Hodag football has 12 all-GNC honorees

A return to the WIAA playoffs and a fourth-place tie in the Great Northern Conference yielded several more individual honors for the Rhinelander High School football team this year.

Rhinelander has 11 different players honored and earned 12 spots overall when the All-Great Northern Conference team was unveiled by the conference on Sunday. The awards were based on the results of voting conducted last week among the conference’s football coaches. 

The Hodags had only one first-team honoree — punter Tyler Chariton — but walked away with four second-team honors and seven honorable mentions. 

“We got to nominate 14, so 12 out of 14 is pretty good,” coach Aaron Kraemer said, noting the sliding scale the conference uses to determine how many nominations each team gets based on where they finished in the standings. 

The take was much more than what the Hodags had last year when they went only 1-6 in the conference. Rhinelander garnered only five honors among four different players last year. 

    In this Sept. 29, 2023 file photo, Rhinelander’s Kaeden Piller prepares to snap the ball during a GNC football game against Medford at Mike Webster Stadium. Piller and fellow offensive lineman Sam Balge both earned second-team All-Great Northern Conference recognition from the conference coaches when the all-conference team was announced on Sunday. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Offensive linemen Sam Balge and Kaeden Piller took home second-team honors along with defensive lineman Owen Kurtz and safety Truman Lamers.

Senior James Heck was the only two-way honoree for Rhinelander, receiving honorable mention at both running back and outside linebacker. Dolan O’Malley, Caden Sieker, Sam Schoppe, Owen Ives and Zach Germain also received honorable mention.

While Chariton’s 31.3-yard average was only fifth-best among punters this season in the GNC, his 22 punts were tied for second with Hayward’s Micah Bacon and he proved to be a weapon in the punting game when the snap and the protection held. That was exemplified in what proved to be the Hodags’ playoff-clinching 7-0 win at Merrill Oct. 7 when Chariton averaged more than 41 yards per punt and pinned the Bluejays inside their own 15 yard line with less than two minutes remaining, setting up a game-sealing interception. 

“He single-handedly kept us in that game, trying to get the ball down field and flip the field for us,” Kraemer said. “We needed every inch of that to win that game. Tyler was consistent this year, he only had one or two punts that weren’t over 30 yards and he had four punts in the 40-50 range and a couple inside the 20. 

“He’s definitely deserving of first team. As an offensive coordinator, it doesn’t make you happy when your punter has to be used that much, but he definitely deserves that recognition.”

The Hodags had the No. 6 rushing offense in the GNC and two seniors — Balge and Piller — were honored for anchoring the offensive line. Balge started every game at right tackle while Piller made eight starts at center, despite battling an illness that forced him to miss a game Week 6 against Mosinee.

“All it took was one mention of the Mosinee game to the coaches in our conference to realize how important Kaeden was to us in the battery,” Kraemer said, noting the Hodags’ struggles getting the snap off in that contest. “People saw the importance in that and that’s why they voted for him, because of his consistency when he was in there.

“Sam, on his days, is our most devastating offensive lineman. For being a guy that’s only played for three years, he’s really picked it up. I wish I had him for one more year, because I think the consistency of his play would change with one more year of football.”

Kurtz earned second team honors on defense for the second straight year, despite battling injury. A sprained ankle suffered in a Week 5 loss to Antigo cost Kurtz a game and a half, but he still finished league play with 32 total tackle and one take for loss. 

“For my money, he’s the most dominant defensive lineman in the Great Northern,” Kraemer said. “The unfortunate thing is that he didn’t have the same numbers maybe that he would have had if he wouldn’t have had his high ankle sprain. But still a great player and someone who deserved to be recognized.”

Lamers, meanwhile, put up numbers as a versatile member of the Hodag defense. Though not an official stats tracked by the conference, his 44 total tackles in league games tied for ninth in the GNC. He also had four tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and a pair of interceptions in league play.

“To me he’s our most dynamic defensive player,” Kraemer said. “He played every position on the defense except for D line. He played middle linebacker. He played outside linebacker, safety and in the defensive secondary. He’s the most dynamic player and a guy that was making the most tackles for us.”

Heck started the year in a platoon with Kurtz at the tailback position, but became the primary ball carrier after Kurtz’s ankle injury. He finished as Rhinelander’s leading rusher in both GNC play (75 carries, 280 yards, 2 TDs) and overall (104 carries, 492 yards, 7 TDs). All of this came will playing nearly every snap on defense. Heck’s three sacks unofficially tied for second in the conference. 

“James never left the field defensively all season long, except for when I asked him to at the end of the Medford game,” Kraemer said. “That’s the only time he left the field. He’s well-deserving of the recognition, being our edge player and taking on all the lead blocks and kick outs on all the outside run plays.”

O’Malley was recognized as the pulling guard in the Hodags’ Wing-T offensive scheme, Sieker was recognized along the defensive line, Schoppe was Rhinelander’s second-leading tackler in GNC play and had the game-sealing interception in the Merrill contest. Ives recorded the hit that set up that interception and Germain’s three interceptions in league play were tied for third-most in the GNC.  

For the second straight year, Mosinee had a single player earn offensive and defensive player of the year honors. This year Keagen Jirschele earned that distinction. Lakeland’s Dan Barutha was voted the conference’s coach of the year. 

Looking to next year, Kraemer said he’s excited, knowing that he Hodags will be slated to return six all-conference honorees. 

“Knowing that those guys are in my corner for next season and then looking at some of the talent we weren’t able to utilize as much in the sophomore and junior class, this next season is really up to them,” he said. “We can have an amazing year with these guys. We have a ton of talent and a ton of experience coming back.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].