July 19, 2021 at 11:07 a.m.
RHS-led North squad wins WFCA All-Star Game
RHS-led North squad wins WFCA All-Star Game
Kraemer guided the North Large School All-Star squad to a 7-0 victory over the South Saturday night at UW-Oshkosh's Titan Stadium. Afterward, the two RHS football players who made the squad - Jackson Labs and Quinn Lamers - made sure to drench their coach one final time.
"I really could have done without that. They could have just given me a high five and said, 'Thanks coach,' but it's just a special moment," Kraemer said. "It was just special to be able to coach both of those guys one more time. Bittersweet being the end of coaching those guys, but it was a hell of a week and I had so much fun."
The North's defense was dominant in the contest, holding the South to only 74 yards of total offense while forcing three turnovers. Labs had two of them on a pair of first-half interceptions and Kimberly's Damon Loker returned a pick 27 yards in the fourth quarter for what proved to be the game's only score.
"Defense is a team game and all week that's the way we played," Kraemer said. "Defense picked our level up and we brought it to them. All game you could tell the North was more physical than the South. To me, that's all we needed - physicality and a little heart at the end and our defense coming up big with turnovers."
The game capped off a five-day week of activities for the team, which had representation from the best senior Division 1-3 players in the northern part of the state. Rhinelander was well-represented with Kraemer, Labs, Lamers and assistant coaches Mike and Luke Roberts.
The Great Northern Conference was also represented by Mosinee wide receiver Drayton Lehman, Lakeland defensive end Barron Lenz and Lakeland head coach Dan Barutha, who served as one of Kraemer's assistants.
Kraemer said he was impressed with the team's business-like demeanor.
"It was just business football all week long," he said. "It was just like a college football camp. Our coaches rallied around the kids and the kids bought in and here we are, we won the game."
Added Lamers, "I was proud of our guys coming together, doing it as a team. It was a really fun week for a really great cause and I'm proud to be part of something like this."
The victory gave the North a 2-1 series win in the All-Star Game weekend. The North side won the Small School All-Star Game 17-14 Saturday afternoon. The South won Friday night's 8-man All-Star Game, 35-16.
Labs doing Labs things
Labs had seven interceptions in 2020 - most in the state among those who competed in the traditional fall season. His displayed his penchant for picking off passes again Saturday night.
Labs picked off Marquette's Nick Hansen on a shallow out route late in the first quarter and then ended the South's best offensive drive of the night - intercepting a shot into end zone by Monroe's Max Golembiewski intended for Grafton's Dominic Volland.
"They gave me opportunities, just like in the GNC and I was able was to take them," Labs said. "I was just making plays, trying to do anything for the team."
"I think there were a lot of people out here that said, 'not fast enough, not tall enough, not athletic enough,'" Kraemer said. "Well, guess what? He came out with two picks and showed he belonged in this game."
A meaningful cause
For as well as Jackson Labs played, he might not have been the most notable member of his family at the game. Labs' older sister, Jasmine, served as an ambassador for the Children's Wisconsin - which benefits from the proceeds generated from the event.
Jasmine Labs, 21, was born with a congenital heart condition and was a patient of Children's Hospital in Milwaukee on multiple occasions as a child. She has had three open heart surgeries already and will need a heart transplant in the future.
"I spent most of my first couple years of my life there," she said. "(They've) really helped my parents and the great surgeons and staff that they have. I've been with them through the 21 years of my life, been communicating back and forth and they've really helped us."
The elder Labs was on the field for the coin toss, and got to keep the commemorative coin. She and her family were on the field for a check presentation at halftime as WFCA president - and RHS alum - Tony Biolo presented Children's Wisconsin with a check for $295,954 from money raised by players collecting donations prior to the game.
Jackson Labs was recognized as the player who secured the most donations for the North Large team, raising $9,345 individually.
"It means a ton to my whole family, me included," Jackson Labs said. "They went through a lot, especially when she was younger and she's still here, still going strong. It's just a great cause to be playing for."
Added Jasmine Labs, "I just want to thank everybody who donated - a lot of community members from Rhinelander, people who anonymously donated, family members, friends, it just means a lot to us."
Lamers provides a spark
Lamers was one of three quarterbacks on the North roster and got in for two possessions in the second half. In an event where offensive stats were hard to come by, he had some of the best numbers of the evening.
Lamers completed all six of his pass attempts for 35 yards. He also had the longest run of the night, an 11-yard scramble for a first-down in the third quarter.
Three of Lamers passes went to Lehman, including a 15-yarder in the fourth quarter.
"You'll know he's always open, that's what I'll tell you," Lamers said of his former GNC rival. "It was great to connect with him there. That was a big first down to pin them back deep. Little things like that really helped put us in position for our defense."
During the week, Kraemer credited Lamers as being essentially another coach on the staff, as he helped teach a modified version Hodags' offensive playbook to the rest of the North squad.
"Quinn helped the other quarterbacks learn it," Kraemer said. "I'm coaching the offensive line, so when they went into their (skeleton) period, he was calling the plays and the formations and getting the guys ready. All the other coaches are coaching their guys and are not used to calling the plays. Quinn kind of stepped up and did that."
Lamers said the college-like atmosphere both during and leading up to the game will help him as he prepares to head to the University of Montana to be a part of the university's Division I-FCS football program.
"The game speed is definitely a lot faster and it's something that really helped me prepare for the next level, I think, this week of practice and preparation and everything like that," he said. "It just makes me all the more excited to get out there."
Family affair
Mike Roberts and his son, Luke, got to share the experience together as assistant coaches on the squad. A moment both said they cherished.
"Coaching these kids has been great. They're all great kids," Mike Roberts said. "For me and Luke to be here together and the football tradition that's in our family. It's just really cool. My dad never coached in this, but it's cool."
Mike's father and Luke's grandfather, John, was a long-time coach at Antigo. He passed away last November at the age of 83.
"Like my dad said, it was really cool to do it this year because we've had a tough year. It's awesome to be here and do this with this group of guys," Luke Roberts said. "Especially working on the same side of the ball with position groups that work together, we interact a lot."
It was also a homecoming for Luke Roberts who played for UW-Oshkosh after graduating from Rhinelander in 2015.
"It gave me some flashbacks," he said. "We stayed where I stayed when we had camp and we were practicing where I practiced. It's really, really cool."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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