Person, Ustianowski two-way first team, All-Region
ALL-CWEC FOOTBALL
Four more earn various All-CWEC honors
With first-team selections on both offense and defense, seniors Braeden Person and Branden Ustianowski headline the list of six Gilman Pirates who earned awards in the voting for the 2022 Central Wisconsin East Conference eight-player football team.
On Tuesday morning, the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All-Region teams for 2022 were announced. Person and Ustianowski both were named to defensive team for the North Eight-player Region.
Grady Kroeplin added a first-team award on defense and he got two awards on offense. Troy Duellman, Wayne McAlpine and Casey Grunseth also were rewarded for their efforts during the 2022 season.
Gilman went 3-2 in the new-look conference this season and finished 7-3 overall after losing 48-14 to top-ranked Newman Catholic in the second round of the WIAA playoffs on Oct. 28. Newman is looking to repeat as state champions in Saturday’s title game against Belmont at Wisconsin Rapids.
In the first year of its current format, the CWEC was expected to be one of the state’s toughest six-team, eight-player leagues and it didn’t disappoint. Owen-Withee (5-0, 8-0) and Thorp (4-1, 7-1) combined for just one loss as they sat atop the league standings. Gilman wasn’t far off, losing a 31-30 thriller to Thorp and 30-14 to Owen-Withee. Owen-Withee beat Thorp 60-40 in the league’s championship game on Oct. 13. The Blackhawks and Cardinals, however, were not playoff eligible this fall under WIAA rules after their early departures from the 11-man Marawood Conference.
The All-CWEC first teams were dominated by the top three teams. Thorp claimed six first-team spots, while Gilman and Owen-Withee had five apiece. Athens nabbed the other two.
Defensively, Gilman allowed 168 rushing yards, 79 passing yards and 18 points per game. The Pirates shut out their first four opponents before the loss to Owen-Withee on Sept. 23.
Person was the leader for both of Gil-man’s lines. He filled a guard position on offense and was tough for opponents to block defensively whether the Pirates played a three-man or two-man front.
Person averaged nearly seven tackles per game during the regular season and had two sacks. He was credited with 14 tackles in the loss to Thorp, eight tackles in a 54-16 win over Athens on Oct. 14 and seven tackles in the Owen-Withee game.
Ustianowski was Gilman’s top defender in the backfield and was also close to that mark of seven tackles per game in the regular season. He also led the Pirates with four interceptions, two of which came against conference opponents Greenwood and Owen-Withee. He had 13 tackles against Athens, 10 at Thorp and nine against Owen-Withee.
Kroeplin had a stellar season after switching to Gilman’s middle linebacker spot this fall. He was Gilman’s leading tackler in the regular season with 96 total stops, including 19 against Athens, 18 at Owen-Withee, 15 at Thorp and 14 against Greenwood. He had two interceptions and two fumble recoveries during the regular season to go with three quarterback sacks.
McAlpine, a senior defensive end, earned second-team honors in his first full season as a starter. He averaged nearly six tackles per game during the regular season and recovered two fumbles. He had 14 tackles against a stout offensive line from Owen-Withee and 12 tackles against Athens.
Duellman got honorable mention for his play at outside linebacker for the defense. The only junior to earn an All-CWEC award for Gilman, he averaged about eight tackles per game during the regular season and was credited with a forced fumble. He had 12 tackles against Athens, 10 in a 61-0 non-conference win over Cornell on Sept. 9 and eight tackles against Greenwood, who Gilman beat 65-0 on Sept. 16, and against Owen-Withee. Duellman had a late interception that sealed Gilman’s 52-42 WIAA Level 1 playoff win over Three Lakes-Phelps.
Grunseth, a senior defensive back, had three interceptions, including picks against conference foes Greenwood and Thorp. He averaged four tackles per game during the regular season, including 10 against Athens, eight against Owen- Withee and seven against Thorp. Person, Ustianowski and Kroeplin joined Ryan Nelson (LB), Logan Amacher (DB and P) of Owen-Withee; Trenton Denman (DL) and Denzel Sutton (DB) of Thorp and Aiden Janke (DL) of Athens on the first-team defense. Amacher was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.
Offensively, Gilman averaged 246 rushing yards and 89 passing yards per game during the 2022 season. Kroeplin moved from fullback to quarterback this year and earned honorable mention at the position. His numbers in some years might’ve been good enough for first-team consideration, but with Thorp’s Aiden Rosemeyer throwing for 1,226 yards and 18 touchdowns and rushing for 468 more yards and Owen-Withee’s Amacher rushing for 12 touchdowns on the league championship team, that was not meant to be for Gilman’s trigger man.
Kroeplin rushed for 753 yards and 18 touchdowns overall in 10 games and he added 857 passing yards and eight touchdowns while completing 37 of 68 passes (54.4%).
Among his highlights for the year, Kroeplin rushed for 152 yards on just five carries and scored three touchdowns in a 58-14 win at Alma Center Lincoln on Sept. 30. He ran for 100 yards on just nine attempts in the loss to Thorp and he had six carries for 96 yards and two scores against Athens. He had 80 yards on 14 carries and scored twice in the loss to Owen-Withee and had 79 yards and scored twice in the playoff win over Three Lakes-Phelps. Kroeplin was seven of 12 in passing for 202 yards and two touchdowns against Greenwood and nine for 19 for 135 yards at Owen-Withee.
Kroeplin was also named the secondteam kicker. He made 10 of 18 extra-point attempts.
Ustianowski’s first-team honors came for his role as Kroeplin’s top target in the passing game. The big-play receiver caught 24 passes during the year for 572 yards and seven touchdowns and his blocking was one of the keys to the running game’s success.
All three of Ustianowski’s catches at Thorp went for touchdowns, covering 85 yards. He caught five passes for 149 yards and a score against Greenwood. He caught two passes for 81 yards, including a 54-yard score, against Athens.
Duellman earned second-team honors on offense after leading Gilman in rushing with 890 yards on just 96 carries for a hefty average of 9.3 yards per carry.
With several running-clock games early in the year, Duellman’s totals didn’t really pick up until the Pirates’ closer games later on. He averaged 12.8 yards per carry while gaining 153 yards and scoring three times against Greenwood. He added a fourth score in that game on a pass reception. Duellman had a season-high 185 yards on 27 carries at Thorp and had a huge game in the playoff win over Three Lakes-Phelps with four touchdowns and 158 yards on 19 carries.
Duellman also caught 10 passes for 224 yards during the season.
Person and Ustianowski were joined on the first-team offense by Rosemeyer, Logan Hanson (RB), Caden Lane (OL) and Ashton Kroeplin (K) of Thorp; Colin Dallman (RB) and Nathan Zarins (OL) of Owen-Withee and Janke (WR/TE).
Hanson was named the Offensive Player of the Year after gaining 1,300 yards rushing this season.
All-Region
The All-Region awards are the first for both Person and Ustianowski.
The North Eight-Player Region includes the Central Wisconsin East and West conferences, the Lakeland East and West conferences and the Central Conference, which was won by Newman Catholic.
Person was the only interior defensive lineman from the North to earn All-Region honors. The only interior linemen from the South to earn All-Region honors are Noah Holzmann of Oakfield and Bryce Leffler of Florence.
Ustianowski had more company at defensive back. He was one of four North representatives at the position. He joins Logan Amacher from Owen-Withee, Connor Krach of Newman Catholic and Nick Webster of Siren.
The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association will release its All-State team on Tuesday, Nov. 15.
Branden Ustianowski First Team Offense First Team Defense All-Region Defense
Grady Kroeplin First Team Defense Second Team Kicker Hon. Mention Offense
Troy Duellman Second Team Offense Hon. Mention Defense
Wayne McAlpine Second Team Defense
Casey Grunseth Hon. Mention Defense
