ALL-NORTH CENTRAL EAST FOOTBALL - All-Conference, All-Region, even All-State awards for the Pirates
ALL-NORTH CENTRAL EAST FOOTBALL
Playing in what some high school football observers would argue is the best eight-player conference in the state, the Gilman Pirates were able to gather their fair share of awards in the voting for the 2024 All-North Central East Conference teams.
The Pirates claimed six first-team spots, five second-team spots and added an honorable mention in the post-season voting amongst the league’s coaches.
The all-conference awards were finally announced this week after being kept under wraps while conference champion Owen-Withee marched toward the WIAA eight-player state championship. The 12-0 Blackhawks beat Lena-St. Thomas Aquinas Academy 50-36 in Saturday’s title game played at Wisconsin Rapids.
Additionally, two Pirates earned recognition beyond the conference. Senior Joey Syryczuk was named a Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All-Region North offensive lineman while junior Tony Syryczuk was named an All-Region inside linebacker. Tony Syryczuk went on to earn a spot on the All-State honorable mention list, which was announced Tuesday. He also is one of five finalists for the Wisconsin Sports Network’s Eight-Player Defensive Player of the Year award. The winner was to be announced mid-week.
Gilman finished with an official record of 5-2 in the conference and 6-2 overall. Unfortunately the two league losses –– 22-14 at McDonell Central and a 24-22 heartbreaker in the last game at Owen-Withee –– were enough to keep the certainly playoff-caliber Pirates out of the 16-team WIAA tournament.
On the defensive side of things in the first-year conference, Tony Syryczuk made the first team as a linebacker, Joey Syryczuk made it as lineman and senior Max Ustianowski was voted to a first-team spot at defensive back.
Tony Syryczuk’s run to All-State mention follows a season where he easily led the Pirates with 92 total tackles in eight games. He had five sacks, an interception that he returned for a touchdown in a 75-0 win over Lake Holcombe and a fumble recovery in the Owen-Withee loss. He was constant in a linebacking crew for the Pirates that had to make several adjustments during the year due to injuries.
Syryczuk had double-digit tackle totals in five games, including a season-high 19 at McDonell. He had 17 in Gilman’s season-opening 38-6 non-conference win at Rib Lake, 15 tackles in a 61-18 win over Thorp, 13 tackles and two sacks in a 54-8 win at Alma Center Lincoln and 11 tackles against Owen-Withee.
Joey Syryczuk was a disruptive force at defensive end. He finished with 58 total tackles and an interception in the Pirates’ 75-0 win over Cornell.
Syryczuk had a season-high 10 tackles at Owen-Withee, had nine at Rib Lake and eight tackles in the McDonell and Alma Center Lincoln games.
Ustianowski, who also was a first-team pick in last year’s Central Wisconsin East Conference, finished the year with 39 total tackles, a sack in the McDonell game and two interceptions. He returned one for a pick-six against Lake Holcombe and got his first interception of the year at Rib Lake, a game where he notched a seasonhigh 11 tackles.
Ustianowski had nine tackles at Owen-Withee and seven tackles at McDonell.
Senior defensive tackle Lee Zagorski and senior defensive back Chad Konsella earned spots on the second-team defense, while junior linebacker Cooper Krug got honorable mention.
Zagorski returned from a late-season knee injury a year ago and registered 30 total tackles, including two sacks, and two fumble recoveries. He had a season-high eight tackles at McDonell, including a sack. He had six tackles in Gilman’s North Central crossover game at Frederic, a 43-0 win in week two. He had a sack in that game as well. He had five tackles at Rib Lake and recovered his fumbles against Rib Lake and Cornell.
Konsella had 25 total tackles and an interception he returned for a touchdown at Alma Center Lincoln. Seven of his tackles came at Owen-Withee, where he also recovered a fumble that he was one tackle away from taking back 100 yards for what could have been a game-winning score. He had six tackles at Cornell and five tackles at Rib Lake.
Krug finished with 54 total tackles, a sack, an interception and three fumble recoveries. His season-high was 12 tackles, which came in the McDonell game. He had eight tackles in the Rib Lake, Cornell and Lake Holcombe wins with recovered fumbles against Rib Lake and Cornell. His interception came at Frederic. He also recovered a fumble against Lake Holcombe.
As a team, Gilman had a solid season defensively. The Pirates allowed just 9.8 points per game with three shutouts. They allowed 112.4 rushing yards and 87 passing yards per game and took the ball away from teams 17 times in eight games.
Offensively, the Pirates averaged 47.8 points per game. With Joey Syryczuk at guard and senior center Brayden Olynick, who earned a spot on the All-North Central East second-team offense, doing their job opening up holes, the Pirates averaged 275 rushing yards per game. Gilman also threw for 97.1 yards per outing in 2024.
The quick and shifty Konsella was named a first-team all-conference running back and senior quarterback Dawson Krizan earned second-team honors for their offensive production this fall.
Krizan, a second-year starter at quarterback, was Gilman’s leading rusher, finishing the season with 573 yards and 11 touchdowns on just 62 attempts. He averaged 9.2 yards a carry. He completed 30 of 49 passing attempts for 759 yards and eight touchdowns. He was intercepted five times.
Krizan ran for season-highs of 124 yards and four touchdowns on just eight carries in the win at Alma Center Lincoln. He had 119 yards on 11 carries with a touchdown against Thorp. He had 82 yards on 12 carries at Owen-Withee and 83 yards on six carries with two scores at Frederic.
Also against Thorp, Krizan was a perfect six for six through the air for 143 yards and three touchdowns. He was four for five for 111 yards and a score at Lincoln and four for eight for 197 yards with two touchdowns at Rib Lake.
Konsella ran for 468 yards and eight touchdowns on just 45 carries during the season as Gilman’s top running back. He also caught 10 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns, including a 95-yard touchdown reception at Rib Lake.
The rushing totals for both Konsella and Krizan were lower than they could have been because Gilman built big early leads in several of its wins.
Konsella had a season-high 117 rushing yards on seven carries and a score at Lincoln. He had 75 yards and two scores on just five carries against Lake Holcombe and 87 yards on nine carries with a score against Thorp. He caught two passes for 70 yards, including a 61-yard touchdown at Lincoln.
Konsella also grabbed the conference’s first-team award on special teams. Teams often tried to punt or kick away from Konsella fearing his breakaway speed. He had a 54-yard punt return for a touchdown in the win at Frederic.
Olynick was named to the second-team offense as a kicker. His kickoffs consistently carried deep into opposing territory throughout the season and he was 17 of 23 on extra-point kicks and made a 23-yard field goal at Alma Center Lincoln.
Owen-Withee running back Mason Gay and defensive back Dominic Sherwood were named the conference’s Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year.
On the All-Region awards, Tony Syryczuk joined Florence’s Breyson Kelly and Hurley’s Devin Soltis as the team’s inside linebackers. While he earned honorable mention in the All-State vote, Kelley and Brynden Beck of Port Edwards got the first-team spots. Joey Syryczuk joined Florence’s Logan Koski and Clayton’s Alex Schradle as the All-Region offensive linemen.
Sherwood, Schradle, Jackson McGuire of Highland and John Reader of Wisconsin Heights are the Wisconsin Sports Network Defensive Player of the Year finalists with Tony Syryczuk.
Jared Shultz of Northwood-Solon Springs was named the WFCA Eight-Player State Player of the Year on Tuesday.
Joey Syryczuk First Team Offense First Team Defense All-Region Offense
Max Ustianowski First Team Defense
Dawson Krizan Second Team Offense
Chad Konsella First Team Offense First Team Specialist Second Team Defense
Brayden Olynick Second Team Offense Second Team Kicker
Lee Zagorski Second Team Defense
Cooper Krug Hon. Mention Defense
