Heck named RHS football’s Hodag Award winner

According to coach Aaron Kraemer, the Rhinelander High School football team’s return to the WIAA playoffs following a 1-8 campaign in 2022 took some swallowing of pride and selflessness from players and coaches who were willing to put the team ahead of the individual. 

That attitude was embodied by the player who took home the team’s top honor in 2023. 

Senior James Heck, a standout on both sides of the ball, was named the team’s Hodag Award recipient as the team’s most outstanding player this season. That honor was presented Sunday during the team’s banquet at The Pines event center.

Heck was at the focal point of the most seismic change for the Hodags in the offseason. He was moved from quarterback to running back in the midst of the team’s change to a Wing-T philosophy on offense. 

Statistically, Heck turned into one of Rhinelander’s best two-way players. Offensively, he led the team in total yards (583), rushing yards (492) and touchdowns (7) from the tailback spot. Defensively, he led the team with three sacks and his 30 total tackles were sixth on the team. 

During the banquet, Kraemer said Heck had every reason to have an adverse reaction last offseason when he was told he was being moved from the quarterback position, but instead took the news in stride.

“He took that opportunity to go and try a different position,” Kraemer said. “He’s someone that never left the field defensively for us for one play, except for against Medford when I pulled him out at the end of the game.”

That attitude led to honorable mention in the GNC at both running back and outside linebacker for Heck this season. Moreover, Kraemer said Heck was the team’s leader on and off the field.

“He’s somebody that, over all the things he was able to accomplish as an athlete, is somebody that was the ambassador of our program out in the community,” Kraemer said. “He’s the guy that talked to the refs. He’s the guy that talked to the little students as Central and Crescent and Pelican and NCES. He’s the guy that exemplified what it means to be a Hodag football player.”

Heck’s honor was just one of four awards handed out by the team during the program. Senior Owen Ives received the team’s Transformer Award while Chandler Servent and Maxi Singhammer shared scout team player of the year honors. 

Ives recorded 24 tackles and an interception for the Hodags this year as he worked his way into a starting spot in the secondary during the season. He also recorded the hit on a receiver that led to Sam Schoppe’s playoff-clinching interception late in a Week 8 victory at Merrill. Ives earned honorable mention in the GNC at defensive back this season and Kraemer said the transformer honor underscored his growth and maturation, as both a person and a football player, this season.

“You can see the physical difference, but the change came character-wise,” Kraemer said. “This is somebody that had all the reasons to lay down, all the excuses and he’s changed that mentality. He’s changed that mentality himself. He’s a better student. He’s a better athlete. He’s a better character and person, and he’s a better football player and young man because of the leaps and bounds he’s taken during the football season.”

Servent, a sophomore who was the team’s backup quarterback, was typically in charge of leading the scout team offense in practice against the varsity during the week.

“He watches film. He knows what’s expected of him,” Kraemer said. “He knows how to work to make sure the offense or defense get their coaching and their scouting, but he’s also someone who took a next level step as a JV quarterback and a defensive player.”

    Award winners Owen Ives, left, and Maxi Singhammer pose for a photograph following the Rhinelander High School football team’s banquet at The Pines event center in Rhinelander Sunday, Oct. 29. Fellow award winners James Heck and Chandler Servent were unable for the photograph. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Singhammer came to the Hodags this year as a foreign exchange student from Germany with great physical tools, but little to no knowledge of the game of football. 

“This is a guy who learned football from the ground up and made a difference,” Kraemer said. “If it weren’t for a hand injury, this is somebody who would have been playing a lot on the defensive line for us at the end of the year. He’s got an extreme motor and that made the scout team defense a machine — so much so that I had to tell him to stop tackling our quarterback. 

“He’s a great football player, and when he goes back to Germany, I hope he takes his knowledge with him and continues on with this because it’s something he truly began to master at the end of the year.”

Kraemer spoke of all the varsity players in attendance during the banquet, and made special mention of senior Owen Kurtz, who was the first player in Kraemer’s tenure to become a four-year letter winner. Despite being slowed by an ankle injury midway through the season, Kurtz still finished fourth on the team with 35 tackles from his defensive line position and was a versatile player on offense — moving from offensive line last year to tailback to the start of the year to tight end by season’s end.

“This is a player you’ve literally seen grow up in front of your face,” Kraemer said. “He’s a guy that had extreme potential coming in and has reached his potential. He worked his tail off in the weight room, does all the little things right. He’s someone as consistent as consistent can be and somebody that earned every recognition that he’s been given, and deserved more, I believe.”

Rhinelander went .500 overall on the year at 5-5 and a 3-4 mark in Great Northern Conference play was good enough for the team to make the WIAA playoffs for only the sixth time in school history. Four of those appearances have come in the last five seasons under Kraemer’s direction. 

Still getting back to the playoffs seemed a long shot following a dismal one-win campaign in 2022. Kraemer credited the senior class for buying in after what proved to be a tumultuous off-season to get the team back on track.

“This team could have had another route, it could have had another path. It could have been another one of those years,” he said. “These guys believed. These are the guys that changed our program for next year.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].