Citizens Voice

As far as standards are concerned, Wyoming Area’s Josh Mruk realizes he has quite a bit to live up to. The sophomore understands what is expected of the football team year in and year out as well as each Friday night the team takes the field.
Then there are his two older brothers, Corey and Drew who carved their legacies at Wyoming Area.
So here is Josh, beginning his own journey, and, so far, he is off to a really good start.
“I’m just trying to keep the name going. They were pretty good at football,” Mruk said. “We kind of do our own thing. We don’t talk trash or anything like that. We just go out and perform.”
Corey and Drew were running backs. Josh broke the mold and plays tight end and defensive end, a move he likes based on his size and measurables as he checks in at 6-foot-1, 215 pounds.
“I’m just a littler bit bigger than them,” Mruk said with a laugh. “I weigh a little more than they did at the time. That put me at tight end. They both help me out whenever they can. I can go to them and talk about football. They give me advice on what I can do in certain scenarios.”
Corey and Drew were both on the 2019 Wyoming Area team that won the Class 3A state title. Drew is a freshman at Princeton, where he throws the javelin.
“I was in sixth grade when they won the state title,” Mruk said. “It was really fun. They were all great people and fun to be around. Now we’re just trying to make the program better whatever we can, live up to the program’s expectations. It’s pretty tough to have to go out and live up to the expectations. We know we always have to perform. We don’t want to let the community down.”
Mruk’s freshman year was a tough one from a personal and team perspective. Mruk got a late start to the year after having his appendix removed. Just when he got into a groove, he suffered a concussion and missed a considerable part of a season that saw the Warriors finish 6-5 and knocked out of the district playoffs by Dallas in the first round.
Along the way, there were several games where a young Wyoming Area team played like a young team. There were some lopsided losses, but the Warriors gained valuable experience.
“I started last season out with an injury and then I got the concussion,” Mruk said. “It was hard to come back and play my first game after having surgery to get my appendix out. It was rough. We were young and did not have a lot of experience. I worked hard to do all I could to get back on the field.”
When he was on the field, he made the most of his opportunity. Essentially learning on the fly, Mruk knew a young team last season would have the potential to turn into a productive one this season.
His assessment was not far off.
The Warriors are 10-1 heading into Friday’s District 2 Class 4A semifinal game at Valley View. Mruk played a key role in last week’s opening-round win picking off a pair of passes and returning one of them for a touchdown.
“I was just trying to pass rush and I saw the quarterback pulling the ball back to throw it,” Mruk said of the interception he returned for a score. “I just jumped and the ball was there. It felt amazing in the moment. I got the ball and made a few cuts in the open field. At the time, it made it a two-score game.”
That is just one phase where Mruk makes an impact for the Warriors, whose only loss came to perennial state power Southern Columbia in Week 9. He leads the Warriors in receptions with 11 for 237 yards and six touchdowns. He averages 21.5 yards per catch and is a threat to hit a route down the middle of the field as well as a big part of the Wyoming Area passing game inside the red zone.
“I was hoping to do significantly better this year than last year in the games I did play in,” Mruk said. “I wanted to go out and do a good job. Going into the season, I started at linebacker, but one of my teammates got hurt two weeks before the season started and I had to step up at defensive end. Tight end has been really fun. They are throwing me the ball and I’m not dropping too many.”
Mruk said he can see last year’s struggles paying dividends this year. It was a goal for the team coming into the season to turn things around. Mruk said the team took the offseason to bond and build team chemistry with the returning players.
“It really helped a lot getting the chance to play last year for all of us,” Mruk said. “Almost everybody was coming back. We just built chemistry the whole time. We have a lot coming back next year. Last season was pretty rough. We got beat pretty bad at times. We just tried to keep the energy up. We just went out and played.”

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