Northstars begin new chapter as 8-player team

By JASON JUNO

sports@yourdailyglobe.com

Hurley — There’s no doubt Hurley’s going to look a little different this fall in their first season as an 8-player team.

They switched to an option offense. They’re adjusting to a narrower field. And scoring’s probably going to go up a little bit.

But 8-player football is still football. The Northstars still expect to run the ball the vast majority of the team. Defense still counts. And Hurley still expects to have a good shot to win every game they play in.

“This was done out of necessity,” Hurley coach Scott Erickson said. “We just couldn’t keep putting on those travel miles. We weren’t getting anything in our young programs to develop kids. This way we think there is.

“We made the move and we’re going to make the best of the move.”

Practicing for 8-player football has proven to be better as it has allowed varsity kids to go up against varsity kids with JV going against JV for the most part, he said. There weren’t always enough players to do that before.

They’ve been adjusting to the width of the field — it’s 40 feet narrower — “and what plays we want to call to the width and what passes we can run when you throw it out of bounds when the field’s so narrow,” Erickson said of the 120-foot wide field. “It took awhile. A flag route is not really a flag route anymore, it’s more like an in-and-out route.”

Hurley starts with an old rival, Lake Linden-Hubbell, on Thursday night at 6 p.m. The Lakes made the move to 8-player three years before Hurley and has continued to enjoy the success of their 11-player program. That’s something the Northstars expect to do as well.

They seem to have the team for this format this year.

“I would expect we could win all of our games if we play well and stay healthy,” Erickson said. “But you take it one game at a time and you try to grow throughout the year, particularly for us – learning curve, it’s a little different for us. And we’ll see if we can get to the spot where we’re playing really good at the end of the year and have a crack at doing something in the playoffs.”

Teams are eligible for the postseason with an above .500 record in the conference. The 16 teams with the best win-loss percentage are selected to the postseason. About 67 teams are playing 8-player in Wisconsin this season.

Hurley seeks a 27th consecutive playoff berth.

That’s a long way off. The season starts with Lake Linden-Hubbell tonight at Veterans Memorial Field.

The Lakes lost a lot of talent from their state semifinal team last year, but Erickson isn’t counting them out.

“Good coaches, good tradition,” Erickson said. “They play hard, they hit well, they tackle well. I got a lot of respect for that place and that doesn’t change for 8-man either.”

Hurley thought they could get one of the Gogebic Range teams for their one non-conference spot on the schedule, but that didn’t work out. Those teams suggested LL-H and they signed on early.

Hurley is 9-8 all-time against the Lakes and 7-2 at home. The series paused in 2015.

It’s all conference games after this for the Northstars.

Erickson expects Phillips and Athens will likely be two of their top foes in the Northwoods East.

“Athens is coming from that tough Cloverwood Conference, so they’ve been battle tested and Phillips has run roughshod over this conference the last few years,” Erickson said. “So those are the two that I would really guess. Flambeau I’m sure will be pretty good.”

Hurley has played all of the teams on their schedule in 11-player at one time or another. But it’s mostly been awhile and they’re probably doing things differently now.

For the most part it’ll be like the playoffs when Hurley is playing a new opponent without knowing exactly what to expect.

Hurley will look different, too, but not that different.

Erickson expects to have to throw the ball some.

“But I think we’re still going to run the ball predominantly,” he said.

This year’s Northstar team happens to be built for 8-player football.

“I think we have real skilled athletes,” Erickson said. “We have a lot of speed on defense. I think that’s going to translate well in 8-man, but that remains to be seen. Tackling in space is a big deal and I think we did really good at last week, we only lost our leverage one or two times. We tackled low and I was really pleased with that part. That was the part I was pretty concerned about going in.”

Eight-player football can be very high scoring. But it doesn’t have to be, as shown by many of the top U.P. 8-player teams.

“I think us defensively is going to hold up,” Erickson said. “I’m sure we’re going to give up more points, but I think we’ll be one of the better defensive clubs in the conference.”

Their offense will be tough, too.

Junior Jake Rowe (6-0, 175) will be the quarterback.

“He’s done a good job,” Erickson said of his preseason. “Learning to run the option a little bit, throws it well, runs it well. So we’ve got high hopes there.”

A big key to playing that position in 8-player is staying cool.

“Because it’s a short edge and they’re coming for you,” Erickson said. “You gotta make good decisions and do it quickly. The more he sees it, the better he’s going to get at it.”

He’ll be handing off to senior Devin Soltis (5-11, 170) often.

“He’s gonna get his share of carries, there’s no doubt,” Erickson said. “He’s made for this kind of stuff, run to daylight and make somebody miss or run through them. He’s got all those attributes. And finish the run, take it to the house.”

Junior Wyatt Hall (6-0, 175) will be the other back and he’ll line up as a wingback at times. He missed last year because of a shoulder injury, but he did well in track in the spring.

“He’s got a good amount of speed and shape to him,” Erickson said. “I see him getting better through the course of the year, every week.”

Rowe will throw to those two, plus ends Ty Hall (6-1, 180), a junior, and senior Brodie Erickson (6-1, 170).

“They’ve doing good, they’ve got the routes down,” coach Erickson said. “It’s just a matter of finding time to throw the ball, that’s a big concern.”

The tight end was at least as important as the fullback in the T offense, but ends won’t have to handle one-on-one blocks here with the wingback one of the options to help out.

“It’s not necessarily going to handle a big end on your own,” Erickson said.

Senior Gavin Moore (6-4, 280) and senior Lawrence Anderson (5-10, 205) will be at guard with senior Tyler Sain (5-10, 165) at center. Moore started all of the games last year, Sain got one start and Anderson rotated through the defense and played some on offense.

On defense, Moore, Sain and senior Morgan Baron (5-11, 185) will be on the line with Erickson, Soltis and sophomore Tristan Pylkas (6-0, 185) at linebacker. Ty and Wyatt Hall and Jack Rowe will be the defensive backs.

Erickson is hoping speed is the strength of the defense.

“That’s what we got it set up for so hopefully that pays dividends,” he said.

Also on the Hurley roster are: Seniors Nolan Anderson (5-10, 130, RB/DB) and Dylan Derosso (5-11, 185, TE/LB); juniors Eagan Richards (5-11, 180, OL/LB), Landon Pusakulich (5-10, 175, OL/LB), Sylas Lino (5-9, 220, OL/DL) and James Brown (6-3, 225, OL/DL); sophomores Ian Hahn (5-8, 150, TE/LB), Dom Droke (5-9, 240, OL/DL), Bronson Estrada (5-8, 225, OL/DL), Gavyn Koski (5-10, 160, RB/LB), Max Caudill (6-1, 180, RB/LB), Logan Schilling (6-3, 205, TE/LB), Liam Hall (5-11, 190, TE/LB), Charlie Haanen (5-10, 145, RB/DB) and Nolan Sain (5-4, 140, RB/LB); freshmen Everett Laurin (5-9, 120, QB/DB), Bodyn Gilbertson (5-9, 140, QB/DB), Ryan Nyquist (5-9, 120, RB/DB), Justin Flanigan (5-6, 110, RB/DB), Marshall Lotzer (5-7, 140, RB/DB), Owen Niemi (5-8, 170, OL/DL), Lucas Koski (5-11, 175, OL/DL), Trent Tijan (5-7, 170, OL/DL) and Roarke Tijan (5-10, 240, OL/DL).