This week, a familiar slate of festivities are leading up to the 17th annual Upper Peninsula Football All-Star Game to be played at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Superior Dome in Marquette.

Led by owner and special strengths coach Dustin Brancheau, AdvantEdge Sports Training is taking the reins of this all-star encounter for the second straight year from the game’s originator, Todd Goldbeck.

Many of the activities held during the week have continued, including Monday morning’s check-in of at least 80 players into dorms at Northern Michigan University. The Superior Dome is part of NMU’s campus, while the Wildcats are the college football team Brancheau played for.

At least one practice a day is scheduled throughout this week, with a media night, skills competition, group outing at Bay Cliff Health Camp in Big Bay and all-star banquet also likely on the agenda.

More than a dozen coaches — and one water boy — gathered at Buffalo Wild Wings in Marquette on March 9 for the annual draft of the 80 players available for the Upper Peninsula Football All-Star Game, which will be played on Saturday at the Superior Dome in Marquette. (Photo courtesy Facebook page for U.P. Football All-Star Game)

This can be a bittersweet time for the players, all of whom have just graduated over the past few weeks from their respective U.P. high schools, since for the majority of them this will the last time they gear up and take to the gridiron.

The same may well be true for the head coaches of the teams, too.

Negaunee High School’s Paul Jacobson will head up Team Red, almost exactly six months after he announced his retirement in mid-December as the Miners’ head coach after 25 years, plus another three years before that as assistant to the late Dick Koski at Jacobson’s alma mater in Negaunee.

And Team Black head man Robin Marttila announced his retirement as head coach at Iron Mountain just a few days before Jacobson. He had in 14 years as head coach to go with nine as an assistant, and like Jacobson, coached at the high school he played for.

“I’m so excited to have those guys,” Brancheau told assembled media recently.

Negaunee head coach Paul Jacobson, right, gives receiver Eli VanBuren a hug on the sidelines after VanBuren's second-quarter touchdown reception in an MHSAA Division 6 football playoff game played against Menominee at Miners Field in Negaunee on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022. (Photo courtesy Daryl T. Jarvinen)

Each head coach has a staff of another seven veteran U.P. coaches to help manage their rosters that number 40 for each team, according to the game’s Facebook page titled “U.P. Football All-Star Game 2025.”

Jacobson will have three of his now-former assistants — his brother Kevin Jacobson, Sam Gilles and new Miners head coach Jeff Niemi — along with head coach Mark Novara and assistants Joe Kriegl and Steve Noasconi of Kingsford, along with head coach Brian Fabbri of Forest Park.

Marttila will have a trio of past and current coaches from area schools helping him. There’s multiple halls-of-fame head coach Jeff Olson, who retired from the Ishpeming High School sidelines in 2019, and current head men Tyler Thomas of Westwood and Matt Mattson of Munising.

Marttila also has North Central head coach Leo Gorzinski and assistant Jeff Nason, Houghton head coach Tim Driscoll and former Menominee head coach Joe Noha, who retired from his position in 2021.

Tickets for Saturday’s game are $10 if purchased in advance and $12 at the door, with children ages 2 and under getting in free. Doors open at noon on game day.

Advance tickets are available at the NMU Tickets website, nmu.universitytickets.com, and looking under the date of the game, June 21.

The game will be livestreamed online at WLUC-TV6 at www.uppermichigansource.com, then be televised on a tape-delayed basis on its sister station Fox-U.P. at 11 a.m. Sunday.

The roster of 80 players is made up of exactly 35% from Journal area schools located in Marquette, Alger, Baraga, Schoolcraft and Luce counties.

A draft that was adopted about a decade ago, held on March 9 this year, divided up the players, and probably not too surprisingly, Paul Jacobson nabbed five of his seven Negaunee players who were available.

For this year’s game, the Miners have the most players involved of any school across the entire U.P., with Iron Mountain next with six and surprisingly eight-player team Pickford next with five.

Only graduated seniors can play in this game as all-star participation endangers an MHSAA athlete’s eligibility if some remains.

Marquette and Ishpeming are two of the four U.P. schools with four players in the upcoming game; while Munising and Manistique have three each; Westwood, Gwinn and Newberry two apiece; and L’Anse one.

In all, 29 schools playing both 11-player and eight-player football have at least one athlete on the rosters.

Who’s who

For Team Red, Negaunee representatives are wide receiver Ian Engstrom, quarterback Ty Jacobson, center Eli Cody and defensive backs Brady Mager and Weston Yesney.

While each player has been listed with a primary position, the vast majority in the U.P. play both offense and defense at least part-time, not to mention special teams.

Manistique has a pair of Team Red players — defensive lineman Bryson Wood and tight end Masin Tryan.

And Red also has one player each from other several other area schools — Marquette linebacker Noah Wautier, Ishpeming offensive lineman Carlos Perez, Westwood defensive back Preston Argall, Gwinn offensive lineman Andrew Hill, Munising linebacker Carter Deatsman and L’Anse defensive back Kolyn Sweeney.

On Team Black, there are three each from Marquette and Ishpeming.

From the Sentinels are wide receiver Kyler Sager, defensive back Zach Leonard and running back Drew Bradley.

The Hematites bring on board defensive back Ethan Corp, quarterback Caden Luoma and defensive lineman Chris Steele.

For the Black, Negaunee has defensive end Dave Carlson and defensive back Baron Heslip, Munising has defensive back Carson Kienitz and wide receiver Jack Dusseault, and Newberry includes linebacker Matt Rahilly and offensive lineman Ethan Pavey.

And there is one each on Black from three more schools — Westwood wide receiver Tristan Miller, Gwinn defensive back Dane Wixtrom and Manistique defensive lineman Gavin Ziminski.

Here are the balance of players, listed with primary position (abbreviated) and school. Flex is an eight-player position that includes multiple positions:

Red — Oskar Kangas, WR, Iron Mountain; Javon Stevenson, WR, Escanaba; Mason Tappy, DE, Kingsford; Kevin Giuliani, OL, Forest Park; Casey Alworden, DB, Gladstone; Alex Jayne, RB, Iron Mountain; Kaleb Gagne, DE, Escanaba; Kaiden Bell, LB, Menominee; Tommy Storey, flex, Pickford; Ruebyn Mensah, DL, Houghton; Isaac Ketchum, RB, Gladstone; Matt Frantti, OL, Calumet; Landon Amundson, TE, Norway; Matt Showers, DE, Forest Park; Nate St. Onge, RB, Lake Linden-Hubbell; Ian Browne, DL, Pickford; Brody Starr, DB, Forest Park; Alex Drew, OL, Lake Linden-Hubbell; Garrett Martin, LB, St. Ignace; Troy Johnson, RB, Bark River-Harris; Wes Bennett, OL, Cedarville; Cody McPhail, DL, Cedarville; Trey Lynn, DB, Brimley; Wyatt Aspinwall, DB, Gogebic; Elijah Oberlin, DE, West Iron County; Ethan Shepard, TE, St. Ignace; Nic Novara, QB, Kingsford

Black — Lucas Thoune, OL, Menominee; Thomas Maynard, LB, Kingsford; Aaron hughes, DL, Gladstone; Eli MacDonald, LB, Pickford; Spencer Willa, DE, North Central; Austin Gordon, DB, Ontonagon; Haydn Rader, OL, Pickford; Kent Koskela, DL, Calumet; Bryce Davis, OL, Iron Mountain; Cam Gauthier, OL, Menominee; Lucas Hall, OL, Bark River-Harris; Isaiah Odom, DL, Menominee; Seth Miller, DL, Pickford; Aiden Ellis, RB, Iron Mountain; Cristian Spear, RB, Bark River-Harris; Caden Besonen, flex, Ontonagon; Cole Baij, QB, Norway; Hunter Cameron, TE, Engadine; Aidyn Burton, LB, North Central; Bradly Jochem, LB, West Iron County; Jackson Barr, LB, Cedarville; Ian Marttila, QB, Iron Mountain; Lane Gorzinski, RB, North Central; Jake Powell, C, Iron Mountain; Olin Johnson, LB, Bark River-Harris

Story contents based on an examination of the U.P. Football All-Star Game Facebook and several other online sites. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.