ALL-GNCFOOTBALL - Medford sweeps top awards; plenty of honors to go around
ALL-GNC FOOTBALL
The senior-dominated Medford Raiders went 7-0 in the Great Northern Conference, outscoring their opponents by an average of 44-11 and hit the 35-point running-clock threshold against all but one of those opponents.
Accordingly, the Raiders also dominated the voting for the 2024 All-Great Northern Conference football teams.
Paxton Rothmeier, with his state-highs of 2,696 rushing yards and 37 rushing touchdowns this season, was an easy choice as the Great Northern Conference’s 2024 Offensive Player of the Year. Senior safety Evan Wilkins earned the Defensive Player of the Year award. Guiding Medford to its 10-2 record and its third Level 3 playoff advancement in his tenure, 19th-year head coach Ted Wilson was named the 2024 Coach of the Year, an award he won for the fifth time.
There was plenty more credit to go around for this fall’s success. Seniors Erich Moretz and Tripp Reamer were named first-team All-GNC linemen on both offense and defense and senior Alex Faude also got first-team spots on both sides of the ball at tight end and defensive end. Senior linebacker Charlie Gierl was a unanimous first-team defensive selection.
Raiders filled three spots on the All-GNC second-team defense and two spots on the second team offense. Additionally, four Raiders got defensive honorable mention and two earned offensive honorable mention.
The conference championship is Medford’s seventh as a member of the GNC and first since 2020. The Raiders ended Mosinee’s three-year run atop the conference with a 58-35 win on the Indians’ home field in the last game of the regular season on Oct. 18.
As a one-seed in the WIAA Division 3 bracket, Medford won its first two home games, beating GNC foe Lakeland 28-7 and Fox Valley Lutheran 42-22 before dropping a 51-48 heartbreaker to La Crosse Logan in the sectional championship game on Friday.
For the third straight season, Medford had the top-ranked offense in the GNC, averaging 378.4 yards per game, according to the official conference statistics. Mosinee was about 11 yards per game behind. The Raiders’ 309 GNC points and 44.1 points per game were easily league bests ahead of Mosinee (199 points and 28.3 per game).
Overall in 12 games, Medford has averaged 39.3 points and 378 yards per game.
That success was, as always, driven by the offensive line. Moretz at tackle, Reamer at guard, junior Hunter Jochimsen at center, who earned secondteam honors for his work, and sophomore tackle Forest Hartl, who got honorable mention in his first varsity season, led a unit that consistently got better after starting the season as the team’s most inexperienced unit. Faude was a big part of that too as he earned the first-team award at tight end without catching a pass in league play.
Medford rushed for 2,233 yards in conference play, according to GNC statistics, the most in the league by more than 800 yards. The line also pass blocked well enough for the Raiders to pick up an additional 416 yards through the air in All-GNC
league play.
Overall in 12 games, Medford ran for 3,696 yards per game and passed for 841 more.
When the line opened holes, Rothmeier took advantage with the biggest season a Medford running back has ever had.
“Like I said early in the year, if Paxton could kind of carry us little bit early until we could figure out how to block and how to get to the next level, things could come around really well and they did,” Wilson said Tuesday. “I thought our kids blocked really well, but he also helps a lot. He makes a lot of people miss and he finds a lot of little creases that are open that other running backs don’t find. It’s kind of the combination of the both –– him being really good and our kids getting much, much better as the year went on.”
Combining shiftiness with speed and strength for his size, Rothmeier ran for 1,670 yards and 22 touchdowns in Medford’s seven conference games. He averaged 12.9 yards per carry on his 129 attempts and 238.6 yards per game. His 23 total touchdowns led the league by 14. He caught three passes for 68 yards in conference play and even threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Gierl in the win at Mosinee. He led the GNC in rushing for the second straight fall. The next running back was Tomahawk’s Brayden Larson at 687 yards.
Rothmeier ran for 311 yards and four touchdowns on just 19 carries in a 43-13 win over Rhinelander on Oct. 10, ran for 290 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns in a 44-6 win over Wausau East on Sept. 27 and he had 305 yards and five touchdowns on 42 carries in the playoff win over Fox Valley Lutheran.
Rothmeier, Moretz and Faude were among the eight unanimous choices by the conference’s coaching staffs for the All-GNC Offense.
Staying on offense, Wilkins got one of the three running back spots in the All-GNC second team. He ranked seventh in the conference with 355 yards in league play. He gained those yards on 49 carries for an average of 7.2 yards per carry and scored five touchdowns. Overall, Wilkins finished with 625 yards and eight touchdowns on 83 carries for an average of 7.5 yards per attempt. He tied for third in GNC scoring with 54 points, scoring eight total touchdowns, including an 84-yard kickoff return to start the Mosinee win. Wilkins caught two passes in GNC play for 27 yards and a score.
He ran for 107 yards and two touchdowns on just seven carries against Rhinelander, 106 yards and two scores in the Mosinee win and 144 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries in the playoff win over Lakeland.
Senior quarterback Parker Lissner earned honorable mention for his play on offense. After sharing time at the position last year, Lissner was the GNC’s most efficient quarterback in 2024 league play, going 19 for 32 for 387 yards, eight touchdowns and no interceptions. He was 42 for 79 overall for 812 yards, 12 touchdowns and only two interceptions.
Lissner was six for eight for 98 yards and three touchdowns in a 40-8 win at Lakeland and five for seven for 99 yards and two touchdowns in a 40-0 win over Merrill.
Defensive awards
Medford’s defense also was the best in the league, according to GNC statistics, allowing 236.9 yards and 11.6 points per game. Mosinee wasn’t too far behind at 257.9 yards and 17.3 points per game.
Medford gave up 785 rushing yards (112.1 per game) and 873 passing yards (124.7 per game) in league play. Mosinee’s 320 yards accounted for a big chunk of the passing yards. Overall, the Raiders allowed 149 rushing, 132 passing yards and 17.3 points per game with one shutout and five games with single-digit point totals by the opposition.
Wilkins’ speed and physicality made him a force at the safety position. Providing strong pass coverage, he intercepted one pass, which he took to the house for a 56-yard touchdown against Wausau East. He also forced a fumble in that game. Wilkins also provided solid run support, and has been credited with 89 total tackles, including 62 solo tackles. He had nine solo tackles and 11 total tackles, including one for loss in a 46-12 win over Antigo and eight total tackles with six solos at Mosinee. He had 16 tackles, including 13 solos in Friday’s loss to Logan.
Up front on the line, Medford was led inside by Reamer and Moretz and outside by Faude. Senior nose tackle Tucyr Smola, after starting the year at linebacker, found his niche up front as well after returning from an early injury and earned an All-GNC second-team award. Senior Owen Klussendorf earned honorable mention for his play inside and senior Ben Gruber, whose playing time increased when Medford was hit with early defensive injuries got honorable mention for his play at end.
Medford’s most updated defensive statistics show Moretz was credited with 33 total tackles, including a sack, three tackles for loss and 18 solo tackles. Faude had 36 total tackles, including five for loss, a sack and 22 solo tackles. He forced a fumble in the playoff win over Fox Valley Lutheran. Reamer had 1.5 sacks, three tackles for loss and 11 solo tackles among his 23 total tackles.
Smola was credited with six tackles for loss with a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and 20 solo tackles. The fumble recovery came against Wausau East. The forced fumble led to a 17-yard touchdown recovery for Gruber in the Merrill win. Gruber had 2.5 sacks, four tackles for losses and 12 solo tackles among his 26 total tackles. Klussendorf has a forced fumble, a tackle for loss and four solo tackles to his credit.
Gierl actually started the year at defensive end but ended up moving to middle linebacker out of necessity and flourished. He led the GNC with five interceptions, one of which he returned 70 yards for a touchdown against Antigo. He would’ve had another pick-six the next week against Merrill, but the 90-yard return was nullified by a penalty. He averaged 22.2 yards on his GNC interception returns. Gierl had three interceptions in the Merrill game.
Gierl’s sixth interception of the season came Friday in the playoff loss to Logan and he returned it 85 yards for another pick-six.
Gierl also had a forced fumble, two sacks, three tackles for losses and 18 solo tackles this fall.
Junior Sawyer Elsner, another player whose role expanded due to injuries, turned himself into an All-GNC secondteam linebacker. He became one of Medford’s leading tacklers with 62 total tackles including 27 solos. He had 1.5 sacks and six tackles for loss.
In the defensive backfield, senior Evan Paul was named to the second team, while Rothmeier and senior Sam Hierlmeier got honorable mention.
Paul, who was often matched up with opponents’ best receivers, had an interception and recovered a fumbled punt in the first quarter of the Mosinee win. Eight of his 52 total tackles came in the Rhinelander win. He had four solo tackles in that game and forced a fumble. He also had eight tackes with six solo stops against Merrill. He had two tackles for losses, 52 total tackles and 10 passes defensed.
Rothmeier returned a fumble 44 yards for a touchdown in a 38-7 win at Tomahawk and intercepted a pass in that game as well. He had 35 total tackles with 20 solos and one for loss, while recovering two fumbles during the season.
Hierlmeier led Medford with 11 passes defensed and had 43 total tackles with 26 of them being solo and one for a loss. He had one interception this year, which came in Medford’s first loss, a 33-18 nonconference defeat to Onalaska in week two. Hierlmeier had five tackles against Rhinelander, four against Mosinee and five in the season-opening 26-13 nonconference win at Holmen.
All-Region
On Tuesay, the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association released it’s All-Region awards for 2024. Rothmeier, Wilkins, Faude and Reamer made the Region 1 team. Region 1 for Large Schools for the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association this year includes the Great Northern, Big Rivers and Mississippi Valley conferences, as well as the Wisconsin Valley Conference and Fox Valley Association.
Rothmeier is an All-Region running back for the second straight year. He is in a group that includes Blake Bangston of D.C. Everest, Cameron Cornett of Onalaska, Grant Dean of Neenah, Joe Hoeppner of New Richmond and Aiden Reardon of Kaukauna.
Wilkins is an All-Region defensive back, joining Dean, Daniel Garrigan of Appleton North, Brooks Hinson of Marshfield, Tyler Lessard of Hudson, Abe Monson of New Richmond, Jaren Nygren of Holmen and Zach Orr of Rice Lake.
Reamer is one of five interior defensive lineman on the team, joining Deondre Bournes of Wausau West, Jack Hawkins of Appleton North, Reggie Kloehn of Hortonville and Drew Larson of Holmen.
Faude is one of six All-Region defensive ends, joining Logan Arft of Kaukauna, Simon Dagit of Marshfield, Sawyer Hanlon of Kimberly, Will Johnson of Rice Lake, Colton Petska of Chippewa Falls and Cole Stephens of New Richmond. The WFCA plans to announce its All-State teams on Tuesday.
Additionally Rothmeier and Paul were named to the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association’s Academic All-State team. To qualify for this award, candidates must be a senior varsity letter winner with a cumulative grade point average of 3.75 or higher.
Tripp Reamer First Team Offense First Team Defense All-Region Defense
Alex Faude First Team Offense First Team Defense All-Region Defense
Tucyr Smola Second Team Defense
Sawyer Elsner Second Team Defense
Erich Moretz First Team Offense First Team Defense
Charlie Gierl First Team Defense
Evan Paul Second Team Defense Academic All-State
Ted Wilson Coach of the Year
Evan Wilkins dives to break up a pass attempt to Antigo receiver Wyatt Washatko during the Medford Raiders’ GNC opener Sept. 5. The Raiders’ senior safety was named the GNC’s 2024 Defensive Player of the Year at the end of the regular season as well as a second-team All-GNC running back. Wilkins was named an All-Region defensive back on Tuesday. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS
Hunter Jochimsen Second Team Offense
Owen Klussendorf Hon. Mention Defense
Parker Lissner Hon. Mention Offense
Sam Hierlmeier Hon. Mention Defense
Ben Gruber Hon. Mention Defense
Forest Hartl Hon. Mention Offense
