Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Ryan Schott and Nick Milder spent a good portion of their childhoods trying to knock each other down.

When you spend as much time together on the football field and wrestling mat as Schott and Milder that’s just what friends do.

“We’ve been partners in wrestling since elementary school and whenever we would do football drills we’d get paired up there too,” Schott said. “We’ve been through it all in every sport.”

After years of trying to take each other down the duo has teamed up and turned the focus to tackling opponents.

In their first season starting alongside each other at linebacker Schott and Milder are the top two tacklers for fourth-ranked Regina (10-2) entering Friday’s Class 1A state title game against No. 2 Van Meter (12-0) at 11 a.m. at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls.

“We’ve been butting heads since we were in kindergarten,” Milder said. “It definitely makes it a lot better having someone out there that you have competed with and been friends with for as long as we have been playing together.”

Prior to this season Milder and Schott were both more known for their performance on the wrestling mat than the football field.

Both were conference champions and state qualifiers for Regina last winter, Schott at 160 pounds, Milder at 170.

This fall the duo has translated that to success on the football field.

The 5-foot-10, 180-pound Milder has made a team-high 63.5 tackles while the 6-foot, 185-pound Schott is right behind his workout partner with 52.

“Wrestling helps a lot especially in the mental aspect, you are a lot more physical I feel like,” Milder said. “(Defensive coordinator Jason) Dumont always makes fun of us he says we like to get down low and make these wrap tackles instead of driving forward but I think it definitely helps us in a lot of aspects.”

There was a time this fall Schott was ready to walk away from football.

A starter on the Regina baseball team Schott was looking at a short break between the Regals’ loss in the semifinals of the state baseball tournament and the start of his senior football season.

He decided his football career was over.

Schott watched Regina’s season opening 23-6 loss to Xavier from bleachers but couldn’t stand it.

He approached the Regina coaches shortly after about a return to the field.

“I watched the Xavier games from the stands and I missed it a ton and I wanted to get back out there,” Schott said. “They took me in which I was grateful for.”

Seven days after watching the opener from the stands Schott made a team-high 13 tackles and had 10 solo stops in his first career start against Solon.

“Baseball is probably his true love in a small school we were glad to have him back out,” Regina coach Marv Cook said. “He’s an incredible athlete and made us better the day he signed up.”

In August Schott was sure he wanted to play football. Fast forward a few months and nothing can keep him off the field.

Schott tore the MCL in his knee against Highland and made two tackles the next week in a win over then district co-leader Wilton.

He sat out the final three games of the regular season before returning to make 21.5 tackles including 1.5 sacks in three playoff wins.

Schott has made his 52 tackles in just eight games and also has an interception.

“He’s an athletic, dynamic guy who plays explosive and downhill,” Cook said. “He runs to the football extremely well and that’s kind of an infectious quality when you have that kind of energy on that side of the ball.”

The only player who can match the defensive production of Schott is his childhood friend and long-time practice partner Milder.

In his first season as a starter the junior has made 61 solo stops, 14 more than Schott for the team lead.

Milder made 16.5 tackles in his first two seasons.

He made nine in the season opener with Cedar Rapids Xavier and hasn’t slowed down.

Milder has 22.5 tackles in three postseason wins including 6.5 in a 37-35 semifinal win over Pella Christian. He has also rushed for 153 yards and caught a 12-yard touchdown pass.

“I’ve gotten a lot more reps, I know our defense more,” Milder said. “I know the other offenses more and my technique has gotten a lot better too.”