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Defensive stalwarts: Majority of top All-Upper Peninsula football awards among area players go to defenders

On the opening play from scrimmage, Negaunee's Drake Spickerman, on top of Ishpeming quarterback Hunter Smith, makes a sack as the Miners' Easton Palomaki rushes in on the play during their high school football game played at the Ishpeming Playgrounds on Sept. 2. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

MARQUETTE — You can tell defense is not a football concept that is going out of style among area high school football teams.

Not after the way Dream Team and First Team honors were distributed in All-Upper Peninsula voting for 11-player football in the annual meeting of the U.P. Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association held at Northern Michigan University on Wednesday.

Of the 14 winners in the top two tiers of the awards, six Dream Team and three First Team awards came on defense for players from Marquette, Schoolcraft and Baraga counties.

Two more came on special teams — both for return specialists — leaving only three more on offense.

Granted, a lot of these defensive players are actually two-way starters and could’ve just as easily won awards on offense instead.

Marquette's Pete Closner, No. 1 at right, rushes Escanaba quarterback Casey Bray, back center and partially hidden, as the QB lofts a pass late in the first half of a high school football game at William R. Hart Stadium in Marquette on Sept. 30. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

It seemed that some other U.P. players put up really gaudy statistics as not only the featured, but just about the only players on offense generating those stats on their teams.

The Dream Team on defense is led by three players from the only U.P. team left playing this season — Negaunee, which will vie for the 11-player Division 6 championship at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Ford Field in Detroit against Grand Rapids West Catholic.

All six honorees on defense are seniors, including the Miners’ Philip Nelson at back, Jed Anderson at tackle and Easton Palomaki at linebacker.

Nelson, who also plays wide receiver on offense, is 6-foot-1 and 180 pounds and has been an All-West PAC defensive back the past two seasons, unanimously in 2021, and was also an All-U.P. Dream Team defensive back in ’21, too.

Anderson, 5-11, 225, was a unanimous choice as a First Team All-West PAC defensive lineman this fall as a two-year starter on defense.

“He’s a solid interior player for us,” Miners head coach Paul Jacobson said in his nomination.

Palomaki, who plays outside LB, is 6-foot, 175 pounds and finished runner-up in All-U.P. Defensive Player of the Year voting to fellow linebacker Pete Closner of Marquette.

Palomaki was cited by Jacobson as Defensive Player of the Year in the West PAC’s Copper Division with 11 quarterback sacks, two fumble recoveries and four interceptions through two NHS playoff games.

He actually broke his wrist in the fifth week of the season and has been in a cast ever since, his coach said, limiting his ability to be a ball-carrying running back but not his prowess on defense.

Closner, who garnered the most votes for Dream Team linebacker in All-U.P. balloting before he won the Defensive Player of the Year vote, is a 6-4, 225-pound outside linebacker and on offense, a tight end.

He also won Defensive Player of the Year in Great Northern Conference voting this fall.

“Pete is an exceptional leader, and he is long and gifted athletically,” his head coach, Eric Mason, said.

“He works hard both on and off the field. He just began a serious weight training program last year, so he hasn’t yet scratched his potential.

“I’m confident he’ll be a player at the next level.”

Westwood senior Max Wiljanen also was named to the Dream Team defense on the line.

The 5-8, 205-pound senior was named to the First Team West PAC Copper Division on both defensive and offensive lines.

“He’s our best blocker and was asked to move around and do a lot of different things on our team,” Patriots first-year head coach Jacob Wolf said, alluding to injuries the team sustained during the season.

The sixth area player named to the Dream Team defense was Manistique senior Ross Pugh at end.

The 6-1, 185-pound Pugh also earned First Team status in the West PAC Iron Division.

Negaunee’s Nelson actually was a two-time Dream Teamer after he also earned that status as a return specialist on special teams.

He was also nominated as the Dream Team kicker but was seen as far and away the best specifically as a return man.

Nelson was cited for his three punt returns for touchdowns along with two kickoff returns brought back “to the house,” which includes a punt he fielded on one bounce for a TD in the Miners’ first playoff game against Houghton.

He also had 23 touchbacks as a kickoff man and was named West PAC Copper Division Special Teams Player of the Year both this season and last, while earning similar All-U.P. honors as a sophomore and junior.

On offense, Negaunee added two more and Marquette one more feather to each of their Dream Team caps.

Miners senior Nico Lukkarinen earned the award at running back with some gaudy numbers. The 5-11, 205-pound player was also named the Offensive Player of the Year in the West PAC Copper Division.

He averaged around 100 yards per game, even though in nine of Negaunee’s first 11 games, the second half was played wholly or mostly with a running clock and Lukkarinen was kept on the bench in those fourth quarters.

He averaged 9.2 yards per carry while piling up more than 1,000 yards as a fullback, scoring 18 TDs and six 2-point conversions.

Another Negaunee senior, 5-10, 215-pound Drake Spickerman, not only made the Dream Team as a guard, but was runner-up in voting for All-U.P. Lineman of the Year.

Spickerman was also the West PAC Copper Division Lineman of the Year and was cited by Jacobson as an outstanding two-way lineman as he started on both sides of the ball for the past two seasons.

“He’s the best all-around lineman that I have coached in years,” his coach said.

“He has a tremendous work ethic and he was voted team captain by his peers (teammates).

“And he was the highest-graded lineman on both sides of the ball this season.”

Finally, the only non-senior making the Dream Team among area players was Marquette’s Dasan Smith at tackle. The 6-5, 285-pound junior not just literally, but figuratively, anchored the Redmen offensive line.

“He has the potential to be one of the best linemen we have had in Marquette for some time,” Mason said. “He combines size, strength and tenacity. Dasan plays to the whistle and has a great motor.

“As good of a football player as he is, he is an even better young man.

“I expect big things from Dasan next year.”

Ishpeming had a pair of seniors earn First Team status.

Preston Gauthier won that award as the return specialist on special teams.

The 5-10, 180-pound Gauthier actually starred on offense and defense, too.

On special teams, he only had two “true returns,” according to IHS coach Cody Kugler, but totaled 153 yards on them with a TD.

“He leads in practice by example and he does what is asked with 100% effort,” Kugler said.

He also carried the ball for more than 1,000 yards as a running back and had 65 tackles as a linebacker.

“He got the explosive runs when we needed them, but he also would get us the tough yards when we needed that,” Kugler said of Gauthier’s offense.

The other Ishpeming player honored on the First Team was senior AJ Prosser, 6-3, 210 pounds, at defensive tackle.

Due to injuries, he played in seven of the Hematites’ 10 games and had 21 tackles and two QB sacks in the regular season.

“He is very athletic as a defensive lineman,” Kugler said. “He kept our containment and was a vital part of our defensive line.”

Negaunee’s Eli VanBuren made the First Team as a linebacker on defense. The 6-foot, 225-pound senior had 128 tackles and two QB sacks this fall, totaling 278 tackles in 22 games over the past two seasons.

He was First Team West PAC Copper Division at inside LB the past two seasons, earned a First Team All-U.P. award at the position last year, too.

And Javon Shelifoe of L’Anse was honored on the First Team as a defensive tackle.

The 5-11, 235-pound senior also earned First Team West PAC Copper Division on the defensive line.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.

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