Wilson II achieves goal through perseverance

WHITTEMORE, Mich. — For Whittemore-Prescott’s Russell Wilson II, he’ll never forget his final season of high school football. He ended his high school career on a positive note, earning one of MLive’s Golden Helmet Awards. This was one of his personal goals he set before the start of the 2020 football season. However, the senior had to overcome some obstacles along the way.

The challenges all started in week one. In the first week of the regular season, Wilson II and the Cardinals had a scheduled game at Oscoda. However, Cardinals head coach Tommy Atkinson made a difficult decision to drop to eight-man.

“I was upset but excited at the same time because we were still able to play,” said Wilson II.

Instead of playing against Oscoda, the Cardinals made their eight-man debut on Sept. 19 and defeated Maple Valley 48-28. Just after that one game, Wilson II had fallen in love with eight-man football. However, Wilson had another obstacle to face. In week two against Mio, Wilson II broke his wrist during the third quarter.

“I really don’t know what happened,” said Wilson II. “I was pretty sad about it. I worked so hard over the summer and just wanted to play football with the guys.”

After missing one week of football, he decided to play through the injury. Throughout the remainder of the season, Wilson II played with a club to stay on the field and to strive for his goal. With a broken wrist, he continued to dominate on the football field.

On defense, the senior racked up 57 tackles, 11 sacks, and two forced fumbles. He also showed a ton of success on offense. On the line, he helped the Cardinals rushing attack average nearly 350 yards per contest. With those stats and perseverance, he earned one of MLive’s Golden Helmet Awards. Even though his high school football career is over, Wilson II plans on playing college football in the near future.