Hampton’s Wyatt Dose is airborne as he grabs Harvard quarterback Ethyn Whetstine-Jones for a sack last fall. Dose enters his senior year as one of the Hawks’ leaders after throwing for 700 yards and 15 touchdowns and recording 30 tackles as a junior – Ken Kush News-Times file photo.
York News-Times Press Release
Written by Christian Horn
HAMPTON — In many ways, the 2025-26 school year will be a time of transition for Hampton in the world of athletics.
The Hawks are set to co-op with Heartland in almost every sport this year, the debut of a new partnership between the two schools. However, that’s not the case on the gridiron.
In football only, Hampton and Heartland will remain solo for one more season this fall before combining forces as the Bearcats in 2026. For the Hawks, that means one more go in the six-man ranks with head coach Jereme Jones.
“It’s been a good summer for us. We have low numbers, 14 guys, so it is tough to do a lot of team stuff. However, we have been able to do a lot of individual drills,” Jones said. “We were also invited to join an 8-man passing league (5v5) at Heartland, and that has been very valuable for us to get some competition going, and it has given us an opportunity to work on our passing game.”
Because the co-op has not expanded to include football yet, a small roster means keeping everybody healthy will be a top priority, not just during the summer but also after the season kicks off in August.
It’s a fact the Hawks fully understand and have taken some measures to try and shore up depth where possible.
“We are looking at 14 players, so overall depth is an issue,” Jones said. Thankfully, we have guys spread out position-wise, so we do have some depth at positions if we can stay healthy. We focused a lot this summer on improving both our passing offense and defense through individual drills and the 5v5 competitions.”
Outside of depth, Hampton’s primary challenge this summer lies in forging a new identity on offense.
The Hawks figure to look a little different on that side of the ball this fall. In recent years, you could bet Jones and company would deploy a rush-first attack that made full use of standout running back Jack Bullis.
For three seasons, Bullis was a weapon for the Hawks on the ground as he helped spark a trio of playoff appearances during his career.
He eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in all three seasons, racking up a total of 3,498 yards and a whopping 56 touchdowns on 403 carries, averaging 8.7 yards per carry for his career.
It will be tough for Hampton to find somebody to single-handedly fill Bullis’ shoes; after all, three-time 1,000-yard rushers don’t grow on trees.
However, the Hawks anticipated such a thing and are fully prepared for the next step.
Jones said he expects the team to trot out a ground attack featuring a by-committee approach rather than the one-man highlight reel Bullis often was.
“We will have to replace Jack in the aggregate, using multiple people and their skills to replace what he did for us last year,” he said. “We have a couple of young backs that I think have the ability to step up this year, and a senior quarterback and some good receivers that I think will open up our passing game.”
Looking at the roster, there’s reason to hope Hampton’s cumulative rushing attack can maintain similar production, even if it’s not all coming from the same source.
Kyler Rojewski was the Hawks’ second-leading rusher as a sophomore and averaged a very respectable 8.4 yards per carry. He didn’t have a massive workload with Bullis still in the backfield, but Rojewski was still a productive No. 2 with 352 yards and six scores on 42 carries.
Behind him, Landen Rojewski saw limited action during his freshman campaign but maximized the value of his touches. In five carries, he racked up 74 yards and a touchdown for an average of 14.8 yards a pop.
Again, it’s a small sample size with 47 total rushing attempts between the two players — but the production was there despite limited reps.
If the Rojewski duo is able to take another leap forward this fall with a larger workload, Hampton’s time share rushing attack could still be plenty potent.
There’s also the potential for a leap forward from the passing game, too. It wasn’t exactly non-existent in 2024, as Wyatt Dose threw for 745 yards and 15 touchdowns, but it wasn’t game-breaking either.
Hampton could use a little bit more production through the air this fall to help alleviate any potential growing pains from the young running back room. Fortunately, things set up fairly well for that.
Dose is back in the fold with another year of experience under his belt, and he’ll be looking to go out on a high note during his senior year.
Bullis was the team’s leading receiver last fall, but Landen Rojewski was second with 160 yards and four touchdowns. Classmate Brayden Wolinski also hauled in five receiving scores, and the sophomore tandem gives Dose some solid weapons to work with.
Hampton will probably air it out more than their 96 attempts in nine games last season, but with Dose’s experience under center and the potential for explosive weapons in the receiving corps, the potential is still pretty high.
Dose is one of four seniors on the roster, and it’s a group that has played a lot of football together throughout their careers. That kind of veteran leadership should pay dividends for the Hawks on the gridiron.
“We have four seniors this year, two of whom, Wyatt Dose and Tyler Mollevik, have played a lot of football for us,” Jones said. “They are going to be important for us this year. Porter Dose missed last year with an injury and has a chance to earn a lot of playing time this year.”
Defensively, Hampton loses its second-and-third-leading tacklers, but the Hawks do still return three of their top five in that category from 2024.
Kyler Rojewski led the way with a team-high 84, while Mollevik chipped in 48, Landen Rojewski had 34 and Wyatt Dose finished with 30.
Mollevik paced Hampton in both tackles for loss and sacks as he racked up 14 and 4.5, respectively.
Outside of the four seniors, the Hawks have a massive five-man sophomore class that includes the younger Rojewski, Wolinski, Mason Wiens, Landen Hansen and Noah Miller.
They didn’t all see a ton of playing time but have a full year of experience under their belts as they enter their second seasons in the program. Wiens also comes into the fall on the heels of a strong freshman track season in which he qualified for state in the mile.
Together, the senior quartet and sophomore quintet account for nine of Hampton’s 14 athletes on roster.
If the Hawks are to reach the postseason for the fourth year in a row, it will have to stem from the blend of youthful potential and seasoned experience.
“Kyler Rojewski was our leading tackler last year as a sophomore. He played some running back last year, but he will take on a much larger role without Jack,” Jones said. “Mason Wiens has shown a lot of growth and has the ability to help out at running back, wide receiver, and cornerback. We have five sophomores this year, all of whom will need to find a way to be productive players for us to be successful.”
