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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2022 | BRAINERD DISPATCH
BRAINERDDISPATCH.COM
FOOTBALL
Warriors looking to surprise opponents this season By Conrad Engstrom Brainerd Dispatch With only 18 seniors on the roster, a lot of underclassmen will get a shot for Brainerd Warriors head football coach Jason Freed this season. After returning to Class 6A last season, the Warriors went 4-5 in Freed’s first full season as the head coach which ended in a 30-15 loss to Minnetonka in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs. With another young roster this season, Freed says he’s relying on the leadership of those who played last season. “They know what flow of the game and the speed of the game and the physicality you need to be at to play 5A and 6A football,” Freed said. “To have that leadership is awfully important and hopefully they have that presence on the football field. When you have a team that’s a little green and inexperienced, it’s about catching up with the speed of the game and having those already familiar with it help those get comfortable as we get closer and closer to gametime.” On the defensive side, Brainerd returns junior Dylan Gross, who led the Warriors in tackles last year. Gross is coming off spring ankle surgery and will anchor Freed’s defense at the linebacker position. “He’s worked his way back and he’s definitely going to be one of those catalysts for our defense this season,” Freed said. “He’s the guy who’s essentially going to be the quarterback of the defense and that side of the ball. Being the linebacker he’ll call the fronts and stunts in our gameplan and I think he’s ready to embrace that role as one of the key leaders of our defense.” Paired with Gross at linebacker is senior captain Connor Erickson along with Ryan Kennedy and Derron Tumpkin On the defensive line, senior captain Eli Wiskow along with junior Mitchell Wind anchor a group that Freed says will have a lot of interchangeable parts. Caleb Lange will play defensive line as well along with Asher Borle and Matt Toews “It’s an area where we are a little thin,” Freed said. “We have a variety of kids who are just going to continue to get better as the season goes. And that’s an area where your depth seems to get a
WARRIORS FOOTBALL Ź Head coach: Jason Freed (3rd at Brainerd, 5 at Houston). Ź 2021 finish: 2-2 in North Central Red Subdistrict, 4-5 overall Freed Ź Career record: 37-29 (.561) Ź Brainerd record: 5-8 Ź Returning starters: Eli Hoelz (WR/DB), Eli Wiskow (DL), Marcello Getty (QB), Brandon Stark (DB), Damien Bentho (RB), Connor
SCHEDULE Friday, Aug. 26, at Coon Rapids 7 p.m. Sept 2: hosts Andover 7 p.m. Sept 9: at Moorhead 7 p.m. Sept 16: hosts Sartell 7 p.m. Sept 23: hosts Bemidji 7 p.m. Sept 30: at Alexandria 7 p.m.
little better as the season goes because a lot of people play there and we are looking to have a few kids mixed in there.” In the secondary, Brandon Stark is the lone returner who comes off a spring which saw him make the state tournament in two track and field events. The Warriors were hoping to have Nate Herkenhoff as a returner in the secondary, but the junior suffered a knee injury in July. “We don’t return many starters on defense,” Freed said. “So Gross, Wind and Stark are going to have to be those guys for us who are returning starters and we are going to lean on some other guys to lead our defense. “That secondary was a place we were excited about until we lost Nate to a noncontact injury. Brandon is going to have to be our guy back there and like our other positions there are a host of guys that are fighting for secondary spots.” Sean Hollbrook, Chad King, Kade Stengrim, Landon Severson, John Hagen, Daric Caughey and Dillon MacLaughlin were all names Freed said could play in the secondary for the Warriors. On the offensive side of the ball, the Warriors return starting quarterback Marcello Getty, who threw for 1,083 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. “For a kid like Marcello, just having that year experience and understanding what the speed
Erickson (LB/TE), Dylan Gross (LB), Josh Albright (OL), Mitchell Wind (DL/OL), Caleb Lange (OL/DL) Ź 2022 captains: Connor Erickson, Damien Bentho, Eli Wiskow, Caleb Lange Ź Manager: Mike Rempe Ź Statistician: Mike Bialka Ź Assistant coaches: Troy Nelson (OC/QB), Wade Haapajoki (head JV/OL/ ST), Curtis Brisk (OL/JV), Jace Marcelo (WR), Colby Ring (OLB) Logan McElfresh (Specialists), John Stumpf (RB/JV), Aron Anderson (DL), Mark Erickson (DL/ JV), McKinley Anderson (DB/JV), Mitch Feierabend (LB), Jonathan LeMieur (volunteer/OL)
Oct. 7: Rogers 7 p.m. Oct. 19: hosts Buffalo 7 p.m. Oct: 28: Class 6A Playoffs Nov 4: Class 6A Playoffs Nov 10-12: Class 6A Quarterfinals Nov 17-19: Class 6A Semifinals Dec. 2: Class 6A Finals
of the game is will be huge for his development this year,” Freed said. “Playing high school quarterback is not easy and so I think Marcello enjoys it and embraces it and we need him to rise up in his leadership this year. We have been happy with his development this summer.” The Warriors also have Swiss-Army knife Eli Hoelz. As a sophomore, Hoelz was third on the team in receiving with 13 catches for 204 yards and third on the team in rushing with 106 yards on 26 carries. He also threw eight passes and completed four of them including a 61-yard touchdown pass in the playoffs against Minnetonka. “Eli is going to play a big part for us this year like he did last year,” Freed said. “He’s also a great leader and we can use him in a variety of ways.” Overall, Freed likes the weapons he has on the offensive side. “We are progressing offensively,” he said. “We’ve had a system we have tried to implement the past two years and I think the kids are growing more and more comfortable with it. If there is one area where I think we have depth it’s at the skill positions. We feel like we have a good clustering group of wide receivers and a good group of backs. We have Marcello back at quarterback and Eli Hoelz as our Swiss-Army knife kid.” Other wide recievers
Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch
Brainerd Warriors football has a preseason scrimmage Wednesday, Aug. 17 at Adamson Field in Brainerd.
ROSTER Seniors: Eli Wiskow, Marcello Getty, Eli Owen, Reece Isle, Damien Bentho, Connor Erickson, Dillon MacLaughlin, Noah Hines, Daric Caughey, Izayah Schultz, Rhyen Buckmaster, Josh Albright, Liam Luther, Reece Meyer, Caleb Lange, Kolbie Bernu, Henry Hopkins, Forrest Wentz Juniors: Eli Hoelz, Nolan Johnson, Brandon Stark, Landon Severson, Isaak Malay, Ben Grams, John Hagen, Sean Holbrook, Andrew Garding, Bennett Bermainder, Braedon Manecke, Atreyu Marcelo, Preston Siebolds, George Campbell, Nate Herkenhoff, Derron Tumpkin, Cayde Feiske, Riley Johnson, Ryan Kennedy, Dylan Gross, Mason Maske, Reese
for the Warriors include Jake Merseth, Reece Isle, Nolan Johnson, and Dillon McLaughlin. “Last year, we had some taller wide receivers and this year a lot of wide receivers look pretty similar,” Freed said. “But we have a group where there’s not a huge drop off and we can play a lot of kids there.’ At running back, Damien Bentho will carry most of the load along with Sean Holbrook. Bentho was second on the team in rushing behind Nathaniel Staehling at 324 yards and one touchdown on 91 carries. “(Bentho and Holbrook) will be our two bell cows,” Freed said. “It’s nice to have a couple of backs to carry the ball. We really like our sophomore running backs too.” On the offensive line, Josh Albright is a returning starter for Freed and Lange is moving from tight end to offensive line. Lange committed this summer to play football at the University of South Dakota. Wind along with Rhyen Buckmaster, Peter Yaeger and Kolbie Bernu will help the offensive line. “I like this offensive line and where we are
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Molby, Mitchell Wind, Peter Yaeger, Titus Thompson, Jaxon Fasching, Cody Becker, Landon Liebel, Asher Borle, Jake Merseth, Blake Herman, Dilan Sypnieski, Matthew Toews Sophomores: Dillon Wikoff, Beau Erickson, Tyrell Stupca, Chad King, Kade Stengrim, Ty Nelson, Jordan Davis, Elijah Bahma, Taylor Deason, Eli Tautges, Carter Roeder, Ty Wilson, Josh Neumeyer, Maverick Badeaux, Izaac Vanek, Jackson DeRosier, Drew Wood, Nolan Langerman, Dylan Haar, Aydn Carranza, Tucker Schwartz, Hunter Fanjoy, Shane Carlson, Xavier Bethel, Waylon Larson, Owen Cash, Cooper Schenck, Matthew Lekatz, Tyson Winterfield, Finnegan Jackman, Spencer Maske, Carson Fanhnrich
at,” Freed said. “We might be a little green, but I like the way they are trending this time of year. We are going to have athletic guards and tackles which I like.” What Freed might be most excited about is the kicking game. Bennett Bernander and Brandon Manecke are both junior place-kickers for Brainerd. “Our punt game is a little bit of unknown, but I can honestly say in my tenure in Brainerd I don’t know if we have had two kickers on a football team as solid as them,” Freed said. “It’s nice to know that we can drive and get into reasonable fieldgoal range and get three points.” The schedule for the Warriors opens Friday, Aug. 26, with a Week Zero game at 6A opponent Coon Rapids. It’s the same exact schedule as last year with the home and away games flipped. Freed said it’s not ideal that the Warriors football program finds themselves in the state’s biggest class at the moment. However, after a strong showing in the 6A playoffs last year, Freed says they are up to the challenge.
“I’d be lying if I said it’s the ideal situation for Brainerd football right now because we are this team without a home right now,” Freed said. “With our schedule the way it is where we play 6A then 5A and then end up in the 6A playoffs. But I would just say that our young men and coaching staff have embraced the challenge and I think we learned from last year. I think we learned that when we compete at a high level we can compete in 6A and who knows after this year maybe we have to stay in 6A or maybe we will be back in 5A. We are just on that bubble and these last two years have given us a glimpse into if this is where we want to be and if this is how we need to do things. It’s a big moment in our program right now and a big building block was going down to Minnetonka last year and after the game Coach (Mark) Esch came up to me and said we belong here and we can compete at this level and I told our kids and I think they believe that.” CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad. engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter. com/the_rad34.
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