Ellsworth’s Ashten Quade shines on the biggest stage, earns MVP honors

By Reagan Hoverman

On Saturday, July 16, eight senior football players from four high schools in Pierce County competed in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) All-Star game in Oshkosh to raise money for Children’s Wisconsin.

Each year, the WFCA hosts an All-Star game to raise money for Children’s Wisconsin, a state-of-the-art medical facility that specializes in pediatrics and healthcare for children ranging in age from birth through 21. Each player named to the All-Star team had to raise $750 for Children’s Wisconsin to be able to compete in the game.

Pierce County’s eight student-athletes involved in the festivities more than exceeded that $750 goal. In total, the North small school team raised $87,431 and as a whole, the All-Star teams raised $360,031 for Children’s Wisconsin.

Those players doing the fundraising include Ellsworth’s Ashten Quade, Jack Janke and Ryan Matzek; Spring Valley’s Connor Ducklow, Prescott’s Aiden Russell and Ben Rohl, and River Falls’ Vito Massa, Monty Wilson and Edward Loesch.

There were three separate All-Star games throughout the weekend, including the eightman game on Friday, July 15; the small school game, which included all of the aforementioned schools except River Falls; and the large school game, which included Division 1 and Division 2 programs such as River Falls.

The small school teams spent a week ____ _ doing two-a-day practices at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls campus, where student-athletes from all over northern Wisconsin were housed until they departed for UW-Oshkosh – the site of the All-Star game – on Friday morning.

In addition to the eight football players from Pierce County, four coaches were also on the All-Star coaching staff. Leading them was Ellsworth’s Jason Janke, who was given the head coaching position for the North small school roster. Ellsworth’s Sam Elling and River Falls’ Matt Smith joined Janke on the staff as assistants. Max Haskins of the River Falls coaching staff also served as an assistant for the North large school roster.

After a week of practice and installing the offensive and defensive philosophy, the North took the field on Saturday at noon and cruised to a 25-7 victory over the South small school All-Star team.

Both the North and South rosters got out to slow starts through the first quarter. Neither team scored and the North had multiple three-and-outs as well as a muffed punt that resulted in a turnover. Head coach Janke spoke about the struggle of that first quarter offensively.

“The game started with the defense playing well and the offense sputtered,” Janke said. “The whole first quarter the defense held serve and we didn’t on offense. When we broke through on offense, the kids pulled together even tighter and they weren’t going to lose that game. It was kind of cool for a group of kids (to do that) considering they didn’t know each other a week ago.”

In the first quarter, Janke’s North squad accounted for negative passing yards. How- ever, his offense settled into the game in the second quarter and that’s when the air raid began slashing South’s defense which led to multiple scores.

The North got on the board with 10 minutes remaining in the second quarter when Robby Michael of Kohler-Sheb. Lutheran-Christian connected with Ellsworth’s Ashten Quade on an 82-yard touchdown pass to take a 6-0 lead.

Then with two minutes remaining in the first half, Ben Weslowski of Wittenberg-Birnamwood threw a 13-yard pass to the end zone. The pass was too high for the intended receiver, got tipped, and ended up in the hands of Quade for another North touchdown to take a 12-0 lead.

The South refused to fold even after trail- ing by two possessions in the first half. With less than a minute left in the opening half, the South marched down the field and scored on a 28-yard TD pass to make it a 12-7 game, still favoring the North going into the intermission.

The North’s lackluster rushing attack in the first half completely changed during the third quarter. Running backs Simon Bauer of Durand and Brycen Cashin of Stevens Point Pacelli began picking up chunk yardage while chewing the clock with a lead. Janke spoke about the revitalized rushing game.

“Even though I’m doing the playcalling, our coaching staff of Sam Elling, Jeu Sullivan and Ryan Eigenberger were on the offensive side doing the heavy lifting,” Janke said. “They made some adjustments along the line of scrimmage and they did a really good job of making a small adjustment that made a big difference. Those two kids don’t need a lot of space. A little sliver they’re through it and not going down easy.”

The North added a couple of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter to secure a 25-7 win over the South. After the game, Ashten Quade earned the United States Marines Player of the Game award. Quade accounted for 127 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns.

“It’s probably harder for me to talk about Ashten in a game like this because I’m used to him doing this stuff,” Janke said. “Every one knows that he’s fast, but he doesn’t look like the tough, strong runner that he is. He is unselfish, is very talented and the way he plays football is unique. Every coach and fan who watches gets their money’s worth when he’s in the house.”

North defeats South 21-20 in large school game After the North had left the field and the celebration concluded, UW-Oshkosh staff prepared the field for the evening game, the North vs. South large school contest that began several hours later. The only touchdown of the first half came on a South special teams blunder which led to a scoop and score for North’s Brooks Brewer of Menomonie.

South bounced back with a 23-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter to tie the game 7-7. Less than two minutes later, the North answered with a 62-yard touchdown pass trick play. River Falls quarterback Vito Massa dropped back to pass and tossed a reverse that ended up in the hands of Elliott Lowney who connected downfield with Carson Sippel of Kaukauna for the touchdown.

The trick play put the North back on top and helped propel the team to a 21-20 late-game victory over the South. The North defeated the South in all three All-Star games, the first time in WFCA history that such a feat has occurred.

Closing thoughts from Coach Janke

Throughout the week of practice, Coach Janke spoke highly of the players from all over the state, the coaching staff that he handpicked to work with him and the first-class facilities at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He said working with kids and a staff like this is why he loves coaching.

“It’s why you coach,” Janke said. “It’s one of the reasons you coach where you hopefully get into a situation like that and have an opportunity to work with elite coaches and players as we got to this week. If you get into teaching and coaching, this is one of the things you hope to be able to do sometime. It was one of the neater team things I’ve been a part of and that’s the only way to play football in my opinion.”

There were strong local ties to the WFCA 2022 North small school coaching staff including (from left): Ryan Eigenberger of Kohler-Sheboygan Lutheran Christian; Jason Janke, the North’s head coach of Ellsworth, Doug Kahl of Turtle Lake, Corey Berghammer of Cumberland, Jeff Sullivan of Wisconsin Rapids Assumption, Dan Keefer of Baldwin-Woodville, Sam Elling of Ellsworth and Matt Smith of River Falls. The coaches are joined by managers Gavin Wittenberg and Luke Janke. Photo courtesy of Jason Janke