WFCA ALL-STAR GAMES - Two take final high school snaps in Oshkosh

WFCA ALL-STAR GAMES

The game results were mixed for Taylor County’s representatives in last weekend’s Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All-Star Games in Oshkosh, but the experiences were certainly memorable for both Max Dietzman of Medford and Troy Duellman of Gilman.

Duellman was a linebacker/safety on the North squad that earned a thrilling 36-34 win over the South in Friday night’s eight-player contest at Titan Stadium. Thorp’s Denzel Sutton scored on a 28-yard catch-and-run on a pass from Almond-Bancroft’s TJ Lamb with 30 seconds left to secure the win for the North.

Dietzman played on the defensive line for a North team that had a tough time slowing down the no-huddle, fast-paced attack of the South and lost 48-14 in the Large Schools game Saturday afternoon, which featured players from teams in Divisions 13.

Duellman was credited with five solo tackles and four assists, including 1.5 tackles for loss in his team’s win. He played the entire game defensively and got his hands on two short kickoffs by the South, and had 5 return yards.

“It was definitely a really fun week of football,” Duellman said. “I kinda some of the guys going in. We definitely warmed up to each other pretty fast. It was pretty fun.”

The team prepped for the game last week at UW-River Falls, arriving Monday, July 15. It held its first practice that evening and then had two-a-day workouts the next three days before departing for Oshkosh on Friday morning.

Duellman, a WFCA All-State eightplayer selection at linebacker for the Pirates last fall, had a little bit a of different role for the North team, depending on the South’s formations, requiring him to do more deep pass coverage. That’s something he said he hadn’t done since his freshman and sophomore years with Gilman.

“If they lined up double tight, I would be at linebacker,” he said. “But if they spread us out then I was in pass coverage, covering the deep third. I really only played linebacker last year, so it was a little different running with receivers and playing the deep back.”

While the North’s head coach was Keldric “KD” Stokes from Thorp, Duellman spent more time working with the team’s defensive coaches, Paul Michlig of Newman Catholic and Albert Goerlitz of Owen-Withee.

“They were fun to work with,” Duellman said.

Duellman got into the game flow right away, getting credit for forcing Three Lakes quarterback Jared Kaufman out of bounds for a 1-yard loss on the game’s first offensive snap. He and Flambeau’s Luke Lawton held Paul Emmel of Madison Abundant Life to a 2-yard gain four plays later, he got a solo stop on a 2-yard gain from Emmel four snaps after that and then he and Nels Anderson of Luck combined for a 7-yard sack of Kaufman that stopped the South’s opening drive at the North 36. Later in the game, Duellman got a sack to stop a two-point conversion attempt to keep the North within 28-24 with 1:54 left in the third quarter.

However, Kaufman and his Three Lakes teammate, receiver Tyler Janikowski, got hot. Jankowski had three receptions for 97 yards and a 55-yard touchdown in the first quarter and Jankowski had another 12-yard touchdown in the second quarter. The South held a 22-16 halftime lead. Sutton caught a 31-yard touchdowns pass from Lamb and Thorp’s Logan Hanson scored on a 3-yard run.

Duellman said the North made a key defensive adjustment at halftime to make there was double-team help over the top on Janikowski, who still finished with 182 yards on nine catches but didn’t get as many deep balls in the second half, and William Kelley of state champion Florence, who finished with six catches for 72 yards and a score.

“We thought we would be able to stop them better, but we also kind of hurt ourselves by giving them good field position with turnovers,” Duellman said.

Kelley’s touchdown catch of 23 yards with 3:50 left gave the South a 34-30 lead. But with Sutton and Hanson of Thorp on the North’s side, Duellman knew the offense was in good hands.

“It was kinda nerve wracking to just stand and watch. I’m used to telling myself to go make something happen,” said Duellman, who like virtually all of the All-Stars is used to playing both ways with their school teams. “I said these Thorp guys always find a way. From the first round of the playoffs through the end of their season, they won games at the end.”

Lamb completed six passes on the gamewinning 72-yard drive. On the touchdown, he hit Sutton late over the middle just sneaking the ball by a diving defender. His miss allowed Sutton to stroll the final 15 yards to the end zone. Sutton also intercepted the South’s desperation pass on the final play.

“I felt I did all right,” Duellman said. “It’s the off-season, so you felt a little off. There were some little things where if I feel if it would have been in the middle of the season, they wouldn’t have happened.”

South 48, North 14

Dietzman was credited with two solo tackles and an assist in the Large Schools game. The North went with a four-man defensive front and with eight defensive linemen on the roster, the team was able to split the playing time almost evenly between two groups of four.

“It was a lot of fun,” Dietzman said of the experience. The North spent its week preparing at UW-Stevens Point. “Everyone gets there on that first Monday and you’re sizing everyone up, you don’t know who you’re actually going to talk to. You’re looking at the other guys in your position because you want to try to beat them out for a spot. It is what it is, everyone is there for a reason. It’s competition.

“But I can give a special props to the Germantown coach (Jake Davis). He did a very good job. He made us do a couple of team building activities that helped us come together as a team and not to say actually talk to each other but, on a deeper level, actually be friends with each other in such a short amount of time.

“The game is as fun as you can make it to be. Everyone’s going 100% every single play. The whole thing was just a lot of fun.”

A big story in the Large Schools game was the success the South’s offense had running the no-huddle attack coordinated by Justin Gumm of Sussex Hamilton. In the short week of practice, the South was able to get in tune enough to 452 yards of total offense, including 279 passing yards. Two turnovers and two missed fourth-down conversions on offense also hurt the North.

“With the whole Sussex Hamilton offense that we were going against, it was outside run after quick pass, after quick pass, after outside run,” Dietzman said. “There’s not a whole lot the defensive line can do.”

The South scored on its first two possessions. Dietzman was on the field for that second drive and registered his first tackle, chasing down tight end Tucker Grundahl of DeForest for a 9-yard gain on a short pass play as the North tried to keep the South pinned deep in its own territory. An encroachment penalty helped the South get out of trouble and it eventually went 90 yards in six plays, scoring on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Kasey Helgeson of Mount Horeb-Barneveld to running back Joseph Koch of Menomonee Falls, making it 14-0.

The North responded with an 85-yard touchdown drive of its own. Onalaska star quarterback Adam Skifton, who Dietzman and his Medford teammates became very familiar with the past two years, hit Port Washington athlete Ben Fritsch with a 15yard scoring strike to make it 14-7 with 9:36 left in the first half. But that was as close as the North got.

Dietzman had an active series to begin the second half, officially getting his second solo tackle on a 4-yard rush by Koch. He and Gavin Lettenberger of Manitowoc shared a tackled on Koch on a 2-yard gain three plays later. That 57-yard drive, however, ended in a 10-yard scoring run by Owen Leitel of West Allis Hale that made it 27-7.

“Everyone kinda comes out of the half with a bit of fire,” Dietzman said. “Everyone is giving 100% every play and after the half, everyone is all jacked up, so you get a little extra and you give 110. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

The North wound up with 353 total yards, including 273 through the air. Skifton was 15 of 21 for 205 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Fritsch caught six passes for 66 yards and Ryan Ferguson of Germantown caught six balls for 73 yards for the North, whose head coach was Bill Jacklin of Slinger.

Dietzman felt he held up well in the contest.

“Those South guys were big,” he said. “But they weren’t going to completely bully you or overpower you. Granted they were strong, but it wasn’t like you didn’t stand a chance at all.”

Onalaska’s Skifton, lineman Sam Bossman and receiver Brodie Mickschl were about the only guys on the North roster Dietzman, who is joining the UW-River Falls football team next month, was familiar with going into the week, but that changed by the end.

“Now I have a couple of guys’ contact information and I talk with,” he said. “There’s a couple of guys that I’ll play with in college and I’ll play against in college, so it will be another four years of ‘hey how’s it going, how’s it been.’ Just a whole bunch of friends I know I’m going to see in the future.”

Players and coaches from the weekend’s six teams raised more than $345,000 for Children’s Wisconsin Hospital. The North won the Small Schools game (Divisions 4-7) on Saturday 31-13. Both Dietzman and Duellman said they were appreciative of how their communities made the fundraising process relatively easy.

“Medford is big enough to where you know a lot of people to small enough to where everyone cares about the community,” Dietzman said.

ROSS PATTERMANN/THORP COURIER Left: Medford’s Max Dietzman jokes with a teammate during pre-game introductions ahead of the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association’s Large Schools All-Star Game Saturday at UW-Oshkosh. Right: Gilman’s Troy Duellman (34) is ready to react during the first half of Eight-Player All-Star Game Friday night. The North won the Eight-Player Game 36-34 but lost the Large Schools game 48-14.

Troy Duellman aids North teammate Spencer Wold of Prairie Farm in tackling South quarterback Jared Kaufman of Three Lakes and holding him to no gain on a second-quarter carry during Friday’s Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Eight-Player All-Star Game. ROSS PATTERMANN/THORP COURIER