Experienced Pirates could be contenders in league and beyond

The first year of eight-player football was a successful one for the Gilman Pirates, who expect nothing less than to keep that success rolling in year number two.

Returning the majority of their starters on both sides of the ball from a unit that outscored teams by an average margin of 49-7 while going 7-1 in 2020, the Pirates have an experience factor on their side. The talent is also evident with six of those returning players having earned All-Central Wisconsin West honors of some kind, led by Julian Krizan, a first team All-State choice at inside linebacker by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association.

Gilman’s roster is a little deeper than last year’s with a total of 20 players out for the sport this year. Nine of them are new to the squad, so getting them up to speed has been one of the challenges in practice as the Pirates gear up for the season opener against visiting Plainfield Tri-County, which was moved up to 5 p.m. today, Thursday, to hopefully avoid stormy weather predicted for Friday.

“The kids are doing a good job and working hard,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. Rosemeyer enters his 17th season in that position. “It’s a process because we do have 11 returning from the team last year and nine who are new. Just over half of our kids already know the system, but it’s been a learning process just at the beginning to get the other nine caught up with things. The 11 who return are doing a good job as far as leading and helping the other kids out and getting us through that part of it.”

“I think we’re definitely going to be strong,” Krizan said last week. “Maybe at the beginning of the season you might see us struggle a little bit, but I guarantee you by the end of the season we’ll be rolling. When our younger guys and the firstyear players catch on, it’s going to be a hard snowball to stop.”

The list of 11 returning players includes seniors Krizan, Bryson Keepers, Zack Marion and Bryce Chovan; juniors Braeden Person, Grady Kroeplin and Branden Ustianowski and sophomores Troy Duellman, Caleb Marion, Dalton Wisocky and Nathan Bertsinger.

Krizan was not only the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, he was also named the state’s eight-player Defensive Player of the Year by WisSports.net. Person was a first-team all-conference choice on both offense and defense, Zack Marion was a first-team all-conference offensive lineman and made the second team on defense. Keepers earned allconference first-team honors on defense and honorable mention on offense. Kroeplin was a second-team linebacker and Ustianowski got honorable mention at receiver on offense.

Obviously, those players give Gilman solid foundations to build from on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, the only starters lost to graduation were backs Kade Kroeplin and Brayden Boie, both of whom played in the state all-star game in July, so they aren’t small losses. But, with everyone else back, the Pirates expect to sustain their success as long as they can keep their main contributors in the lineup.

“We do return six starters and, really, Grady could be considered a seventh starter because he did play quite a bit of running back last year and started a game at fullback,” Rosemeyer said.

Person and Chovan are back as starting guards and Zack Marion is the center. Keepers and Ustianowski are the ends. Krizan returns for his third year as the starting quarterback. He was highly effi cient in 2020, completing 40 of 58 passes for 738 yards and 11 touchdowns. His only interception came on a final desperation pass in the Pirates’ season-ending loss to Belmont. He also ran for 590 yards and 14 scores. Kroeplin ran for 352 yards and seven touchdowns on just 29 attempts, averaging 12.1 yards per carry.

Duellman is the other starting back this year. He scored three touchdowns and ran for 113 yards in limited action as a freshman.

“He is the one truly new starter on offense,” Rosemeyer said. “He’s quick and fast, good athlete back there. He catches the ball well too. He can do a lot of things for us.” Wisocky will get a start at guard on Friday, while Bertsinger, junior Sam Syryczuk and freshmen Joey Syryczuk, Brayden Olynick and Talyn Podolak serve as backups on the line. Caleb Marion, junior newcomer Casey Grunseth and freshmen Max Ustianowski and Trevor Vick add depth at tight end. Junior Wayne McAlpine and freshman Lee Zagorski are available in the backfield as well. Defensively, the Pirates have some depth and flexibility on the line and at linebacker. The one area they are a little thin on experience is in the secondary.

Gilman’s defense in 2020 shut out four opponents and held six of its first seven opponents to 65 rushing yards or less before running into the state’s Offensive Player of the Year Riley Christensen of Belmont in the 24-20 loss to end the year.

Krizan, Person and Keepers return as the leaders of that unit. Person’s quickness at nose guard was a major cause of disruption for opposing offenses.

“He made our jobs easy,” said Keepers, who had six sacks, two fumbles forced and two pick-six interceptions at outside linebacker. Krizan had 96 tackles and seven sacks while becoming Gilman’s first All-State first-team selection.

“It was truly deserving,” Rosemeyer said. “He really had an outstanding year.”

“It kind of caught me off-guard to get a call from coach Rosemeyer one night saying ‘hey, you made first-team allstate. You’re headed to Green Bay in a couple of weeks,’” said Krizan, who received his award at the All-State banquet at the Lambeau Field Atrium. “They told us the percentage, like .02 percent get that award out of all the football players in the state of Wisconsin. That was pretty cool. I give (my teammates) all the credit. I just wrap my arms around the guys. They bring them to me. That’s not all they do, that’s what they do.”

Zack Marion is back at one defensive end, while the other end spot is still up for grabs between Caleb Marion, Wisocky and Bertsinger. Kroeplin returns at the other outside linebacker spot after averaging just under 10 tackles per game last fall.

Ustianowski and Duellman are the starting safeties, a position vacated by last year’s seniors Kade Kroeplin, Isaac Wininger and Andrew Hecker.

Chovan and McAlpine add depth at nose guard. Olynick, Joey Syryczuk and Podolak do the same at end. Chovan could play nose guard in a heartbeat.

Caleb Marion and Sam Syryczuk could help out at linebacker. Grunseth, Max Ustianowski and Vick add secondary depth.

The seniors said there really were no major adjustments to make going from 11-man to eight-player football last year, nor did it change how they enjoy playing the game. The speed of the eight-man game, they said, suits their personnel quite well.

“It’s not any different,” Zack Marion said. “A little different plays but basically the same.”

“Defensively, if you don’t find the ball in that first second or two, the ball could be way down the field,” Keepers said. “That’s the fun part about eight-man. We run the trap pretty good and have some good backs. If you don’t find them right away, they’re going to be way past you.”

This will be the last of Gilman’s short two-year run in the Central Wisconsin West. Next year, the Pirates are slated to move to a revamped Central Wisconsin East that includes more familiar rivals such as Owen-Withee, Thorp, Greenwood and Athens. This year, McDonell Central and Phillips are Rosemeyer guesses for top challengers to the Pirates. McDonell, who Gilman beat twice last fall, was the 2020 league runner-up.

The WIAA’s 16-team eight-player tournament is expected to return this fall. The top criteria for selection into the tournament is best overall win-loss percentage, making every game on the schedule an important one.

If they get in, ending on a high note is important to Gilman’s seniors, who say that 24-20 loss to Belmont last November still stings, even though it wasn’t officially a playoff game.