Comets’ all-time leading rusher Trever Heitz to play for Wartburg College

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — When he was in seventh grade, Trever Heitz built his own multi-faceted weight room in his basement.

Now a weight room has been built for him.

“It’s going to be great,” the Charles City senior said as his eyes lit up at the chance to address the subject of Wartburg College’s new athletic weight room.

“They had an excellent weight room before, but that’s going to be more for the public to use. The one they have for the athletes is even better.”

Still, there are some advantages in having your own gym. Especially when living through a pandemic.

Last spring, most gyms were closed to the public — even Wartburg’s facilities. But that didn’t stop Heitz, who apparently took being sequestered at home as an excuse to be more of a “homey” gym rat.

One of Heitz’s online at-home workouts impressed then-Comet head football coach Darren Bohlen, who retweeted the exhibition with .. “No school, no weight room, no problem … Trever Heitz is crushing the pandemic.”

All this could have been naught — or at least in terms of Heitz’s goal of being Charles City’s all-time leading rusher. Heitz was 36 yards shy of the Taylor Fiser’s all-time mark going into his senior season, but it wasn’t too sure during the preceding offseason that there was going to be a season.

Heitz was obviously hoping for a senior season and a chance at the school record books, but he already knew that he was going to play football again — if not one more year in high school, then at the next level in college.

“It was a program that had the right opportunities for me,” Heitz said of his decision to play football for Wartburg College, an NCAA Division III program.

Last Wednesday (April 14), Heitz signed his letter of intent to play for the Knights.

The first Charles City sophomore to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, Heitz did get a chance at the Comet all-time rushing record and eclipsed it with a 95-yard performance in a season-opening loss to New Hampton.

COVID-19 exposure shut the Comets down for the following two weeks, but even in an abbreviated season, Heitz rushed for nearly 500 yards while averaging 5.7 ypc on way to earning All-District First-Team Offense honors for the second-straight season. His career rushing total was capped at 2,373 yards.

Incidentally, Heitz’s former coach Bohlen was a record-setting running back for the Knights. But for now, Heitz is not yet targeting more school records.

“I want to focus on contributing to the team the best I can,” said Heitz, who plans to study Exercise Science. “Those types of goals can come later.”