Expectations were high before the high school season for St. Mary's Springs' Matt Austin and Laconia's Cody Moon. With supreme size and athleticism a lot was expected from both, and the two seniors delivered.
Moon rushed for 1,726 yards and 20 touchdowns in seven Flyway games, to earn Offensive Player of the Year honors, while Austin finished with 63 tackles, eight for a loss, to be named the Defensive Player of the Year.
The two teams were at the top of the Flyway standings, and joined Omro in making up the bulk of the first-team selections.
Moon was an honorable mention pick last year despite being second in the conference in rushing. This year he left no doubt bulldozing opponents for at least 165 yards in every league game.
Springs quarterback Evan Henderson may have won the top honors in most years after going 41-for-59 (69.5 percent) for 781 yards and 16 touchdowns in seven league games. He was a unanimous pick as were teammates Eric Feldner, who had 380 receiving yards and nine touchdowns; Darin Ward, who ran for 741 yards and nine scores; and left tackle Patrick Soldner.
Laconia junior guard Matt Blechl was one of two underclassmen on the first-team offense.
Mayville's Casey McDermott was a first-team pick after catching 29 passes for 369 yards.
Austin defended his title as the league's best defensive player, and he had a dominant all-state caliber season chasing down ball carriers from sideline to sideline.
Austin was not surprisingly joined by a handful of teammates including the team's second leading tackler Jacob Schneider, who finished with 56 and formed a great 1-2 linebacking combo. In the secondary, Feldner and Ryan Grandlic both had three interceptions in addition to their run support and were first-team picks. Soldner was a first-team defensive tackle.
Springs' only underclassmen on the first team was defensive end Dan Zacherl, a junior who had 37 tackles -- including 16 against Laconia alone.
Laconia had three first-team defenders led by safety Jesse Tipton, who made 54 tackles on the year. Junior tackle Nick Zimmerman had 38 stops, one better than Moon, who was one of five players to be first-team picks on both sides of the ball.
WLA's only first-team pick was Tim Anderson. The junior defensive end made 47 stops and 4.5 sacks.
On special teams, Mitch Herron of Springs was voted the top kicker, and Brandon Mueller earned the honor for his punting.
Offensive linemen: Logan Krueger, Sr. C, Omro; Brandon Johnson, Sr. G, Omro; Matt Blechl, Jr. G, Laconia; **Patrick Soldner, Sr. T, Springs; Devin Wilson, Jr. T, Omro
Tight end: Matt Austin, Sr. Springs
Receivers: **Eric Feldner, Sr. Springs; Casey McDermott, Sr. Mayville
Running backs: **Cody Moon, Sr. Laconia; **Darin Ward, Sr. Springs; Eddie Schug, Sr. Omro
Quarterback: **Evan Henderson, Sr. Springs
Kicker: **Mitch Herron, Sr. Springs
** unanimous selection
Offensive linemen: Tyler Rickert, Sr. C, Laconia; Kevin Stotzheim, Jr. G, North Fondy; Kurt Rathke, Sr. G, KML; Nick Zimmerman, Jr. T, Laconia; Andrew Riehl, Jr. T, Springs
Tight end: Ben Wolff, Jr. WLA
Receivers: AJ Guhl, So. KML; Micah Callies, Jr. WLA
Running backs: Ross Schwartz, Sr. North Fondy; Mitch Scharschmidt, Sr. Lomira; Ike Floyd, Jr. Springs
Quarterback: Nick Blythe, Sr. Omro
Kicker: Corbin Schroeder, Jr. Mayville
Centers: Chris Plughoeft, Sr. KML; Dylan Sook, Jr. WLA
Guards: Tanner Good, Sr. Springs; Dustin Perkins, Sr. Laconia; Sam Retzlaff, Sr. Mayville
Tackles: Joe Erbstoesser, Jr. North Fondy; Payton Goetz, Jr. Omro; PJ Wegmann, Sr. Mayville
Receivers: Parker Parrish, Jr. North Fondy; Bryce Bannach, Jr. Lomira; Ryan Grandlic
Running backs: Adam Smith, So. Mayville; Corbin Schroeder, Jr. Mayville
Quarterbacks: Brandon Mueller, Sr. Mayville; Jared Henning, So. KML
Defensive tackles: Patrick Soldner, Sr. Springs; Nick Zimmerman, Jr. Laconia
Defensive ends: Tim Anderson, Jr. WLA; **Dan Zacherl, Jr. Springs
Inside linebackers: **Matt Austin, Sr. Springs; **Eddie Schug, Sr. Omro
Outside linebackers: **Jacob Schneider, Sr. Springs; Cody Moon, Sr. Laconia
Defensive backs: **Eric Feldner, Sr. Springs; Jesse Tipton, Sr. Laconia; Ryan Grandlic, Sr. Springs
Punter: Brandon Mueller, Sr. Mayville
Defensive tackles: Nathan Killian, Jr. North Fondy; Kyle Weber, Sr. Springs
Defensive ends: Devin Wilson, Jr. Omro; Alexander Churchill, Sr. Mayville
Inside linebackers: Matt Triatik, Jr. North Fondy; Tyler Rickert, Sr. Laconia
Outside linebackers: Evan Rusch, Jr. KML; Dan Mose, Sr. WLA; Anthony Giese, Jr. Mayville
Defensive backs: Nick Blythe, Sr. Omro; Garrett Keller, Sr. Lomira; Drew Stroede, Sr. WLA
Punter: Justin Rippel, Sr. KML
Defensive tackles: Tony Pflughoeft, Sr. KML; John Falk, Jr. KML; Edward Guell, Sr. Laconia
Defensive end: Tyler Walker, Jr. Mayville
Inside linebackers: Logan Krueger, Jr. North Fondy; Martin Loescher, Sr. KML; Joe Black, Sr. Lomira; Derek Potratz, Sr. Omro; Sam Retzlaff, Sr. Mayville
Outside linebacker: Marshall Matthies, Sr. KML
Defensive backs: Steve Gao, Sr. North Fondy; Mike Loescher, Sr. KML; Lucas Muche, Jr. WLA; Sean Ahern, Sr. Springs; Jordan Behm, Sr. Laconia; Levin VandeBerg, Jr. Laconia
Punter: Jesse Tipton, Sr. Laconia
Cody Moon, Sr. RB, Laconia
Matt Austin, Sr. ILB, Springs
