The Little Chute Mustangs enter the 2026 high school football season haunted by a single yard—the distance between them and a state championship. Last November, they fell just short in the Division 4 title game, finishing as the runner-up. Now, with a seasoned roster and a mantra that prizes the present over the prize, they are determined to close that gap.

Head coach Mark Krommenacker has at his disposal a backfield that would make most programs envious. Five players—Reece Joten, Jaden Hermsen, Charlie VandenHeuvel, Tyler Hietpas, and Trevor Verhagen—each rushed for at least 300 yards last season. Remarkably, all five are seniors this year, returning to lead an offense that already knows how to move the chains. This staggering wealth of talent gives the Mustangs a rare stability in the backfield, but Krommenacker refuses to let his team rest on its numbers.

“Our only goal that we ever talk about is just being elite,” Krommenacker said. “And we define elite as just the best version of you. So, that’s all we care about. We just care about winning the moment, doing what’s important now, focusing on those things.”

That philosophy has taken root in the locker room. Defensive back Layton McMahon explained how the coaching staff’s message extends beyond the field. “He wants us to win the moment every day—not just on the field, in the classroom, in the weight room, in life. Win the moment every day. Worry about what’s important now. So, obviously, week by week, day by day. And just be ready August 21st.”

Wide receiver and defensive back William Goffard offered a more precise analogy. “If you’re an inch off your takeoff, you won’t be able to land on the moon,” Goffard said. “So we kind of embrace that. Whereas, like, we take each day like an inch. Like, you have to focus on the inch or the day at a time to actually end up landing on the moon.”

On the offensive and defensive line, Barrett Tamulion echoed the sentiment with a focus on short-term effort. “We just gotta give all the effort every single time,” Tamulion said. “We can’t be thinking ahead to what we need to be doing at the end of the season. We gotta think right now and then August 21st, the first game.”

Little Chute also benefits from a reshuffled Division 4 landscape. Of the four state semifinalists from a year ago, the Mustangs are the only team remaining in the division. The other three have moved up or down, potentially clearing a path to Camp Randall. But the team’s leadership insists that external factors are irrelevant if the daily discipline falters.

With the season opener against Xavier scheduled for August 21st, the Mustangs will have their first chance to prove that their process-oriented approach works under the lights. If Krommenacker’s squad can continue to win the daily “inches,” he believes the final scoreboard at the end of the year may take care of itself. The hardware is still out of reach, but the focus is squarely on the next snap, the next rep, the next moment.