Wilkins, Rothmeier have shining moments in Tiki Bowl victory

Turf burn is something many northern Wisconsin high school football players now deal with, but getting sunburned in a game was a whole new deal for Medford’s Evan Wilkins and Paxton Rothmeier in late December.

The Great Northern Conference’s 2024 Defensive and Offensive Players of the Year played in the Hawaii Tiki Bowl in Honolulu on Saturday, Dec. 21 for Team Ikaika, who blew out Team Hanohano 377 in the first of two games played that day at Kūnuiākea Stadium on the campus of Kamehameha-Kapālama High School.

Wilkins had an eventful opening minute, returning an interception 36 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage and recovering a fumble on the second and added a couple of tackle assists later on. Rothmeier was among a large group of running backs but still was able to get a handful of touches and filled in for Wilkins at safety at times in the second half.

“It was definitely the coolest experience I’ve ever had, especially getting to play football on top of it,” Wilkins said. “The trip of a lifetime for sure.”

“It was probably the best vacation I’ve even been on,” Rothmeier said. “You get to play football on the side. There’s nothing better than that.”

The trip began with a long day of travel on Wednesday, Dec. 18, which the players said involved three different flights. Thursday featured a two-hour earlymorning practice, followed by a team scavenger hunt and an evening luau. Friday included another two-hour morning practice, a Hawaiian Olympics team activity and a nighttime fireworks show on Waikiki Beach.

Saturday was game day and Sunday was a day of sightseeing and photo shoots before the players returned to the mainland on Monday, Dec. 23.

As expected, the weather was beautiful hovering right around 80 degrees the entire time.

“I never played in a game where I had to worry about getting sun burned,” Wilkins said.

Team Ikaika was coached by Travis Rundle of Albion College in Michigan, who led the defense, and Trever McFalls of Snow College in Utah, who directed the offense.

The team roster included 38 players coming from 18 different states, primarily from the Midwest and eastern U.S. with one also coming from Washington, D.C. Team Hanohano was a western U.S. based squad.

“There was some really amazing talent,” Wilkins said.

“There were some (NCAA) D-I kids there, some D-II, D-III, some kids who aren’t going anywhere,” Rothmeier said. “It’s nice to get a mix of people from all over the country and they can all play.”

“I’d say almost every state in the U.S. was represented by at least one kid there,” Wilkins said. “There were kids from Alaska there. They came from all over the country.”

“It was very diverse,” Rothmeier said. “You could see how they play in different places. We played a team from the west coast and they play a lot different than the Midwest.”

“It’s a lot more physical this way for sure,” Wilkins said.

Tiki Bowl players are selected by invitation only. According to the Tiki Bowl website, organizers “work directly with college coaches and the #1 national recruiting service to invite athletes who can compete in the Hawaii Tiki Bowl Senior All-Star game.”

“We just saw a thing on Twitter or X about the game where we saw kids from the previous year go and play,” Wilkins said. “We figured we might as well send in our film and our accolades and see if it was something we’d be able to do.”

“They reached out and sent an invite and Evan got in there too and that made it better going there with a teammate,” Rothmeier said.

Wilkins made his presence felt in the game immediately as a deep safety for Team Ikaika, picking off a pass over the middle by Hanohano quarterback Christian Hiner of Colorado and then running to his left to the pylon.

“It was the first play of the game I wasn’t even really locked in yet,” Wilkins said. “I was just getting ready first play. Our whole scheme was to sit back in cover-3 and I was playing free safety just be the deepest man and read the quarterback’s eyes. He sat on the post route the whole time and I jumped it and took it back. It was definitely something different being down there with the hype and all the excitement and all the energy that them guys brought compared to up here.”

“The end zone was just flooded with people as soon as he scored,” Rothmeier said. “Our whole team was in the end zone with him. That was awesome.”

After the ensuing kickoff, Wilkins pounced on a fumble by running back Alla Rogers II of California to set Ikaika up at the Hanohano 24-yard line. That possession stalled quickly after a lost fumble on a bad snap. But Ikaika got a stop and then 35-yard field goal by Carson Myers of Ohio to lead 9-0 after one quarter. The defense allowed next to nothing and got another pick-six during the first half which ended with Ikaika leading 23-0.

“Our D-line was very, very, very dominant,” Wilkins said. “We had huge guys. Our biggest guy was probably about 6-6, 340 on our D-line. Our linebackers flew around and our secondary was just lock down. One of our guys was a cornerback who’s going to Toledo. They were guys who just knew how to play ball. We had another pick-six. To bring two back is pretty good.”

“We could’ve beaten them with just our defense,” Rothmeier said.

Rothmeier got two carries. The first was a powerful 2-yard run on a fourth-and-one from Hanohano’s 19-yard line that set up an Ikaika touchdown with 12 seconds left in the first half. The second one went for 8 yards early in the fourth quarter on a scoring drive that made it 37-0. The run was vintage Rothmeier as he got to the right edge, avoiding a loss, then made a man miss before getting a couple of additional yards after contact.

“I had a nice move on one of my runs,” he said. “I came around the outside, got the edge and made some people miss. Our sideline was so hyped. You could just feel the energy when I was still in the play.”

Six plays earlier, on the last play of the third quarter, Rothmeier caught a 17-yard pass on the left sideline on third and eight from Ikaika’s own 8-yard line, barreling over a defender or two while turning upfield after making the catch, also drawing a loud reaction from his teammates.”

Getting time on defense, Rothmeier said, was a surprise.

“I was not expecting to play defense,” he said. “I got there the first day and we had seven running backs on the roster. There were five D-backs. I don’t know why we had so many running backs there. I kinda got the short end of the stick with the amount of playing time. Evan after the first half was kind enough to let me get a few snaps on defense, get a little more playing time.”

In all, there were were four Wisconsin players on the Ikaika roster, and they all roomed together at the team hotel. Jayveon Gold is from Whitnall, was one of the team’s leading rushers and just recently committed to play football at Winona State University. Brent Morell of Oakfield is a skilled long snapper who has committed to UW-Stevens Point.

“Our team grew a tight bond, so that’s why we were able to win handily,” Rothmeier said. “We handed it to them. All of our guys were really personable, really easy to get along with.”

Both Medford reps said the experience was a good introduction to what NCAA Division III college football will be like for them. Wilkins is headed to UW-Oshkosh in the fall, while Rothmeier is joining UWEau Claire’s program.

“It was a good confidence booster,” Wilkins said. “It showed us we can compete with kids that are just as good and from all around the country.”