats open Northern Sun Conference play on Saturday, September 6th, hosting the University of Mary in a 6 p.m. contest.