A.C. Flora’s Blake Betette scored on a 50-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the Falcons’ Sportsarama game against Eau Claire.
The A.C. Flora Falcons offense scored 27 points in 24 minutes of action against the Eau Claire Shamrocks during the 64th annual Sportsarama Friday, August 15.
That’s the kind of output the Falcons hope to produce game in and game out in 2025. Two players who will be key to that success will be quarterback Roper Wentzky and RNE transfer wide receiver Blake Betette.
Wentzky enters his third year as starting quarterback.
“I think I’m more mature, more knowledgable of defenses and of the game,” Wentzky said. “I understand the offense better.”
Since stepping off the gridiron following a second round playoff loss to Westside last November,
Wentzky helped A.C. Flora’s baseball team to another Region 3-4A title. Then he spent his summer playing baseball for Richland Post 215 as they won a state championship. Wentzky was also working on improving his quarterback skills during that time.
“It was an experience,” Wentzky said. “I wanted to get back to see my boys at practice. I wanted to try to build chemistry with my team. It was definitely a journey. Baseball is so time consuming. It’s a big time swing. It was a fun journey, a fun last ride for my senior year.”
A. C. Flora’s Roper Wentzky threw three touchdown passes against Eau Claire in the Falcons’ Sportsarama game. Photos by Mike Maddock
Betette is one of the weapons Wentzky will look to in 2025. After three years receiving passes from Will Wilson, Betette now gets to catch passes from Wentzky.
“Going from Will Wilson to Roper Wentzky, it’s nice to have a quarterback put the ball anywhere on the field,” Betette said. “The transition has been a pretty similar feel with these high power offenses. The experience I had at Northeast, having a cerebral quarterback that knows the game and knows what he’s seeing on the field before the play even happens is great. Both of those guys are great. As a receiver, that’s all you can ask for.”
Wentzky and Betette have known each other since preschool. Wentzky says he’s texted Betette in the past about coming to A.C. Flora, and now the seniors get an opportunity to chase a state championship ring together.
“When I came in, I just wanted to find any place where I could help the team win,” Betette said. “Whether that was at safety, where I’m playing a lot now, or running back or wide receiver. I just wanted to find a place on the team in general. The players and coaches have been so welcoming.”
Betette joins a wide receiving corps that has Kendall Byrd. Byrd had an interception in Friday’s Sportsarama, but he has mostly made a name for himself on offense. The other offensive weapons include Jerquan Williams, Timothy Koutrakos, and Trayvon Gray at running back.
“It’s going to be a good year for the offense,” Wentzky said. “If you stack the box, we can throw it around with four guys on the outside. If you don’t stack the box, we can run it with our big offensive line. It should be an interesting season for the offense because we have so many weapons. It should be hard to stop.”
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