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Steen enjoying new challenges with Wartburg football team

2019 WCHS?graduate doing what he can to stay in shape at home

Dylan Steen, a 2019 Webster City High School graduate, was scheduled to begin his first spring practice workouts with the Wartburg College football team on April 27. The coronavirus pandemic halted his plans. Submitted photo

WEBSTER CITY — What was supposed to be and what actually is reality are two different things in the life of Dylan Steen right now.

The 2019 Webster City High School graduate and freshman at Wartburg College was supposed to be finishing up finals for the winter term this week. He was supposed to be preparing for the Knights’ spring football practice, set to begin on April 27. He was supposed to be enjoying campus life and the new relationships he’d built in his first year away from home.

The reality is that life rarely goes as planned, something the coronavirus pandemic has reminded everyone over the past month. It’s forced us all to adapt.

Back at his family home, Steen is instead spending his days in isolation. He’s done plenty of turkey hunting, so that’s a plus, and he’s been able to lock in on his studies, another positive. Always mature beyond his years, Steen has opted to look at what he has, rather than what he doesn’t, as his college life has screeched to a halt.

“I’m not doing a whole lot right now, but I wouldn’t say it’s been an entirely bad thing because I’ve been able to focus on my schoolwork,” Steen said Wednesday night, just hours after he took the last of his finals virtually. “I would match rather be on campus doing all this stuff, but at the same time my focus has been amplified being here at home.”

Dylan Steen breaks into the open field for Webster City during a 2018 football game against Boone. Steen rushed for 1,005 yards as a senior and accounted for 2,984 yards of total offense during his three-year Lynx career. He also collected 22 interceptions, the third-most in state history. DFJ file photo/Troy Banning

Still, this is a critical spring for Steen’s football career, as he looks to join the mix for a starting role with the Knights in the fall. Brought into the program as a safety, Steen spent his freshman season last fall as a special teams player primarily, but he wants more. What player wouldn’t? And this spring was going to be his chance to show his coaches that he was ready to take that next step.

“I was starting from scratch when I got there because it’s completely different schemes than anything I’ve done in the past,” Steen said. “The concepts and the techniques are a little different, but ultimately I think it’s made me a better player because I know multiple ways to play (the position) now.

“I have a good understanding of all of the concepts, but now is the opportunity where I can look deeper into it and really advance with my knowledge.”

Steen is doing all he can from home to stay in football shape. The detailed workouts sent to him by coaches, he’s gobbling them up like they’re Thanksgiving feasts and he hasn’t eaten for weeks. He’s studying his playbook and trying to stay mentally sharp too.

“As of right now, we’re kind of on our own,” Steen said. “The big thing we’re missing out on right now is the physical aspect of it, which is really important for the guys that are learning. But we’re also missing out on just being together. Not being together is tough.”

Day after day, Steen goes about his business of preparing for a fall season that he knows might not happen. Wartburg, which went 10-2 and reached the second round of the NCAA Division III playoffs last fall, is scheduled to begin the 2020 season on Sept. 5 at Monmouth College.

Is Steen worried that COVID-19 could wipe out the upcoming season?

“For the most part, I would say I’m more so worried for everything right now, not just football,” he said. “I just want to see this thing go away as fast as possible because it’s really altered the way we conduct business, and it’s hard for everybody with how isolated we all are. But for football, I really hope this thing gets resolved because our seniors have really put in the time and gone through a whole lot. They deserve to have their final season.”

Few athletes have exited Webster City with an athletics resume that can match the one Steen compiled from the summer of 2015 through the summer of 2019. He was a five-year starter on the baseball field, a three-year starter in football and a part of the Lynx Class 3A state runner-up team in 2016, as well as a three-year contributor on the basketball court.

With 22 career interceptions on the gridiron for WCHS, Steen ranks third all-time (11-player) in Iowa and he challenged the state record of 24 during his senior campaign in the fall of 2018. He collected a single-season school record 10 picks in 2017 on his way to an elite all-state honor, and added seven more as a senior en route to another all-state accolade.

Steen’s school record didn’t last long though. Just last fall, Lynx junior Tyler Olson picked off 12 passes and he’ll enter his senior season this fall with 14 in his career.

“I was at the Boone game (last fall) when (Olson) broke the record, so that was really cool to be there and see that,” Steen said. “It’s kind of a testament to how hard he’s worked and I’m really pulling for him (to break Steen’s all-time school record).”

As a spinback and tailback, Steen accrued 2,984 yards of total offense and was responsible for 34 touchdowns during his WCHS career.

Steen was also a two-time all-state baseball player, and earned a first-team all-North Central Conference basketball award as a senior.

Steen has left all of his high school accomplishments in the rearview mirror though. If Olson can break all of his interception records, he’ll be OK with it because he’s turned the page.

“Hopefully I can set another (interception) record at Wartburg,” he said. “That’s the goal.”

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