WFCA ALL-STAR GAMES - NORTH GETS THE SWEEP

Teams from the North have been dominant in recent summers in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) All-Star Games and, with some help from local athletes and coaches, that trend continued last weekend at UWOshkosh.

The North swept all three games, starting with a 53-32 win in the 8-Player Game on Friday night and concluding with a 28-6 win late Saturday afternoon in the Large Schools Game. Gilman’s Robin Rosemeyer was the North’s head coach in the 8-Player Game. The team included two of his players, Joey Syryczuk and Chad Konsella, and his assistant coach Tom Tallier.

Medford’s Paxton Rothmeier led the North in rushing with 53 yards on seven carries in the Large Schools game and Alex Faude was in on three tackles, including a sack.

“It was really important,” Rothmeier said of the importance of winning. “We were talking about that all week. It was stressed a lot, to go out there and win and we did. We performed really well.”

“It was pretty important,” Konsella said. “We had a weight on our back because the North is on a streak, so you didn’t want to be that team that lost.”

The North’s 8-Player and Large School teams both spent the week at UW-Stevens Point preparing for their respective games and getting back into some semblance of football shape.

The North won the Small Schools game early Saturday afternoon 19-12 for its sixth straight victory. The North’s win in the 8-Player game was its fourth straight and the Large Schools win was the North’s fifth out of the last six matchups.

While the games serve as a showcase for most of the state’s top senior football players from the previous fall, it’s other purpose is to raise funds for Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin. The players and coaches raised about $350,000 this year, increasing the total raised since 2008 to about $5.7 million.

Large Schools

In the Large Schools game, Faude had an early impact. Coming into the game at defensive end on the South’s second possession, Faude broke through on third and 17 to make first contact on South quarterback Joey Kallay of Franklin. Logan Liegl of Menasha finished off Kallay, officially giving each defender a half-sack on the 7-yard loss, the second straight play Kallay had been sacked.

“I got through my guy,” Faude said. “Then I slipped, but then, I don’t know, I somehow stopped him or at least slowed him down.”

Faude wound up playing about half of the defensive snaps for the North, if not a little more. The North lost a defensive lineman, Cooper Williams of Slinger, to injury on the first series. Along with the sack, Faude was credited with a solo tackle on an 8-yard gain by Kallay in the third quarter and an assist on a 5-yard gain by Sean Ryan of New Berlin West in the fourth quarter.

Faude got snaps at both right and left end and even got several snaps at nose tackle, a position he never played at Medford. It was a challenge at times for him as he was double-teamed on some plays or was up against some South tackles approaching 300 pounds.

“We only had six defensive linemen so I expected some playing time,” Faude said. “I felt I did pretty good. There’s a lot of big guys.”

On the other side of the ball, the North ran a read-option offense so Rothmeier was not only splitting carries with the talented Blake Bangston of D.C. Everest and Xzaver Pittman of Waupaca, who left the game with a shoulder injury in the third quarter, but quarterbacks Logan George of D.C. Everest and Michael Thiede of Slinger also got their share of attempts.

Still, Rothmeier made a couple of notable runs. The first of those came midway through the second quarter. The North was backed up, facing second and 16 from its own 5-yard line. Rothmeier broke off one of his vintage runs, somehow bouncing out of a sure tackle to gain 16 yards and a first down. In the last minute of the third quarter, with the North again backed up on its 11 facing second and 17, he had a 5-yard carry and ripped off a 16yard run to pick up the first down. His next carry resulted in a 15-yard facemask penalty on the South.

“That first one, I thought I was pretty much wrapped up and I just kind of spun out of it,” Rothmeier said. “I just looked for green grass. It was a good run. I was happy with it. I had a few big runs, like on third and long and got the first down.

“It wasn’t my normal volume but I feel like I did good with what I had, especially against some really good defensive players. I was really happy with how I played.”

Tay Ferguson of Eau Claire Memorial caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Thiede to start the scoring with 11:02 left in the second quarter. An interception by New Richmond’s Abe Monson set up George’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Parker Schuh of Kaukauna for a 14-0 lead with 7:30 left in the first half. An interception by Neenah’s Luke Jung set up Bangston’s 1-yard scoring plunge with 7:22 left in the third quarter that made it 21-0.

The South got on the board with 9:16 left on a perfectly-thrown 57-yard bomb from Leo Chiappetta of Racine Case to Peyton Roby-Brown of Milwaukee Marquette. But Ferguson’s second touchdown catch, this one from Thiede from 18 yards out, sealed it with 6:27 left.

Bangston had 51 yards on 14 carries, Thiede was four of eight in passing for 122 yards and the North outgained the South 332-301.

“It was fun,” Rothmeier said of the practices. “It was a long week, a lot of practices. It was pretty hard sometimes, but it was just a blast meeting new people. I’d say it took maybe two, three days (to get comfortable). Once you build a connection with one or two people, you just build more as a team as the week goes along.”

Both Raiders said it meant a lot to be chosen to be part of the event.

“It’s just an honor,” said Rothmeier, who will continue his football career at UW-Eau Claire. “To be able to play football with all of these really good athletes and to be considered to be in the upper echelon is really neat.”

“It’s pretty nice to be able to represent Medford,” said Faude, who has been working since graduation in home construction with WLC Building Systems.

8-Player game

Rosemeyer and Tallier felt the 8-Player game could be an offensive shootout, which it was in the first half. But, receiving the opening kickoff led to the North getting extra possession and by getting one defensive stop, the North was able to open up a 38-20 halftime lead.

The lead grew to 46-20 in the third and the North wasn’t really threatened after that.

Syryczuk got plenty of snaps at left guard, his familiar position with the Pirates. Konsella lined up in a variety of positions as the North used concepts from both Gilman’s power-run offense and Clayton’s spread offense. He finished with three pass receptions for 14 yards and two rushes for 4 yards.

“Chad made plays,” Rosemeyer said. “He didn’t get a lot of touches, a couple of catches, a couple of carries. He did what was asked of him. Joey at guard did a great job. We had a three-guard rotation going in. It seemed like he did well.”

“I was split, running, blocking, ran a lot of crossers, ran a lot of jets, there was a lot of movement,” Konsella said. “I loved it.”

Konsella nearly scored a touchdown on the North’s third possession, which came right after the team got its key stop of the half. A 68-yard run by Shell Lake’s Brock Naessen put the ball at the 5-yard line. On second down, Siren quarterback Gannen Reynolds threw quick pass to the left to Konsella, who spun out of one tackle and drove toward the goal line, but got stopped at the two. Naessen scored on the next play to open up a 22-8 lead.

Konsella’s biggest play came at the end of the half. On fourth and six from the South’s 15, he got open in the left flat, stretched to reach a high throw from Northwood-Solon Springs quarterback Jared Schultz and gained 9 yards before getting out of bounds with five seconds left. On the next play, Schultz hit McDonell Central’s David Andersen over the middle for a touchdown. The North then ran a trick play for the two-point conversion to push the lead to 18 with two seconds left.

“There wasn’t too much to it,” Konsella said. “I had an out route. I had to go up and make a play. I caught it, got pushed in the back a little bit but got out of bounds. It felt good.”

“(Clayton) Coach (Jordan) LaBlanc had a trick play called (on first and goal) and then he said, ‘no let’s just keep it simple, run the crosser. It was a great idea. Let the kids make a play rather than get too fancy.”

Syryczuk said it took a day or two to get back into football shape and get his footwork down, but by game day, he felt quite comfortable.

“On Monday I felt a little uncomfortable,” he said. “By Tuesday and Wednesday I felt really good. I had everything down. It was like Gilman football again.”

He actually got his hands on the football twice. The South used squib kickoffs most of the night. In the front line on the return team, he recovered one kick in the first half and then pounced on the South’s final onside kick after a touchdown brought the South within 4632 with 4:39 left.

“Coaches told me right away that every kick was going to be an onside, so they told me to just be ready to jump on it,” Syryczuk said.

Schultz was the star of the game. The 6foot, 195-pound WFCA 8-man 2024 Player of the Year and a UW-River Falls recruit ran for 215 yards on 21 carries and completed six of nine passes for 96 yards and two touchdowns. Naessen ran for 130 yards on 12 carries with two touchdowns and caught three passes for 79 yards and a score.

“There are so many unknowns going into the week,” Rosemeyer said. “You know the kids are going to be good athletes, you just don’t know how they’re going to behave. But really, they were outstanding. Deep down inside you know they’re going to be good. Some kids stick out because they’re really good teammates, they encourage others to do good things and helping kids step up. They really came together and just had a nice week. I thought our coaches did a great job installing the offensive and defensive principles that we went with. The kids executed it in the end.”

“It was fun,” Syryczuk said. “You get up in the morning, go to work with your friends. You make new friends every day. By Tuesday we were talking to everyone.”

“To hang out with a bunch of people who love the sport, it was awesome,” Konsella said. “I think we had a lot stronger bond than the other team honestly. I love everybody on this team.”

The week was made even more special with the announcement on Monday that Rosemeyer was going to be part of the WFCA’s Hall of Fame Class of 2026. He actually found out a few days before the All-Star camp began.

“It was surprising,” Rosemeyer said. “I got a call from the WFCA on my phone so I thought it was about camp this week and here it was from John Hoch, coach from Lancaster, telling me I was selected. It was really surprising. It makes you feel old.”

“He’s a good coach,” Konsella said. “I’d play any sport he was coaching. You just want to listen to him.”

“He sees the field so well,” Syryczuk said. “Even when you come out and he goes, what’d you do wrong? I’d say I don’t know and he’s like well I know what you did wrong there.”

Konsella said he is hoping to continue his athletic career with UW-Parkside’s track and field program. Syryczuk has his eyes set on tech school with a path to be determined.