Nowhere to go but up for Colfax football team
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by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
COLFAX — After finishing the past two seasons with a record of 1-8, the Colfax football team hopes having plenty of players in the skilled positions returning will help the Vikings improve on their record in the 2024 season.
The Vikings will have to replace several lineman through graduation including Christian Ebert, Drake Knutson, Eli Ralph, Grayson Decker and Camron Molina along with running backs Kade Anderson and Colton Hoffman as well as defensive back Matt Dachel.
Head coach Joe Beranek begins his third season leading the Vikings and expects quarterback Drew Buchner, a second team all Dunn-St. Croix Conference selection as a defensive back and honorable mention in the backfield last season to be a leader for the team. Other experienced players who have plenty of athletic ability include Theo Hovde, Orion Nichols and Grant Cook who will play both offense and defense along with other letter winners Austyn Pederson, Brady Elmer,, Grant Paulus and Zachary Leirmo. Hunter Roberts and James Wahl are expected to help the team this year, also.
Beranek believes the team strengths are the returning players in the skilled positions on offense and moving Paulus into the backfield should be a big help in the running game. The defense should be pretty decent with Buchner back in the safety position. Their weakness will be the inexperience of the lineman on both sides of the ball after losing so many from last year.
Statistical goals for the team are to have multiple wins and win at least one conference game and a non-statistical goal is to keep growing the football program and increasing the number of players.
Beranek expects returning conference champions Boyceville and Spring Valley to finish at the top of the conference this season. Boyceville has multiple weapons back from last year and Spring Valley always seems to reload every year.
“Last year’s team continued our progress towards competitive football as we were close in several games,” coach Beranek said. “We hope that laid the foundation for the upcoming season. We are excited to be back for the 2024 season and to welcome in a new group of freshmen to the team. We will be quite young but this group is committed to the process of growing our program and improving on the foundation laid down the past two seasons,” Beranek added.
Colfax will begin the season on the road at Whitehall this Friday night.
2024 Roster
Seniors: Nathan Boesl, Drew Buchner, Brady Elmer, Theodore Hovde, Hunter Roberts.
Juniors: Austin Johnson, Orion Nichols, Grant Paulus, Daniel Schulze.
Sophomores: Austin Coates, Grant Cook, Jace Hintzman, Zachary Leirmo, Austyn Pederson, Sam Ralph, Liem Schotter, Talen Stewart, James Wahl.
Freshmen: Wyatt Flatland, Mason Hart, Axton Jewell-Kahl, Eli Nygaard, Cole Parzyck, Matthew Schulze, Mason Smith, Jacob Wahl.
THE 2024 COLFAX FOOTBALL TEAM will look to improve this year after finishing just 1-8 in each of the past two seasons. The Vikings will need to rely on a young roster to accomplish this as 17 of the 26 players are from the freshmen and sophomore classes. First row (kneeling L to R)): Braydyn Hiitola, Austyn Pederson, Kadence Anderson, Drake Knutson, Drew Buchner, Theodore Hovde, and Jace Hintzman. Middle row (L to R): Zachary Hiitola, Orion Nichols, Peyton Hover, Christian Ebert, Matthew Dachel, Liem McCulloch, Sam Ralph, and Grant Paulus. Back row (L to R): Mason Yarrington (Football Intern), Brady Elmer, Grant Cook, Austin Coates, Zachary Leirmo, Eli Ralph, Camron Molina, Grayson Decker, and Colton Hoffman. —photo by Shawn DeWitt