How do you best sum up the past 365 days?
2021 IN REVIEW
So here we are, that week where we’re supposed to summarize the past 365 days in 2,000 words or less to put a historical context on the local sports year of 2021.
Because 27 years of compiling stats, scores, photos and quotes in the local newspaper business –– about 23.5 of which have been spent here at The Star News –– can take a toll on brain function, it took a 90-minute sweep through our back issues on Tuesday morning to refresh my memory. There were some “oh yah, that’s right” moments. Others were unforgettable no matter what.
As I’ve stated in the past, I’m not much for top-10 rankings or anything like that. Those are just hard. I’d change my mind way too often to ever set anything in stone. So many results and performances are signifi cant in their own ways. Anyway, here’s my attempt to sum up the past 365 days.
Let’s start with the nominees for game of the year. Unfortunately some of these were lost and not won, but a great game is a great game, no matter the outcome.
The Nov. 5 eight-man football thriller between Gilman and Newman Catholic at Stanley-Boyd certainly stands out. The Pirates trailed 22-0 through three quarters in the WIAA’s semifinal playoff game but started the fourth quarter at the 1-yard line and scored on the first play. Before you knew it, they were going for a game-winning twopoint conversion with 44 seconds left. The try came up short, as did the ensuing onside kick, leaving Gilman with a 29-28 loss.
For sure, losses like these sting. Players and coaches always think about that one play that could’ve made a difference. Whoever set the WIAA playoff brackets screwed up. No disrespect to other eight-man teams in the state, but it was obvious these two teams stood above the rest of the crowd and should’ve met on championship Saturday.
The Oct. 21 WIAA Division 3 boys soccer regional semifinal was one to remember. The Medford Raiders and Rhinelander Hodags battled through 100 minutes to a 1-1 tie and went to a penalty-kick shootout. In the seventh round, Gerardo Estrada Rodriguez scored and Jake Dassow got the save that won it for Medford. The Raiders lost their regional final at Lakeland 2-1 two nights later in another intense contest between rivals who know each other well.
I didn’t see this one in person because of the weather forecast, but another soccer game was one for the ages June 10-11. In a WIAA Division 3 girls regional semifinal, the Medford Raiders and Amherst Co-op Falcons played to a 1-1 tie that spanned two days due to lightning. It was one of Medford’s top efforts in a tough season, but the Falcons won the shootout to advance.
A game that flies below the radar, and one I had to watch on video stream rather than live, happened in Rhinelander on July 26. Medford’s Post 147 American Legion baseball team, which included several team members who would’ve been eligible to play in a younger age class, used an 11-run sixth inning rally to erase a 5-0 deficit and beat the host Rhinelander Rebels 11-6 in the Class AA regional championship game. The win clinched Medford’s third straight state berth in Legion baseball and its first at the tougher Class AA level.
Friday, Feb. 12 was a big night locally as the Medford and Rib Lake girls basketball teams pulled off simultaneous WIAA regional semifinal upsets. Rib Lake knocked off rival Prentice 56-54 in some sweet revenge after losing two regular-season matches. Medford took down top-seeded Mosinee 55-52, winning for the second time on the Indians’ home court. The Raiders won the regional title as a four-seed the next night at Merrill. Just a fun weekend for a group of girls I’ve gotten to know well and watch grow up.
On June 21, Merrill was one strike away from defeat in a WIAA Division 2 softball sectional semifinal at 21-2 Medford, but Courtney Krueger’s two-out, two-run single tied the game at 6-6 and Merrill scored three times in the eighth inning to end the Raiders’ dominant season 9-6. The Raiders bring most everyone back in 2022.
On Feb. 25, the Medford boys basketball team couldn’t quite slam the door on Rice Lake, who scored the last nine points in a WIAA Division 2 sectional semifinal to steal a 52-51 win at Raider Hall. That was a crushing one for everyone involved. In all likelihood, Medford probably doesn’t beat top-ranked Onalaska in the sectional final. But everyone just wanted to take that shot.
The nominees for teams of the year is pretty lengthy. Gilman football was an eight-man power in 2021, winning 10 games before the Newman loss. The Medford girls cross country team clinched the program’s fifth straight Great Northern Conference championship, a third WIAA sectional title in four years and an eighthplace finish in Division 2 at state. A core group of those girls is back in 2022.
Medford’s gymnastics team got to state for the third straight year, placing sixth in the Division 2, won the sectional title for the second straight year and is in position to dominate for some time. Medford has won four GNC Small Division titles in five years and isn’t likely to be challenged this year either.
Medford’s baseball and softball teams both clinched WIAA Division 2 regional championships within minutes of each other on a memorable afternoon June 16. The baseball team went 12-0 in the GNC and 24-4 overall in the winningest season in program history. A thrilling extra-inning 7-6 win over Sparta in a sectional semifi nal might have sapped them a little bit before the final, which Rice Lake won 7-4.
The baseball team’s perfect GNC record capped a remarkable feat for Medford boys athletics in 2020-21. The Raiders went undefeated in GNC competition in football, basketball and baseball and nearly added wrestling to that list too, just falling short in the GNC tournament.
The sectional semifinal loss to Rice Lake ended an incredible 24-3 season for Medford’s boys basketball team that took “Relentless” to a new level. Raider Hall was rocking on the weekend of Feb. 19-20 when Medford beat Merrill and Rhinelander to win the program’s first WIAA Division 2 regional title in five years.
Medford’s softball team ended Mosinee’s reign in the GNC in a big way, winning the league title by a fourgame margin over Antigo.
Candidates for the surprise teams of the year would be Rib Lake’s baseball team, which earned a co-championship in the Marawood North and Medford’s boys tennis team, which took second in the GNC and tied for the program’s first-ever WIAA Division 2 sectional team championship, but lost a wacky tiebreaker to Aquinas. The one-year Thorp-Gilman baseball co-op was a great collaboration.
Individually, there are too many outstanding efforts to mention, but here’s a few to remember.
Medford’s Joey Sullivan earned WIAA state medals in both track and cross country. In June, he was fifth in the Division 2 boys 1,600-meter run. In October, he was eighth in the Division 2 state race at Rapids. On Sept. 18, he won the Division 1 race at the prestigious Smiley Cross Country Invitational.
Gilman’s Gracie Tallier finished her sophomore year by earning three individual championships and helping the Pirates’ 1,600-meter relay team win another at the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference championships in Colby on June 8. Tallier won the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the long jump. Pirate freshman Bailey Angell came up with a huge discus throw at just the right time in Division 3 state competition and brought home a fourthplace medal. Medford’s girls 3,200-meter relay team of Alexis Fleegel, Jennifer Kahn, Alicia Kawa and Meredith Richter earned a sixth-place medal at state track.
Peyton Kuhn became Medford’s all-time boys basketball scoring leader, finishing with 1,464 points. Medford’s Caleb Guden was named the WBCA North Central District 2 Baseball Player of the Year and landed on the All-State third-team. Gilman’s Julian Krizan and Bryson Keepers were first-team All-State football players with Krizan also being named WisSports.net’s Defensive Player of the Year for the second time.
Gilman’s Addy Warner struck out well over 200 batters and threw three no-hitters to become the Eastern Cloverbelt Conference’s Softball Player of the Year. Martha Miller drove Medford’s softball success, going 18-2 with a 0.65 earned run average while claiming GNC Player of the Year honors.
Medford’s Makala Ulrich was the GNC Small Division Gymnast of the Year after setting a school record all-around score of 34.85 in the GNC meet. Kyla Krause on vault and Kate Malchow on beam also have become new school record holders in that sport.
Rib Lake’s Carter Scheithauer threw a no-hitter at Auburndale on April 30 and turned into a dominant pitcher in his senior year. Medford’s tennis teams of Tahtankka and Kevin Damm and Lindsey Wildberg and Sophie Brost and individual Logan Searles all made state appearances.
Aiden Gardner ran for a school-record 352 yards in Medford’s 45-20 football win at Lakeland on Sept. 10, breaking a record I wasn’t sure I’d ever see broken when John Tracey ran for 340 at Mosinee back in 2003. But the yards sure added up quickly when Gardner scored from 93 and 78 yards.
Medford’s Guden and Kawa turned high-school success into Division I NCAA opportunities. Kawa just completed a solid first season with UW-Green Bay’s cross country team. Guden signed his letter of intent on Nov. 10 to play baseball next year at the Air Force.
Outside of high school sports, Medford’s Casey Goessl could be seen on worldwide television officiating Olympic wrestling in Japan and Medford’s Adam Peterson hit it big in snowmobile racing, winning the AMSOIL Pro Lite points title and then its prestigious Dominator race.
Statewide, who can forget the Milwaukee Bucks winning the franchise’s first NBA title in 50 years behind some unbelievable efforts from Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday? I just watched Game 6 again the other day. The Packers continue to dominate the NFC North and lose in NFC Championship Games. The Aaron Rodgers off-season saga was a huge story and the Milwaukee Brewers won the National League Central Division championship.
I’m sure I missed plenty, but the summary did come in at under 2,000 words. Covid be darned, there was a lot accomplished around here in 2021.
On to 2022.
Matt Frey is the Sports Editor at The Star News.
