Buckshot | January 2020 by Leader Telegram

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JANUARY 2020

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• Locals look for new homes after football program cut • Why press defense has become so popular in girls hoops • Posterized: ECA’s Lauren Carmody • Five questions with McDonell grad Cory Hoglund

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Discover The All-New

TABLE OF

CONTENTS

KiA TelluriDe

4: A word from our editor on the 12: Posterized: ECA Stars girls hockey’s Lauren Carmody world-class athletes that come from our area 14: Frequency of press in local girls basketball leads back to 6: North hockey’s Thorp has Pitino camp come long way since surgery 10: Five questions with McDonell basketball grad Cory Hoglund

17: Locals look for new homes after St. Cloud State cuts football

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

ach month, Buckshot: The Magazine highlights the best athletes our area has to offer. But did you know there are some that are not only stellar against Chippewa Valley talent, but the best the United States and the rest of the world has to offer? There’s been a stellar run as of late of local talent performing on major stages. Eau Claire sent two of its own to the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland, this month, curler and Eau Claire Memorial student Charlie Thompson and skier and Eau Claire North student Landon Lee. Both got the opportunity to don the red, white and blue and represent their country while competing against the best athletes in the world at their age. Chippewa Falls’ Ty Wiberg is set to join them next month. He’ll represent the U.S. at the Para Nordic Skiing World Cup in Finsterau, Germany, after a strong showing at Nationals in Park City, Utah, earlier this month. If you expand your scope to include Chippewa Valley residents

and not just natives, four UW-Eau Claire students also make the cut. Rebecca Rodgers, Anya Normandeau, Emma Rau and Noah Witte all competed in the USA Curling Junior National Championships hosted right here in Eau Claire. Rebecca Rodgers even won the title, her first after finishing in third the previous two years, with Team Strouse. And that’s just recent results, ignoring athletes that have already proven themselves on the world stage like Kenny Bednarek, Andrew Urlaub and Ben Loomis. Impressive, right? If someone was to stumble into a market of our size, they’d never guess we’d produce this much world-class talent. Maybe it’s the investment in prep sports this community has made. Maybe there’s just something in the water. In any event, let’s hope the success continues as we move into a new decade. Keep putting the Chippewa Valley on the map,

Jack Goods Leader-Telegram sports editor

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BRAIN GAMES

North’s Thorp has come long way since major brain surgeries By Jack Goods Ten-year-old Sam Thorp, recovering in his house, was just relaxing in his bed and watching the 2013 Stanley Cup Final when he heard a familiar name spoken by an NBC commentator. His name. The young Eau Claire native received a shout out and a get well soon not only on national television, but during the intermission of the pinnacle of his favorite sport. “My Mom and I were just like, ‘Wow, this just happened,’” Thorp said. Sam and his mother, Molly, could barely believe it. They quickly told Sam’s father, Bob, who had been outside during the broadcast. “We’ve got some good friends involved throughout the hockey community, and I’m not sure which one it is,” Bob, a UW-Eau Claire hockey assistant, said at the time. “I’ve made a few phone calls, but nobody’s calling me back at this point. I’m not sure we will ever find out.” That was the crown jewel of an outpouring of support that came Thorp’s way seven years ago, when the now-Eau Claire North hockey defender underwent two brain surgeries at a very young age. “You just sit there and look back on it, from here to here, it’s been a long way,” Sam said. “I think the key of it was I never stopped to feel bad about it. I just kept going, moving onto the next thing.” It took a stroke of luck to even realize there was something wrong with Sam in the first place, a seizure when he was in the second grade. He obviously was taken to the doctor, where he underwent an MRI. Turns out the seizure was unrelated, perhaps caused by too much time in the sun, Sam said. But it allowed doctors to discover a small tumor right next to his brain stem. STAFF PHOTO BY DAN REILAND

Eau Claire North hockey player Sam Thorp poses at Hobbs Ice Arena on Jan. 20. View more photos at LeaderTelegramPhotos.com.

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“We kind of watched it for a couple years,” Sam said. “And then it got to the point where we could take it out.” Doctors intended to remove the tumor, or at least as much of it as they could, in the initial surgery at the start of the summer. But there was a complication — abnormal amounts of swelling, or accumulation of fluid, around the brain. In hindsight, the only thing doctors can cite for the issue is Sam’s slow-draining veins. “They didn’t know why his brain was swelling,” Molly said of the initial reaction. “They said it could be a brain bleed or a stroke.” Doctors were only able to remove a small amount of the tumor — “If you picture Mickey Mouse, they removed like an ear,” Molly said — but it was enough to diagnose the tumor as pilocytic astrocytoma grade 1, a benign tumor. Thankfully it was not cancerous. The swelling remained an issue, causing Sam to spend time in the intensive care unit. It got to the point after he went home that he couldn’t carry the weight of his own head. There was no other choice but to readmit him to the hospital for a second surgery, this time to put in a medical device called a shunt that relieves pressure on the brain

caused by excess fluid. “At the time, I was too young to really understand what was going on,” Sam said. “Now that I think about it, like yeah, that was pretty serious.” Sam spent weeks in the hospital, two of which are completely erased from his memory after the first surgery. “I didn’t want to be there, so I just did everything I could to get out as fast as I could and get back to normal,” Sam said. “There’s nothing worse for me than just sitting there and doing nothing.” The recovery process largely focused on getting back the muscle mass he lost due to lack of movement. At first, he had to be in a wheelchair if the family went far from home, but he slowly worked his way back to normal activities. He certainly knew there were people in his corner throughout the whole process, even outside of his friends, doctors and teammates. Former NHLer and Eau Claire native Jake Dowell, a family friend, visited Eau Claire to see Sam among others. So did current Buffalo Sabre Jake McCabe and fellow Eau Claire native Jefferson Dahl, who went over to the Thorps’ house with a few teammates when the duo were playing for the Badgers. They gave him a jersey. Then there was the NBC shout out.

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Eau Claire North’s Sam Thorp skates in the Huskies’ offensive zone against Neenah/Hortonville/Menasha on Saturday, Dec. 21, at Hobbs Ice Arena.

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8 The Thorps did eventually discover the origin — Sam’s godfather, current United States Hockey League coach Luke Strand, was coaching one of the NBC broadcasters’ sons at the time. It was a lousy way to spend a summer, but obviously an important few months for Sam’s long-term health. By October, he was finally able to get back on the ice. “There were a lot of things that it affected,” Sam said. “But skating and that, it was unchanged. When I first got out and skated, I was surprised. It took a little while to get back to where I was, but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.” Today, Sam says he suffers from few side effects or issues. He has to go into the doctors every six months to get an MRI and undergo some tests, just making sure he’s still on the right track. The tumor has only grown slightly since the initial surgery, not enough to warrant concern. “I don’t notice it,” Sam said. “I’m pretty much back to normal.” Even doctors are amazed how well everything turned out. “Even now, we’ve been at Mayo and Marshfield and they both are like in awe of him because he shouldn’t be doing this well,” Molly said.

He doesn’t shy away from his medical past, but doesn’t exactly discuss it often. Many of his teammates are aware of what happened, considering they were youth teammates with Thorp at the time of his surgeries. On the ice, Sam has developed into a steady presence on the blue line for the Huskies. In his third year on varsity, Sam has developed a good reputation in the North locker room. “Sam’s a hockey guy,” North coach Ryan Parker said. “He shows up every day and gives us everything he has, works hard.” Those leadership qualities led to Parker and the rest of the North staff opting to give Thorp one of three captains C’s on his jersey this season. “It just showed me that they recognized what I’ve been doing the past couple of years,” Sam said. Last year, Sam got the opportunity few Huskies have in the history of the program, earning a trip to Madison for the state tournament. That led Molly to reflect on the journey they’d been on and just how far Sam has come. “In the moment we never really knew how sick he was,” Molly said. “(Doctors) still talk about Sam at their roundtables because of how well he’s doing.”

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Minnesota Wild player Jake Dowell talks with Sam Thorp, son of UW-Eau Claire assistant hockey coach Bob Thorp who coached Dowell when he played at Eau Claire Memorial, in 2013.

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Common orthopedic injuries from winter activities Winter is filled with fun outdoor sports, including ice skating, sledding and downhill skiing. These activities are excellent for improving cardiovascular health and provide enjoyable entertainment for all ages. But what happens when muscle and joint injuries occur? At the ice rink or on the slopes, injuries can happen in the blink of an eye. Musculoskeletal injuries can be debilitating and may require medical intervention. Here are a few common winter sport-related injuries to be aware of along with some tips for preventing these injuries from occurring: Torn ACL The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the major stabilizing ligaments in the knee, and injury to it can result in an unstable knee. ACL reconstruction surgery is done to reconstruct the torn ligament and restore stability to the knee. ACL injuries commonly occur during winter sports that involve sudden stops, changes in direction or twisting, such as downhill skiing. During ACL reconstruction surgery, the torn ligament is removed and replaced with a piece of tendon from another part of your knee or from a deceased donor. This surgery is an outpatient procedure that’s performed through small incisions around your knee joint. Torn meniscus The meniscus is a C-shaped piece of cartilage. There are two in your knee, one in the inside knee compartment and one in the outside knee compartment. A torn meniscus is one of the most common knee injuries. Actions that forcefully twist or rotate your knee, especially when putting the pressure of your full weight on it, can lead to a torn meniscus. If you have torn your meniscus, then you may experience these signs and symptoms in your knee: • A popping sensation • Swelling or stiffness • Pain, especially when twisting or rotating your knee • Difficulty straightening your knee fully • Experiencing what feels like a block to moving your knee, as if your knee were locked in place If, after an injury, you can’t move your knee in the usual ways, it’s important to see your doctor as soon as possible. Conservative treatment — such as rest, ice, medication and possibly an injection — sometimes is enough to relieve the pain and maintain normal knee function. In other cases, a torn meniscus requires surgical treatment. If your knee remains painful, stiff or locked, your doctor may recommend surgery. It’s sometimes possible to repair a torn meniscus depending on the location of the tear. If the tear can’t be repaired, the meniscus may be surgically trimmed. Surgery may be done through tiny incisions using an arthroscope. After surgery, you will need to do exercises to optimize knee range of motion, strength and stability. Wrist fracture A broken wrist (wrist fracture) can involve the small bones in the wrist or the ends of the forearm bones.

Wrist fractures most commonly occur when people try to catch themselves during a fall and land on an outstretched hand. Treatment may include a splint, cast or surgery, depending on the severity and amount of displacement of the fracture. Surgery often involves using pins or plates and screws to hold the broken bones in the appropriate position while they heal. Rehabilitation is an important part of the healing process, with the primary goals of restoring range of motion, strength and function. Injury prevention It’s impossible to prevent the unforeseen events that often cause musculoskeletal injuries, but these basic tips may offer some protection: • Eat a nutritious diet with adequate calcium and vitamin D • Get plenty of weight-bearing exercise, and incorporate resistance training to strengthen muscles and bones • Quit smoking if you’re a smoker • Loosen up tight muscles by stretching 8 to 10 minutes before and after exercise • Move regularly throughout the day, and stimulate blood flow to extremities • Incorporate resistance training to strengthen muscle and connective tissues Don’t let the frigid weather or fear of injuries keep you from enjoying wintertime sports. Whether you’re hitting the slopes or sledding down a hill with your kids, listen to your body and enjoy winter activities safely.

Jess Brehmer, M.D., is an orthopedic surgeon with Mayo Clinic Health System.

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FIVE-POINT BUCKSHOT WITH UW-STOUT’S CORY HOGLUND By Jack Goods By the time he left McDonell, Cory Hoglund became very familiar with the drive from Chippewa Falls to Madison. The former Mack star guard made four straight trips to the WIAA state basketball tournament, serving as a key contributor for one of the steadiest programs in the area. He earned his fourth appearance by putting up 17 points per game, 6.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and two steals last season. That’s all before mentioning his defense. Hoglund hasn’t gone far following his graduation from McDonell, continuing his basketball and academic career at UW-Stout. He got in for three non-conference games early in the season, but has spent more of his first year on the Menomonie campus learning the ropes in practice and from the sideline. Hoglund is our feature athlete in this month’s edition of Five-point Buckshot, a monthly Q&A with an influential person in the Chippewa Valley prep sports scene. As a freshman in college, what has been the biggest adjustment? You’re more independent and have to take care of yourself more. That’s the main thing, not having anyone to tell you what you should and shouldn’t be doing, such as getting homework done. But now with break, I’m basically all basketball. In high school, I’d get extra shots up at practice and think, ‘This is gonna be a late night.’ Now, I’m waking up at 8 in the morning, getting shots up and I have practice at 3. I just get more time to work on my game. It’s also a change in role for you, going from a star player with the Macks to watching games from the sidelines and learning. Has that been difficult? It’s definitely different, but I kind of had this role my freshman year of high school, too. That was one of the most fun times I had in high school, especially with the team we had, being able to cheer and encourage your team and stuff. I try to take it as it’s another way to both help the team and have a little fun myself. When you’re going up against other guys at practice, is there anything you especially notice you need to work on? For sure, especially to start the year. Just the speed of the game is totally different. Definitely footwork and foot quickness is something I’m going to be working on this offseason. When you were looking for colleges, was the plan to stay close? To be honest, I kind of wanted to get a little distance away, but (UW-Stout coach Jim Lake), what he had going really appealed to me. Now, it’s actually worked out in my favor. I’ve been able to come home over break quite a bit and see a couple McDonell games. And when my brother was home I was able to see him. I got a little extra family time than I would have if I went farther away. You obviously were a part of a great culture at McDonell, and Coach Lake is working to build a culture with the Blue Devils now. What sense do you get of the culture change he’s trying to bring about and can your experience help you contribute to that? He’s looking for all the players to bring a mentally tough mindset and to make 50/50 balls, 30/70 balls, in our favor. It’s a growth mindset, to help us further our game. At McDonell, not to the extent, but we kind of had that. There were great players before me, all the way from Kyle Cody. That’s trickled down. Being able to see that throughout my four years, that’s made it easy to really bring that to Stout.

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McDonell’s Cory Hoglund fights off a Regis defender during the Macks’ matchup with the Ramblers on Jan. 10, 2019.

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In 1989, Ladysmith boys basketball coach Forrest Larson had an idea that would forever change high school basketball in Northwest Wisconsin. His Lumberjacks were coming off an impressive 12-win season, but the second-year head coach looked at his roster, devoid of much of the prior year’s talent, and he wanted to make a change. “I made the decision that if we were going to go

. n. 20 day, Ja n o M n oomer o ia Schreiber (left) trap Bloomer’s Vanessa Jenneman in Bl

MEET THE PRESS By Aaron Rose

B TO HO

D AN

down, we were going to go down playing hard,” he said this month, reflecting on that year. He picked up a VHS made by then-Kentucky basketball coach Rick Pitino about the press defense, an exhausting style of basketball that requires players to defend the entire length of the floor. After little success in the first two games that season, Larson began implementing his new press system. Unfortunately for the Lumberjacks, his idea

Larson’s system used across Northwest Wisconsin

appeared to be a miserable failure. He won just two games that year, but he was determined to keep trying, so in the fall of 1992 he took a trip to Lexington, Ky. to attend a basketball clinic run by Pitino. “That’s when the light bulb went on,” Larson said. In 1996, Larson led the Lumberjacks to their first ever Division 3 state final appearance. Now, almost three decades after Larson revolutionized Ladysmith basketball, the effect of his decision can still be seen throughout Northwest Wisconsin.

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Former Ladysmith coach Forrest Larson watches his team battle Kenosha St. Joseph in a close Division 3 semifinal game at the Kohl Center in 2008.

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Take Elk Mound, for example. When Jordan Kongshaug took over the girls basketball program in 2010 he wanted to change things up. He wanted the Mounders to have a “calling card,” as he put it, something they would be known for. He began researching different strategies and eventually found a DVD that Larson made on the press defense. A decade later and Kongshaug’s record speaks for itself. He entered this season 143-72 and has run some variation of Larson’s run-and-jump press every single year. “I think it’s fun,” Kongshaug said. “It forces our kids to play hard, it forces teams to prepare for us and make quick decisions with the basketball.” It means his Mounders girls need to be in tip-top shape for every game. They spend time every practice working on their press, sprinting up and down the court as Kongshaug watches from the sideline calling in different strategies on when to trap a player and when to play back. “It’s extremely exhausting,” Mounders’ senior Hailey Blaskowski said. “After games and practices I’m usually super tired, but in games we get a bunch of steals and stuff off of it, so I’m happy we still do it.” The reason for the press’ success is its chaotic style. It speeds up the pace of the game and it’s extremely difficult to prepare for. Usually pressing teams will give up easy layups early in the game, but eventually as the game wears on and fatigue sets in, opponents begin to whither and those easy buckets become turnovers and scoring opportunities going the other way.

“It usually takes the other team out of the rhythm of their offense if you do it well,” former Durand girls basketball coach Lionel Jones said, “and it creates good offense in transition.” Jones, who now coaches women’s basketball at Viterbo, studied the press defense under former UW-Stout coach Ed Andrist, one of Larson’s peers who adopted the press at Mount Senario College while Larson was finding success around the corner at Ladysmith High School. The problem with the press is it’s exhausting and requires high levels of athleticism and conditioning to perfect. That means teams have to go deep into their bench, regularly rotating out their best players to properly deploy the strategy. To some coaches, this is an issue too big to overcome, but others see it as a benefit. “What do all parents want? What do all coaches want? What do all schools want? They want to play more kids,” Andrist said. “If I’m a coach and I don’t press, I’m probably going to play six kids, what the press does is it develops your bench and you have happier kids, more kids go out.” Larson’s philosophy at Ladysmith was that every player on his team would play in the first quarter. He said he didn’t think his team could lose in the first quarter and he wanted to make sure all his boys had opportunities to develop their skills. “I can remember games in the tournament where we had to go deep into our bench and because those kids had played all year, they played with a lot of confidence during the tournament,” he said.

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Elk Mound’s Olivia Schreibler (left) and Tori Blaskowski (right) trap Bloomer’s Rylie Jarr on Monday, Jan. 20 in Bloomer.

In Menomonie, Storm Harmon said he has adopted a similar philosophy. When he started coaching girls basketball with the Mustangs in 2015, he brought Larson’s press defense to the program. At the time, he said it was not well received by his girls. “They kind of looked at me those first few weeks because they were like, ‘What the heck are we doing?’” he said, “but there were glimpses in games where you could tell we were close and it was going to start to turn on. Then, Christmas happened and we started to rattle off some wins, I think we won like seven of our next 10 or 11 and our rotations were there and the girls really bought in.” A year later, the Mustangs went 18-8 under Harmon, falling just a game short of the state tournament. That buy-in from the players is key to the press’s success. If you’re going to run your players into the

ground, they better believe that your strategy is going to work. That’s how Larson found his success so many years ago. “He instilled it into us at a young age,” said Matt Siverling, a former Ladysmith basketball player and the current UW-Eau Claire men’s basketball coach. “He was working with us as young kids, so when it was our time to do it, it was built into our culture.” For Jones, he said his Durand girls would spend the first 40 to 50 minutes of every practice just conditioning to be ready for those late game situations. He recognized that wasn’t going to be fun for his girls, so he made sure his players understood the importance of their work. “It’s about providing measurable feedback,” he said. “We knew we had to provide proof that it was working, so it was constant feed back, constant watching of film and showing them what all their work was doing

was effecting the other team. Once you show them those visuals and they realize this is working, then you have the buy-in.” When everything comes together, the press can be a thing of beauty. It’s like a chaotic dance that flows beautifully as players wiz around the court trapping ball handlers and wreaking havoc for opposing offenses. It’s a style that can take an athletic, sometimes less skilled group of players and allows them to compete with teams far more skilled. “It levels the playing field,” Andrist said. And once in a while, when you can mix an athletic group with high levels of basketball skill and a commitment to the press, that’s when the magic really happens. That’s what Larson showed in Ladysmith almost 20 years ago and Northwestern Wisconsin schools are trying to replicate in gyms all across the greater Chippewa Valley.

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PICKING UP THE PIECES

Chippewa Valley alumni seek new homes after St. Cloud State eliminates football program By Spencer Flaten At first, nobody wanted to believe it. As final exams crept closer and closer on the campus of St. Cloud State University, the chilling winter wind carried murmurs of big changes coming to the Huskies’ athletic programs. Murmurs that were unwelcome in the ears of the school’s football team. Could the rumors be true? Could the Huskies be cutting their football program, a team which has certainly brought its fair share of success to the school? “We heard whispers that this could be a thing. But it couldn’t be, because it’s football, right?” said Huskies soon-to-be senior quarterback Justin Czech, a graduate of Chippewa Falls.

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Chippewa Falls graduate Justin Czech scrambles during a St. Cloud State football game.

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JANUARY 2020 | BUCKSHOT THE MAGAZINE

PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. CLOUD STATE ATHLETICS

Regis graduate Cade Osborn (31) pursues the ballcarrier during a St. Cloud State football game in 2019.

As Czech and the Huskies learned soon after the whispers began, not even football is invincible. St. Cloud State announced on December 10 that it would no longer sponsor a football team, in addition to dropping men’s and women’s golf while adding men’s soccer. The university gave budget and Title IX issues as reasons for the changes. But that offered no solace for the athletes who no longer had a team to play for, including several from the Chippewa Valley. “I was told I was going to be there for four years,” said redshirt freshman tight end JD Czech, also a Chippewa Falls alumnus and the younger brother of Justin. “I had my college career planned out. We though it was stable, otherwise none of us would have went there. So having it be cut out from under us as soon as we get started leaves a lasting impression.”

And now they’re left to pick up the pieces after a blindsiding turn of events they never thought they’d face. FROM RUMBLINGS TO REALITY Depending on who you ask, hints of the elimination of St. Cloud State’s football program began making their way around social circles anywhere from three days before the news broke to the day before. Take freshman defensive back Cade Osborn, for instance. The Regis graduate went into work the day before the program was cut and heard from his co-workers that changes were afoot. “I didn’t really think anything of it, because I’d never heard of anybody cutting a Division II football program,” Osborn said. Others who had been around St. Cloud longer,

like Justin Czech, were perhaps more in-tune than most. The rumor first came on his radar on Saturday, three days before the university made it official. He didn’t like what he heard, and he took action about it. On Tuesday, he and a teammate met with Huskies head coach Scott Underwood. “I was like, ‘Hey Coach, you’re going to start losing guys to transfers, losing recruits because of these rumors if we don’t have a team meeting,’” Czech said. They all agreed it was a good idea, and a meeting was scheduled for 4 p.m. that day. But the plan never made it that far into the afternoon. Shortly after Czech and his teammate met with Underwood, players were informed they were having a meeting with the university president at 3 p.m.

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20 Some received the news in less fortunate ways than a summons to a meeting. The story was beginning to break outside of campus circles as well. “I was getting text messages from other coaches saying they were sorry for what happened to our football program,” Osborn said. “I was confused, because I hadn’t heard the news yet.” The players and coaches met with university President Robbyn Wacker and other athletic department staff that afternoon, where they learned they would no longer play football in a St. Cloud State uniform. “It was heart-wrenching,” Osborn said. “I went up (to St. Cloud) to hopefully spend my four years there playing football, meeting new friends and starting a new life. But then it just got taken away. It was definitely a tough moment for everybody.” Tough for everybody, including the coaches. “(It’s) a hard day,” Underwood told the St. Cloud Times. “You don’t think of (the end) as how it went down today. It’s not how you figure it’s the last time you get to see the kids that you coach.” Why? Several factors played a role in the decision to eliminate football and golf from St. Cloud State’s athletic offerings, according to the school. The changes to the programs bring the university’s offerings to six male sports and 11 female sports, to ensure Title IX compliance. Finances also played a role. A university press release stated it had an athletics budget deficit of more than $1.6 million over the past four years. “We made this extremely difficult decision because St. Cloud State faces a convergence of circumstances that required us to change our athletics offerings,” Wacker said in the press release. “This will have a profound impact on our committed student-athletes, our dedicated coaches, and the passionate alumni and supporters who have followed our programs throughout their proud histories. Our student-athletes and coaches approach every day with incredible devotion and desire to be their best and represent St. Cloud State in the classroom, on the field, and in our community. We are grateful for their commitment and will assist them as they move forward.” OUT OF THE LOOP Frustration was commonplace among the players in the aftermath of the decision, especially those from the Chippewa Valley. They felt there was a lack of communication between the school and the players the decision would be affecting. And it wasn’t a good feeling. “It’s tough knowing that we’re the ones that are going to be affected by it most, and we don’t even get to hear it firsthand. I think there’s definitely a better way that they could have gone about the process of informing us, but it just came right out of the blue,” Osborn said. “And this all took place at the worst possible time,” JD Czech said, “as we were all already stressed about finals, which were the next week. So then this was dumped on us and it made us all almost unable to study for

JANUARY 2020 | BUCKSHOT THE MAGAZINE

PHOTO COURTESY ST. CLOUD STATE ATHLETICS

Chippewa Falls graduate Justin Czech throws a pass for the St. Cloud State football team in 2017.

finals because we were going to have to figure out where we were going within a couple weeks.” And those who were part of the program for a number of years were left feeling like they deserved better. “You work for 22 years of your life to get to this point where you can be a senior, be a captain on your team, and be on a really good team,” Justin Czech said. “Just for all that work to be for nothing.” MOVING FORWARD Whether they like it or not, St. Cloud State’s former football players will need to find a new home if they want to keep playing the sport. Out of nowhere, those who thought they had a home felt like high school seniors being recruited all over again. Justin Czech was in the unique situation of being a quarterback with some experience. He played in six games for the Huskies as a junior, and had two starts as a sophomore. He figured a former Division II senior quarterback would be coveted on the transfer market, but finding a new home was tougher than he thought. “I sat down and looked every high-level Division III and NAIA program, went through their roster, and every single one that had a senior quarterback starting this past year, I called their coach and emailed them some film,” he said. And for all that, he got only one response: Mary Hardin-Baylor. The Crusaders are one of Division III’s elite programs, with a national title in 2018 and a run to the

national semifinals this season. And that’s where Czech will go for his senior year. He had other programs reach out to him on their own, but ultimately Mary Hardin-Baylor was the place he wanted to be. Others, such as Elk Mound graduate Noah Zurbuchen and Rice Lake grads Parker Buckley and Peyton Buckley, were forced to enter the transfer portal if they wanted to continue playing football as well. Younger players might have been in a slightly more comfortable situation than the upperclassmen, having been recruited as recently as a year or two ago. Osborn will transfer to UW-La Crosse to play football, and JD Czech is headed to Ellsworth Community College. “The (St. Cloud State) coaches were a big help to us,” Osborn said. “They did whatever they could to help find us a different school. That’s how a lot of us were able to find a new home.” And as all the now-former Huskies find their way to new pastures, they leave behind memories of a program that they gave their all to. “I think the decision by the school will ruin the legacy of not just football, but a lot of different sports,” Justin Czech said, “because they just took away all of the school pride that was left. ... It’s just kind of sad. It’s tough to speak to what kind of a legacy St. Cloud State football will leave, because I don’t think there have been many programs that are 100 years old and as recently as five, six years ago have been ranked in the top five that have cut their programs. I just can’t speak to how that’ll be perceived in five, 10 years.”

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SAVE THE DATE PREPSPORTS AWARDS 2020

Wed. May 20, 2020 W TThe Pablo Center at the Confluence • 6pm M Mark your calendar for seeing the Chippewa Valley’s top high-school athletes take ccenter stage in being honored & celebrated for their accomplishments! Keynot Keynote speaker, and former Wautoma High-School athletic standout Jared Abbrederis will shar share a special message about his experiences as Wisconsin Football Badger and Gr Green Bay Packer wide receiver. Q Questions? Interested in sponsoring an athlete’s award?

CContact Brian Maki at (715) 828-4667 or at brian.maki@ecpc.com

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