Massey, Hokens named Hodag soccer MVPs

Seniors Karter Massey and Hart Hokens took home the Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team’s top honors on Saturday, selected as the squad’s defensive and offensive most valuable players. The awards were presented during the team’s year-end banquet in the RHS commons.

Massey was a first-team All-GNC selection at defense and was voted the co-defensive player of the year in the conference for a Hodag squad that conceded two goals per game in league play and 2.4 goals per contest overall.

In presenting the award, coach Nathan Bates said Massey displayed incredible growth both as a player and as a person during his four-year RHS career.

“Back there for defense this year he was our rock,” Bates said. “He did an amazing job and he definitely earned it. He fought really hard back there and he saved us in a lot of games that could have been a lot worse than the were.”

Hokens, a second-team All-GNC honoree, was Rhinelander’s leading scorer on the year, putting home seven of the 14 goals the team had on the season. His 15 total points were more than double anyone else on the squad.

Bates credited Hokens for shifting from a defensive role with the team for much of his high school career to becoming the team’s top scoring threat this year.

“He took on a really big feat this year, moving from the defensive side to playing offense for the team, which is what we needed,” Bates said. “He did a great job. Every team we played against this year, with his speed and aggression and everything else, he gave them a hard team to play against and they remembered him.”

Asher Rivord earned the team’s Hodag Award. Though the sophomore did not score any goals on the year, he converted the clinching penalty kick in the Hodags’ shootout victory over Medford Oct. 15.

“Every time Asher was on the field, it was 100% and 100 MPH from the start of the game to the end of the game while he was in it,” Bates said. “On top of that, you could always hear him cheering the team on and trying to be positive.”

Senior John Turek, a first-year member of the team, was named the squad’s most improved player. Due to injuries and the team’s lack of overall depth, Turek was ushered into a significant role on the Hodags’ back line this year and Bates said he performed admirably under the circumstances. 

“In my opinion, from the start until the end in what he did, (he) improved tremendously,” Bates said. “It would have been great to have him not he team for four years, because the growth he had from the beginning of the season to the end of the season was absolutely incredible and I thought he did a great job this year.”

Sophomore Landon Catlin received the team’s Academic Excellence Award as the returning player on the team with the highest cumulative grade point average. 

In addition to the team awards, the squad handed out varsity letters and all-conference certificates. As previously announced by the conference, Massey and goalkeeper Barak Rappley received first-team honors, Hokens made the second team and honorable mention went to Rivord, Michael Schiek, Charlie Johnson and Aiden Ostermann.

Rhinelander went 4-10-2 on the season, finished fourth in the GNC with a 3-5-1-1 league mark and was eliminated in the first round of the WIAA tournament by New London.

“Strange year with the difference in age. We had a lot of younger kids and we had some older boys. It took awhile for us to get our stuff together,” Bates said in his closing remarks. “You guys had a lot of good stuff you did this year and I’m proud of what you guys accomplished. We had our ups, we had our downs but, all and all, toward the end of the season I’m really proud about how you guys finished.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].