As the old saying goes, “Defense wins championships.”

No matter what sport you talk about, this is usually true.

The New England Patriots, the Detroit Pistons, or the Oklahoma Sooners — all had great defenses, but the offense always gets the glory.

The Winona State University football team is the same way.

No offense (no pun intended) to the defensive side of the ball for the Warriors — they had just as many tools, were equally as successful as the offensive unit, and quite frankly most of them are just plain scary — but the focus here is on the guys that put the ball in the end zone.

The sergeant on the field is the quarterback, and the Warriors had a pair of great ones.

Senior Brian Wrobel started the season and came out running and gunning before being downed with an injury in the fifth game of the year.

Senior and career backup Ryan Eversman stepped in and gave a hint of what was to come as he passed for 188 yards to finish that game, then threw for 233 the next week against Crookston as Wrobel  recovered.

Eversman, who had long been relegated to the pine, became the starter when Wrobel was again knocked out with an injury in the ninth game of the year.

The tandem led the WSU squad to an undefeated conference season and a 10-2 overall record, and Wrobel, despite missing four games and playing limited time in two others, was named first team all-conference.

Catching all these passes was undoubtedly the most talented receiving core in the conference, led by senior All-American Chris Samp. His numerous highlights include being named NSIC Offensive Player of the Year.

He led the conference in every receiving statistic this season, and broke or tied four major conference records: single season receiving yards (1,050), career receiving yards (2,654), single season touchdown catches (16) and career touchdowns (39), not to mention ranking second in NCAA Division II in receiving yards per game (132.3) and first in touchdown catches (22).

Behind Samp was the trio of junior Brian Hynes, sophomore Jeff Ellestad and freshman Scott Peters. They combined for five touchdown catches on the year and almost 100 yards receiving yards per game.

All three will be returning next year, with Hynes bringing back his all-conference honorable mention talents.

Tight end Lee Cunningham should not go ignored, as he was named first team all-conference as well, pulling in 15 catches and one touchdown.

A four-headed monster led the ground attack for the Warriors, made up of senior halfbacks Dave Cruz and Bounthavy Khamratthanome, and junior fullback Derek Malone and freshman fullback Alex Wiese.

Cruz and Khamratthanome supplied the speed to bounce around the field while Malone and Wiese provided the raw power to stuff the ball up the middle. The WSU ground game averaged more than 150 yards per game, while Wiese led the group with nine scores.

Cruz was named first team all-NSIC punt returner and second team kick returner, Khamratthanome grabbed second team running back honors, while both Malone and Wiese were honorable mentions.

To have a successful ground game, a football team must have a talented offensive line, and Winona will be returning the entire starting front next year. In the middle sits NSIC first team center sophomore Nate Daniels, flanked by fellow first teamers sophomre Pete Kucharus and junior Dave Krystowiak.

Sophomore Kyle Owens and sophomore Caleb Nicholson were also solid up front, as the group combined to play in 53 of a possible 55 games.

Back to front, linemen to receivers, running backs to quarterbacks, the Winona State offensive unit rolled up an amazing 38.7 points per game, outscored their opponents by 16 points a game, and gained an astounding

470 yards of total offense per game.

With a solid returning core of players, we should expect much of the same from the Warriors on the gridiron next fall.