• WHAT: 11th annual Upper Peninsula All-Star Football Game

• WHO: 89 high school senior players, 15 coaches

• WHEN: 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 30

• WHERE: Superior Dome, Northern Michigan University, Marquette

Marquette center Zackary Albright prepares for a snap against the Traverse City Central defense on Sept. 1 at Marquette Senior High School. (Journal file photo by Rachel Oakley)

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MARQUETTE — After spending years on the same side, Jeff Olson and Scott Syrjala are now rivals on the football field in the fall.

Olson at Ishpeming High School and Syrjala at Westwood High School have been Mid-Peninsula Conference foes for several years now after Syrjala was Olson’s offensive coordinator for the Hematites. They’ll also be on opposite sidelines after the draft of players was completed Saturday evening for this summer’s Upper Peninsula All-Star Football Game.

Syrjala and the other coaches on the Black Team drafted two Patriots among 44 players, while Olson among Red coaches nabbed a Hematite among their 45. But Olson’s team also has two Patriots on his side and Syrjala’s has a player from Ishpeming, too.

Other coaches in the game are, for Black, Brad Wiljanen, Luke Gray and Mitchell Messing from Westwood; and Al Stenberg, Bob Maycroft and Kevin Mileski from West Iron County.

Munising’s Alec Blank, right, knocks away the only pass attempt of the game by West Iron County that was intended for the Wykons' AJ Wesinicht, left, in the 2016 season opener at Nelson Field in Iron River. (Iron Mountain Daily News file photo by Burt Angeli)

Red’s other coaches are Rae Drake Jr. of Bay College; Neil Clapp of Escanaba; Kevin Grundy of Wausau, Wisconsin, East; and Mike Berutti, Kevin Leonoff, Chris Thomson and Chris Soha of West Iron County.

The 11th annual game is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 30, at Northern Michigan University’s Superior Dome in Marquette.

This is the second year a draft has been used to determine teams rather than geographical north-south or east-west alignments that were used previously.

Players must have completed their high school senior football seasons to be eligible to play in the game. There were 20 area players listed from 10 high schools — Ishpeming, Westwood, Marquette, Negaunee, Gwinn, Munising, Superior Central, Newberry, Manistique and L’Anse.

Here is the list of area players, with a Black or Red team designation to show which teams they’ll play for:

Negaunee’s Robbie Williams, front right, runs the ball against Iron Mountain in a Sept. 15 game at Negaunee High School’s football field. (Journal file photo by Rachel Oakley)

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Gwinn — Daniel Johnson (Black)

Ishpeming — Aaron Corkin (Red) and Donald Denofre (Black)

L’Anse — Kooper Jahfetson (Black) and Foster Miller (Red)

Manistique — Kyle Seeley (Black)

Superior Central's Wade Krysiak, left, hauls in a 35-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter against Rapid River defender Nate Olsen on Oct. 21 in Eben. (Escanaba Daily Press file photo by Mike Mattson)

Marquette — Zack Albright (Red) and Wyatt Filkins (Black)

Munising — Alec Blank (Red)

Negaunee — Robby Williams (Red)

Newberry — Tyler Blakely (Black), David Carlson (Black), Jeff Rahilly (Red) and George Sevarns (Black)

Superior Central — Wade Krysiak (Black) and Ramsey Luft (Red)

Westwood — Ethan Burke (Black), David Delarye (Red), Tabin Filizetti (Black) and Ethan Homola (Red)

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These are the other players in the game, listed by their all-star teams and high school:

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BLACK

Bark River-Harris — Ryan Arndt and Mike Hall

Brimley — Kaleb Johanson

Cedarville — Trey Norris

Escanaba — Logan Carroll and Hayden Haslow

Forest Park — Jonah Logan and Robert Ponchaud

Gladstone — Alex Chounard and Spencer Husbye

Gogebic (Bessemer) — Brayden Tomes

Gogebic (Watersmeet-Marenisco) — Bailey Ribich

Hancock (Chassell) — Grant Hokenson

Houghton — Jake Rajala

Kingsford — Sawyer Perpich, Preston Strong and Jon Sturm

Lake Linden-Hubbell — Aaron Hainault and Dominic Wagner

Menominee — Jason Janquart

North Dickinson — Jared Miller and Mike Miller

Norway — Joshua Boulden, Dante Pedrotti, Josh Plante and Micah Wilson

Ontonagon — James Domtrovich

Ontonagon (Ewen-Trout Creek) — Jake Witt

Pickford — Garrett Dodds

Rudyard — Damarius Johnson

Sault Ste. Marie — Francis Scheid

Stephenson — Jesus Becerra and Bryce Hornick

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RED

Calumet — Cooper Twardzik and Nick Voelker

Cedarville — Dakota Fairchild

Engadine — Scout Bigger

Escanaba — Josh Grassel, Johnny Schlenvogt, Cody Vandermissen and Scout Wunder

Forest Park — Connor Bortolini, Zach Robarge and Peter Ropiak

Gladstone — Jared Demeuse, Darin Johnson and Jeff Stenson

Hancock (Chassell) — Aaron Barnes

Houghton — Scott Cooper

Iron Mountain — Jacob Tucker

Kingsford — Liam Gayan, Chase Kreski, Eddie Plumley and Joseph Rietveld

Menominee — Jacob Rivard

North Central — Hunter Riley

Norway — Connor Ortman

Pickford — Joseph Boik and John LaMothe

Rapid River — Logan Hardwick, Gavin Harris, Jarrett LaCasse and Lucas Sundling

St. Ignace — Mason Gustafson

Stephenson — Jeff Doboy

West Iron County — Jayce Brockhagen, Brandon Henschel, Austin Persson and Neil Tomasoski

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

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