October 26, 2018 at 1:08 p.m.
Juniors Martin, Erikson voted RHS football MVPs
Juniors Martin, Erikson voted RHS football MVPs
The tandem was named the team's offensive and defensive most valuable players Sunday during a banquet held in the RHS commons. The awards were the result of a players-only vote.
Martin rushed for more than 1,100 yards for the second straight season, with 1,162 yards and 13 touchdowns overall. Additionally, Martin was this year's Great Northern Conference rushing champion, with 861 yards and eight touchdowns in six conference games.
Instead of focusing on the statistics, coach Chris Ferge focused on Martin's work ethic and humble attitude in his remarks during the banquet.
"The thing that impresses me the most about Drake, I've been around guys who are great athletes like Drake is and they don't act like Drake," Ferge said. "Drake cares about his teammates. I'll say that as a big complement to him. I'm proud of him being humble. He would tell you after a game, if he had a good game, that his offensive line deserves just as much credit. The team deserves the credit. He gets it, and I want all our guys who get the touches to understand that."
On the other side of the ball, despite missing the Bell Game Sept. 14 at Antigo due to a concussion, Erikson was Rhinelander's leading tackler, averaging eight stops a game. He also forced a fumble and had a team-high two interceptions.
Ferge said Erikson was tailor-made for his role as the team's strong safety when the team sat down with coaches from UW-Oshkosh during the summer to go over ways to improve the defense.
"When we talked about the defense and meeting with Oshkosh, one of the things that put a lightbulb off in my head immediately was that their safety position is where they want the ball funneled to and, with the way our Hodag (linebackers) played at times they were able to funnel the ball to Peyton," Ferge said. "That's how he got his tackles. He's a guy I don't want to play the game without, ever. I don't question him as an athlete or a competitor. I'm looking for big, big, steps out of him next year, to become a leader."
Another junior, Trevor Knapp, was voted the team's lineman of the year. In addition to being Rhinelander's starting center all year, Knapp was a key component of the Hodags' defensive line. His 44 tackles were tied for third most on the team.
"We asked Trevor to do a lot this year," Ferge said. "When you're asking someone to snap all of our offensive snaps for us from the center position, which is one of the hardest positions for someone to play in our program, and then he anchored our defensive line. He didn't come off the field. He had to go against one of (the opponent's) better linemen the whole year as a junior. That's hard to do. I give him a lot of credit for that."
Despite going 1-8 this season and 0-6 overall in the GNC, the Hodags are optimistic for next season, mainly because Martin, Erikson and Knapp lead a large group of underclassmen who saw significant playing time this season.
"The junior class did a really good job of stepping up to the plate and taking on a lot of different roles for our team," RHS offensive coordinator Aaron Kraemer said during the banquet. "I was proud about what our junior class was able to do. I'm excited about the future of our junior class, our sophomore class and our freshman class coming forward, and I know our junior class is going to be good leaders heading into this offseason and our new year of football."
The team on Sunday also sent off its group of 10 seniors, led by Josh Francisco, who received the team's Hodag character award.
"He knows that being a leader and doing the right thing is not the easy thing to do," Ferge said. "He's someone that can handle it. I've very proud of him. I'm very excited for what he can do in the future and I'm going to miss him a lot."
In general, Ferge said Sunday night was not farewell for the Hodag seniors, rather the passing of the baton to the next chapter of their lives.
"To our seniors I don't say goodbye. I say you're going out there (in the real world), and I expect you to compete," he said. "I expect you to do well. I expect you to be a good person and to be the best version of yourself. How you do that is you need to continue to compete every single day."
Freelancer Bob Mainhardt contributed to this report.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.