Boyceville Bulldog football aspires to turn the tide
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2019 BOYCEVILLE FOOTBALL SQUAD — The Bulldogs will open this year’s football season with a road game against Independence/Gilmanton on Friday, August 23. High school members include, in front row (L to R): Chase Hollister, Dawson Standaert, Peyton Ponath, Jack Phillips, Josiah Berg, Simon Evenson, Brendan Sempf, Sebastian Nielson, Nathan Stuart and Mason Powell. Middle row (L to R): Josh Marzofka, Preston Coombs, Kyle Lipke, Brady Helland, Connor Sempf, Jared Hatch, Tanner Anderson, Jacob Granley, Keegan Plemon and Dawson McRoberts. Back row (L to R): John Klefstad, Logan Knudtson, Trevor Hollister, Tyler Dormanen, Brendan Hazelton, Mason Bowell, Isaac Bartz, Justin Anderson, Brandon Dunn and Jacob Wheeler. Missing is Gregory Moore. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
By Laura Giammattei
BOYCEVILLE — Former Boyceville football assistant varsity coach Michael Roemhild makes his return to the field as head coach for the 2019 season where he aims to turn things around for the Bulldogs.
It has been a tough run for Boyceville, having tallied just two wins in the past two seasons, last year going 0-9. However, under new – yet familiar – leadership, Roemhild plans to implement discipline in a young, eager group of players in an effort to get the Bulldogs back on a positive path.
With just a handful of returning players this season, Roemhild will look to the majority of incoming underclassmen to keep the upperclassmen on their toes.
“We are starting fresh this year,” Roemhild said. “We do have some juniors and seniors who are ready to make a change for this program. I have a great young group of freshmen and sophomores who are competing and pushing our older guys. We will be conditioned, and we will all do the jobs that we need to do to put ourselves in the best chance to win.”
The Bulldogs move on this year without the senior leadership of Erick Loback, Dylan McNew, Brady Nye and Ty Gundlach. Gundlach led the Bulldogs on both the offensive and defensive ends, racking up 404 rushing yards for four touchdowns and tallying 52 solo tackles, 38 assisted tackles, and five sacks for a loss of 17 yards.
Leading the offense alongside Gundlach last year was then junior, now senior, Brendan Sempf, who led the team in receiving yards last season with 23 catches for 449 yards and four touchdowns. Sempf followed Gundlach in rushing yards with 206 and one touchdown. Sempf received First Team Offense All-Conference Utility for his 2018 season efforts.
Between Sempf’s return, senior leadership and a healthy young group of hungry new players, Roemhild is confident in his team’s ability to push each other and put some wins down in the books this season.
“I think everyone has great potential on this team,” Roemhild said. “We have a great group of incoming freshmen, we have some guys who haven’t played for two years who are back out for football, and we have sophomores through seniors who have been working their tails off at practice.”
Roemhild said he sees a lot of good things during practice and believes his players have the right mentality, but they will need to learn how to be competitive and really fight for the win. “I don’t want complacency to set in and for the team to be okay with losing.”
Roemhild looks to Spring Valley, Elk Mound and Mondovi as the tough conference teams to beat this season, as all three teams shared the Dunn-St. Croix title last year and are returning some key players.
The fire and love for the game is still there for Roemhild, which is the main reason why he jumped at the opportunity as head coach. “I knew that I needed to come back,” he said. “It’s going to be a grind, but I have the athletes that want to win and make a change for this season and I have coaches who are just as eager to turn things around.”
Roemhild will be assisted by coaches Jamie Olson, Colby Dotseth, Brent Klefstad and Brett Dekan.
Boyceville will kick the season off away from home with a non-conference matchup against Independence/Gilmanton at Independence High School on August 23, followed by a home game against Clear Lake on August 30. Conference action begins September 6 at home against rival Glenwood City.
2019 Roster
Seniors: Logan Knudtson, Josh Marzofka, Brendan Sempf
Juniors: Tanner Anderson, Brendan Hazelton, Brady Helland, Trevor Hollister, Peyton Ponath, Connor Sempf, Nathan Stuart
Sophomores: Isaac Bartz, Josiah Berg, Preston Coombs, Tyler Dormanen, Jacob Granley, Jared Hatch, Jon Klefstad, Kyle Lipke, Dawson McRoberts, Gregory Moore, Keegan Plemon
Freshmen: Justin Anderson, Mason Bowell, Brandon Dunn, Simon Evenson, Chase Hollister, Bash Nielsen, Jack Phillips, Dawson Standaert, Jacob Wheeler