DE PERE, Wis. (WFRV) – Last season, De Pere football started 0-3 and finished the year with a 4-6 record. With hopes to bury 2022 in the past, the Redbirds ran into a deja vu scenario, kicking off the ’23 season with three straight losses.

In most cases, another abysmal start would lead to a lack of hope within De Pere’s inner circle. But, thanks to Redbirds captain Easton Arendt, the team stayed focused. That mentality would pay off in this past Thursday’s De Pere thrashing of Green Bay East, 56-0.

Although all the praise can’t rest solely on Arendt and how he rallied his team together, a lot can be said about how he handled such apparent adversity. In fact, it comes as no surprise that he did.

The senior was born with seven fingers, leaving him with just one fully functional hand. That hasn’t stopped Arendt from garnering first-team all-state honors as a pitcher and being named De Pere’s starting quarterback by game two of last season.

His mantra of “nothing is impossible, just keep working as hard as you can and things will play out just right” was truer than ever when Arendt threw for 139 yards and tacked on two touchdowns in De Pere’s first win of the season.

The senior QB is back in action when the Redbirds travel to Green Bay Southwest to take on the Trojans on Friday, September 15.