October 31, 2018 at 11:44 a.m.
All-conference All-Stars
Martin, Erikson, Von Oepen among Hodags to receive first-team honors
All-conference All-Stars
The Hodag girls' tennis team led the way with 10 all-conference honorees, followed by boys' soccer with eight, football with five, girls' swimming with four and cross country with one. The RHS volleyball team did not have any players receive all-conference recognition.
All-conference teams for football, boys' soccer and volleyball were result of votes taken during the GNC fall coaches' meeting held last Wednesday in Tomahawk. The all-conference teams in cross country, girls' swimming and girls' tennis were based on performances in each sport's conference meet.
Football
The RHS football team finished with five all-conference recipients this year, and had multiple honorees on both sides of the ball.
Drake Martin was recognized by the coaches as a first-team running back for the second straight year. He was joined on the first team by safety Peyton Erikson. Trevor Knapp earned a spot on the second-team offensive line while Connor Lund and Josh Francisco received honorable mention at tight end and defensive back, respectively.
"We did nominate more players than that," Ferge said. "I'd like to get all of our kids credit, but I thought the selection committee of the coaches overall was very fair about selecting the kids. I think the coaches realized that our conference was very balanced out."
Getting Martin back on the first team was a pretty easy sell as the junior won the GNC rushing title with 861 yards this year. His eight rushing touchdowns ranked fourth in the conference.
"I won't understate this at all, he's a very humble kid," Ferge said. "He's fast. He's strong. He works hard. He's smart. He could be a different kind of a teammate, but he's not. He's very humble. He's a kid I wish I could have played football with. He deserves first-team all-conference 100 percent and the other coaches agreed upon that."
Erikson led the Hodags with 64 tackles this season, including 38 tackles in GNC play. Erikson added a couple of interceptions and a forced fumble to his defensive tally this year and was very active in the Hodags' base 3-5-3 defense.
"Peyton made a lot of plays for us," Ferge said. "I expect a lot more next year. He's got good instincts. He knows how to get the ball. I expect him to create more turnovers than he did. His numbers were there."
Two players who helped pave the way for Martin were also recognized by the conference coaches. Knapp, a junior and the team's starting center, was the only lineman to start all nine games in the same position for Rhinelander. Lund pitched in a couple of games on the offensive line and, as a tight end, had five receptions for 68 yards in league play.
"We had 11 different guys play offensive line and the most consistent piece of that was Trevor. He was the leader of our offensive line. He really got that group going," Ferge said. "(Connor) got the edge for us, which was great. I needed to make a case for him with his blocking and he made some huge catches for us in-season. I'm looking for him to do a lot more of that next year."
Francisco was the only senior who earned all-conference honors for the Hodags - a well-deserved achievement for the team captain, Ferge said.
"Josh does everything right," Ferge said. "Josh is always there. Josh always has the right attitude. As far as me reaching out and saying, 'I want this kid to get recognized,' I definitely wanted to have our program have Josh recognized for everything that he does.
"I never, ever, saw him drop his head. I never had him question anything. He was always positive. He's a great athlete. He works so hard. Watching him in the weight room, I'd buy tickets to watch him power clean. It's really exciting what he can do for his weight. Weighing only 135 pounds and being able to clean 230 pounds is unbelievable. He's fearless. He's a great teammate, another person that's very humble and someone who really wanted to win."
Ashland swept top honors in the voting, quarterback Jordan Brennan was named offensive player of the year, linebacker Brennan Corbine was named defensive player of the year and Travis Larson was voted coach of the year.
Boys' soccer
The Hodag boys' soccer team had eight all-conference honorees, led by first-team selections Matthew Von Oepen and Harrison Shinners.
Another two players - Hunter Hicks and Hugh Wiese - were named to the second team while Josh Randolph, Anthony Kowalski, Nicholas St. Pierre and Martin Hoger received honorable mention.
"This year there was much more parity in the conference," RHSâcoach Dan Millot noted. "I'm pretty sure every team in the conference had at least one player (on the first team). I think some other people probably deserved recognition but, for whatever reason, didn't get the votes."
Von Oepen, who was an unanimous pick, was hard to ignore as he scored a conference-best 20 goals this season. His 44 points overall in the conference were one behind Northland Pines' Liam Oas, who was voted the conference's offensive player of the year.
"Matthew did a really nice job for us all season long, (was) pretty consistent and was the player on our team that other teams worried about the most," Millot said.
Shinners only scored one goal, but was the anchor of a Hodag defensive unit that finished second in the GNC in goals allowed (17). As a junior, Millot said Shinners was tasked with taking over the Hodags' back four.
"I thought Harry stepped in and did a really nice job," he said. "He was pretty consistent throughout the season. Once we moved Martin and Nick out of defense, he basically had to adjust and control everything. Basically halfway through the year we were using an entirely new defense completely. I thought he did a really nice job trying to be the leader and anchor back there."
Randolph's 2.00 goals against average was third-best in the GNC. The rest of Rhinelander's honorable mention recipients played multiple positions this year for the Hodags. Both St. Pierre and Kowalski split time at defense and striker, while Hoger moved from outside defender to outside midfielder and finished tied for fourth in the GNC with five assists.
Mosinee's Ryan Walsh took home defensive player of the year honors and Northland Pines' Mark Pinski was voted the coach of the year.
Girls' tennis
All ten starters on the Rhinelander High School girls' tennis team received some sort of all-conference recognition, a feat the Hodags have accomplished seven consecutive years.
Emma Roberts, who clinched the GNC team championship for the Hodags with a win over Antigo's Ellie Kelly in the No. 2 singles flight at the conference meet Sept. 22 in Minocqua, earned first-team honors, as did the team's Nos. 3 and 4 singles champs - Kenedy Van Zile and Kaylee Pontell.
The rest of the team placed third in their respective flights at conference and received honorable mention. Those players include Alex Oestreich, Annika Johnson, Haley Seefeldt, Madi Losch, Alexis Pyrchalla, Savannah Chartier and Jackie Wells.
Girls' swimming
The Hodags had four swimmers earn all-conference recognition by virtue of their performances at the GNC meet last Friday and Lakeland - Makenna Winnicki, Lisa Kennedy, Noelle St. Pierre and Grace Heck. All four were members of the Hodags' top entry in the 200-yard medley relay, which earned second-team honors with a runner-up finish to Tomahawk at the GNC meet.
Winnicki added a first-team mention with her win in the 100 butterfly and earned a spot on the second-team with a runner-up performance in the 500 freestyle. Kennedy and St. Pierre received honorable mentions for their third-place performances in the 200 freestyle and 100 breaststroke, respectively.
Cross country
Bridger Flory was Rhinelander's lone all-conference honoree in cross country, based off his fourth-place performance at the GNC meet Oct. 13 in Rhinelander.
Prior to this year, Flory was the last Hodag boy to make the all-conference team, accomplishing the feat as a freshman in 2015. Flory was Rhinelander's first male runner to earn first-team recognition since Nate Schoone in 2010 and 2011.
Flory finished 36th this past Saturday at the WIAA Division 2 state cross country meet in Wisconsin Rapids. He was the highest-placing GNC runner in the boys' field.
Volleyball
The Hodag volleyball team did not receive any all-Great Northern Conference recognition this season, marking the first time in the conference's 10-year existence that a volleyball team did not get at least one all-conference honoree.
Rhinelander lost its last 37 matches of the year to finish 1-38 overall. The Hodags were 0-12 in the GNC, winning only one of the 37 sets they played.
The team had only one player rank in the top 10 of any statistical category in conference play this season. That was sophomore Kahlie Arneson, who was seventh in blocking with 0.54 blocks per set.
Northland Pines Jacqueline Smith won player of the year honors. She joined her older sister Lexi (2016) as a winner of the award. Justin Jacobs, who led Mosinee to its first WIAA state volleyball tournament since 2003, was the conference's coach of the year.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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