Mounders return 11 letterwinners for 2021 season
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THE ELK MOUND Football team had over 60 players report on the first day of the 2021 gridiron campaign. Head coach Dave Lew and his coaching staff will lead these recruits into the Mounders second season of Cloverbelt play. The Mounders open the season this Friday, August 20 when they travel to Chetek-Weyerhaeuser for a non-conference contest. Pictured above are the members of this year’s Elk Mound High School football squads. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
ELK MOUND — Elk Mound head coach Dave Lew greeted 61 football players in grades 9-12 including 11 letterwinners to the field August 2nd as the Mounders prepared to start their second football season in the Cloverbelt Conference.
Lew begins his ninth year leading the Mounders and has an overall record of 44-37 including a winning record in the conference last year at 4-3.
The Mounders were one of the few teams in the area who were not hit with a COVID-19 problem and managed to get all of their games played. They ended the 2020 campaign with a Level 1 playoff win over Spooner and a Level 2 win against St. Croix Falls which ended the shortened season mandated by the WIAA to finish 6-3 overall.
Eight seniors, 12 juniors, 20 sophomores and 21 freshmen were all suited up when practice began.
Players with experience include Avery Kaanta who was an all-conference running back last year. Kaanta rushed for 892 yards and eight touchdowns and will fill the running back role and play defensive back.
Carson Steinhorst is a fullback and a defensive lineman and caught ten passes with four touchdown catches a year ago, while Ethan Johnson will play linebacker and wide receiver after snaring ten passes with one touchdown reception.
Brex Todd will be in the offensive line and in a linebacker spot, Aiden Bartholomew and Kaden Russo will battle for the quarterback spot. Both may also play as defensive backs with Russo doing the kicking duties.
Ryan Bartig and Braedon Pederson can play on both sides of the ball as defensive backs and wide receivers while Sam Wenzel, Isaac Hay and Tate Anderson can also be two way players as lineman.
Lew expects Eau Claire Regis, Stanley-Boyd and Durand to be the teams to beat if the Mounders want to contend for a conference title.
“In the Cloverbelt, a team must be ready to play every Friday night, no matter who you are playing,” he said. “And that is what we plan to do, compete every Friday night and let the scoreboard tell the story at the end of the game,” he added.
This will be the first season in many years where coach Lew is the only Lew on the field. Youngest son Nate, who graduate this past spring after being named as the Cloverbelt’s 2020 co-defensive player of the year, moved on to the UW-La Crosse football field this fall while oldest son Dane plays for the UM-Duluth Bulldogs. Also continuing football careers on the gridiron are 2021 graduates Marcus Kinblom at UW-Eau Claire and Ethan Levra at Beloit College. Recent graduates Blaze Todd, Michael Jenson and Marcus Kinblom will also been playing collegiate football. Todd and Jenson are members of the UW-River Falls Falcons team while Kinblom is playing for the Blugolds at UW-Eau Claire.
Elk Mound opens the season with a non-conference game at Chetek-Weyerhaeuser this Friday night at 7:00.
Assisting coach Lew are Kevin Garnett, Brandon Powell, Jon Chisholm, Abe Ferguson, Dan Hay and Steve Lippert with Jesse Zurbuchen as the stat man.
2021 Roster
Seniors: Ethan Johnson, Braedon Pederson, Avery Kaanta, Brex Todd, Terry Mercer, Vincent Biegel, Devan Scheffler, Carson Steinhorst.
Juniors: Ryan Bartig, Eli Schmidt, Josh Livingston, Aiden Bartholomew, Nathan Svee, Alex Woodford, Isaac Hay, Jerome Delikowski, Tate Anderson, Ethan Oas, Carson Baskin, Isaac Wanta.
Sophmores: Kaden Russo, Carter Garnett, Carter Vieth, Jay Meyer, Zane Brice, Braedon Thatcher, Grandt Mueller, Gabe Jenson, Sam Wenzel, Gavin Sundeen, Graycen Banaszek, Kaleb Gilbertson, Landon Cassellius, Kaeden Burlingame, Devin Ploeckelman, Riley Krall, Brady Amble, Lucas Johnson, Jacob Osborne, Carson Streifel,
Freshmen: Logan Jerome, Kamron Diermeier, Sam Hemenway, Londyn Jenson, Mason Books, Cale Knutson, Brayden Borek, Brandon Lee, Parker Dutzle, Hayden Wolf, Ian Gerrits, Brooks Burcaw, Gabe Fenton, Preston Smith, Landon Kasakaitas, Andres Carrillo, Adrian Lombard, Erick Sandoval, Joshua Braker, Aidan Schindler, Beau Harmer.