Elk Mound seniors conclude high school gridiron careers

ELK MOUND -— 14 seniors from the Elk Mound football team finished off their high school football playing days with all but one of them playing on varsity for at least two seasons.

Jon Storing was a three year letter winner, according to coach Dave Lew and was a wide receiver, running back and linebacker while serving as a team captain this year. As a senior, Storing caught 11 passes for 152 yards and rushed 19 times for 47 yards. Used as a kickoff returner, he compiled 36 yards on five returns. In a highly productive junior year, Storing was the second leading rusher for the Mounders, collecting 202 yards on 35 carries and was also second in pass receptions with 16 for 200 yards. He also returned two kickoffs for a total of 14 yards.

Quarterback Shawn Flynn lettered three years and played sparingly as a sophomore and junior on varsity, but was called on to take over midway through the season as a senior when the starter went down with an injury. Flynn completed 10 of 26 pass attempts for 89 yards and rushed five times for only two positive yards.

Four Mounders played on both the defensive and offensive line including John Yang (two years), Adam Wolgemuth (two years), Brody Bergh (three years), and Ryan Krall (two years). Bergh and Krall were both team captains, and Krall was an honorable mention All Conference offensive lineman his junior year. Wolgemuth was named second team All Conference as a center this year.

Playing in the trenches as offensive linemen were Corey Hagberg (three years), Tim Lambele (two years) and Korbyn Knipfer (three years), while defensive line men included Morgan Fuller (three years) and Josh Lien (one year). David Ward played wide receiver and defensive back for three years but was injured this season, and Zach Mohr, a running back and linebacker, had to end his athletic career due to a shoulder injury before the season started after playing three years for the varsity. In addition, Jacob Ausman was the team manager for two years.

As sophomores the team finished 8-2 under coach Dan Pedersen and were the conference champions. They won a first round playoff game over Grantsburg before losing to Prescott. Junior and senior years were a little rough as they won just one game in both seasons and were winless in  conference play with coach Lew.

Coach Lew praised his players after every game throughout the past two seasons, noting they had some tough times but they persevered through it.

“I am very happy for these young men who never gave up,” he said. “They loved the game and played their hardest every Friday night. They did what we asked of them every game and they set a great example for the younger kids and it was a joy to coach them,” he concluded.