Media picks Mosinee to win GNC title

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt of the GNC Football Media Poll, which will be included in our Fall Sports Preview, published Sept. 5, 2025 as a special insert to the Northwoods River News and The Lakeland Times. 

It has been seven years since someone other than Medford or Mosinee has lifted the Great Northern Conference football trophy and, in the eyes of a number of area sports pundits, that trend will not change this season.

Mosinee has been picked to return to the top following a one-year hiatus in the annual GNC football media poll — a joint effort of the Northwoods River News and The Lakeland Times  that canvasses those who follow the conference on a regular basis. 

Last year’s conference champion, Medford, is expected to finish right on Mosinee’s heels in the runner-up spot. Wausau East earned the No. 3 spot in the survey, followed by Lakeland, Tomahawk, Rhinelander, Merrill and Antigo. 

This year’s panel consisted of Northwoods River News sports editor Jeremy Mayo, Lakeland Times sports writer Brett LaBore, Scott Walbeck of WATK-AM and WACD-FM in Antigo, Star News (Medford) sports editor Matt Frey, Great Northern Conference statistician Gregg Scott, Steve Okonek of Sports OnFocus and Alex Koch of WJJQ AM/FM in Tomahawk.

Mosinee received five of the seven first-place votes in the survey and is led by arguably the preseason favorite to win player of the year honors in the conference, senior quarterback/defensive back Treve Stoffel. Stoffel is one of only two returning all-conference first teamers from last season — the other is Tomahawk kicker Wally Horabik — and earned those honors on both sides of the ball last year. Offensively, not only did Stoffel lead the GNC in total completions, passing yards and touchdowns last year, he finished the season as the third-leading rusher in the conference. 

Medford won last year’s conference title, ending Mosinee’s run of three straight championships, but needs to replace a number of skill position players off of that squad. That includes GNC offensive player of the year — and the No. 2 rusher in the state — Paxton Rothmeier. Yet, the Raiders’ consistency under coach Ted Wilson has Medford near the top of the survey. Medford scored the two first-place votes not given to Mosinee and was ranked in the top three on every ballot. 

Wausau East knocked off Mosinee in a thriller last year at Thom Field as it tied for the runner-up spot in its debut season in the GNC. The conference’s largest school, based on enrollment, will look to stay near the top of the pack this season.

Lakeland, Tomahawk and Rhinelander all showed flashes early last season, but faded late due to key injuries. Lakeland knocked off Tomahawk 7-6 in the final week of the regular season to be the only of the three to qualify for the WIAA tournament. Their reward was a No. 8 seed and a 28-7 loss to top-seeded Medford in Level 1. 

Merrill put a scare into second-seeded Onalaska in Level 1 last year, eventually falling to the Hilltoppers 13-7, but the Bluejays graduated the majority of all-conference players from that squad. Ditto Antigo, which missed the tournament last year with a 2-5 conference record. 

Of course this season will be different, with the WIAA going away from conference record as the primary determinant of which teams make the postseason. Starting this year every game counts equally in terms of weight in a computer formula proposed by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association and adopted by the WIAA which will determine and seed the field of 32 in each division. Now an emphasis has been put on strength of victory, with wins over larger schools and schools with better overall records earning more points. 

That puts more onus on the non-conference slate, which kicks off tonight. Some schools will open with larger schools in an effort to earn more Tier 1 points, earned by beating teams in higher divisions. Such is the case as Medford hosts Holmen tonight and goes to Onalaska in Week 2. Others are looking to schedule tougher small-school opponents who should earn more Tier 2 points by season’s end. That’s the case with Mosinee, which opens the year at home against defending WIAA D5 state champ Stratford. 

The conference slate opens Sept. 5 with Medford traveling to Antigo, Mosinee hosting Merrill, Wausau East heading to Tomahawk and rivals Lakeland and Rhinelander meeting in Rhinelander for the annual playing of the Northwoods Axe game. 

If the pundits are correct, all eyes will be fixated on a Week 9 matchup between Mosinee and Medford at Raider Field in Medford with the GNC title on the line. That proved to be the case last year when Medford knocked off Mosinee 58-35 in the regular season finale at Mosinee to win the conference title outright. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].