The Northland Pines varsity football team finished another season a few weeks ago, in which they finished tied for fourth in the Northwoods Football Conference and landed 11 players on the end-of-season all-conference teams list.
Pines finished the season 4-5 overall and 3-4 in the NFC, while narrowly missing the D5 playoff field.
Topping the all-conference list was senior placekicker and punter Tyler Vojta, who collected first-team selection in both categories. Vojta was a unanimous selection as a placekicker.
Outside of Vojta, Northland Pines had four other offensive selections and seven defensive all-conference selections this season.
Vojta was likely the best kicker in the conference this season and hit 70% of his kicks on 10 field goal attempts in conference games. His longest made field goal was a 46-yarder. The senior also hit 11 of 13 extra-point attempts.
He was also highly successful in flipping the field for the Eagles when he trotted out for punts. He kicked 24 punts for 748 total yards, averaging about 31 yards per punt. His season-long was 56 yards.
Offensively, Northland Pines leaned heavily on the run game, totaling nearly 1,000 rushing yards in seven NFC games. Senior Tucker Brock received second-team NFC recognition for his rushing. Brock rushed the ball 41 times for 230 yards and three touchdowns in those seven games. Senior Conrad Droby was the team’s leading rusher during that span with 70 carries for 370 yards and found the end zone four times. Both runners averaged just over five yards per carry. Those efforts were assisted by the linemen up front, which included second-team all-conference honors for Chase Seeger and honorable mention honors for Connor Clark.
Senior Brady Dumovich was the other offensive player to gain honorable mention traction for his effort and performance on the field.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Eagles had multiple athletes flying around and making impact plays throughout conference play.
Northland Pines had a balanced effort defensively, with positions on all three levels being represented on the all-conference team. Brock led a strong linebacker core as a second-team recipient. The senior was third on the team in tackles with 41 total tackles, with 27 being solo tackles. He also had two tackles for loss and one forced fumble.
Layk Evenson-Mortag was the other second-team selection on the defensive end. Against conference opponents, Evenson-Mortag led the team with four interceptions and was tied for the team lead in pass deflections with 10. He also had 22 total tackles for the Eagles.
Bryan Droby, an honorable mention selection at defensive back, tied Evenson Mortag with 10 pass deflections as well. Senior linebacker Ethan Wirth and junior defensive back Hunter Tameling (honorable mention at their positions) were first and second on the team in total tackles and solo tackles. The duo combined for 10 tackles for loss and Tameling had two forced fumbles with one recovery.
Junior Jazek Jantzen (DE) and sophomore Bodie Bakken (OLB) rounded out team selections at honorable mention. Jantzen got to the quarterback the most with four sacks in seven conference clashes. The junior also got into the backfield and disrupted other plays with team-leading 11 tackles for loss. Bakken was second on the team in tackles for loss with 10. He also added two-and-a-half sacks to his credit in his second varsity season.
The team will likely have a different look next season, as the team will fill the void of over 15 seniors leaving the program due to graduation.
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