Photo by Lee Epps
Jaxon Strinmoen was voted Most Valuable Player by his Spring Grove football teammates. He received Honorable Mention on the coaches’ 9-Man All-State Team and merited the prestigious Academic All-State award for his cumulative grade point average during his high school football career. He is one of four Lions named to the All-District Team: Strinmoen (6’4” 180 Sr. WR/LB), Jacob Olerud (6’1” Sr. RB/LB), Ethan Crouch (6’4” 252 Sr. TE/DL) and Brandon Jahnke (6’0” Jr. OL/DL). The sub-district coaches also awarded a special All-District award to Elijah Solum, who with an injury, missed his senior season after being the Offensive Player of the Year the previous season. Strinmoen and Olerud moved up to First Team this year after receiving Honorable Mention a year ago. Receiving Honorable Mention this season were Bryce Berns (6’0” 155 Jr. QB/DB) and Zach Brumm (6’2” 180 Jr. WR/S).
Among their Lion teammates, Olerud was voted Defensive Player of the Year, Jahnke Lineman of the Year and Crouch the Outstanding Leader Award. Brumm (6’2” 180 Jr. S) was the choice for Rookie of the Year for his debut varsity contributions while Devon Williams (6’1” So. OL/DL) was voted Scout Team Player of the Year for his work in practice against the varsity.
Strinmoen, during district play, led the league in punt returns averaging 33.1 yards per runback with one TD return. He had the second-most receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. For the season, he averaged 16.7 yards per reception for 569 yards and five touchdowns. He displayed his versatility when pressed into service at quarterback during the playoffs when injury sidelined the starting signal-caller. He finished with 1,283 yards of all-purpose running (rushing, receiving, returning) and was the Lions’ third-leading tackler.
Olerud was the leading tackler (146) for the team that led the sub-district in total defense and fewest yards and points allowed. On offense, he moved to running back where he rushed for 774 yards and seven touchdowns while averaging 5.3 yards per carry.
Jahnke and Crouch comprised two-thirds of that accomplished defensive line. Jahnke had 9.5 tackles for loss, Crouch 9.0. On offense, Crouch and Janke did the work up front allowing only eight sacks in 11 games as SG won eight games.
Brumm had an outstanding varsity debut season as the starting safety. He was the second leading tackler with 96 stops and intercepted six passes with 91 return yards. He had back-to-back two-interception games in the playoffs versus Mabel-Canton and LeRoy-Ostrander.
Ten of the 19 letter winners were Academic All-District: Jahnke, Strinmoen, Solum, Brumm, Shawn Crouch, Troy Reinhardt, Braedon Solie, Josh Newgaard, Sylas Flatin and Ben Udstuen.
Earning a fourth varsity football letter were Solum, Olerud and Ethan Crouch. Third-year letter winners were Strinmoen, Berns, Brumm, Jahnke and Shawn Crouch. Receiving their second letters were Newgaard, Flatin, Reinhardt, Noah Heppner and Jacob Solum. First-year letter winners Udstuen, Solie, Williams, Dash Ranzenberger, Caden Gerard and Tysen Moen.