Page 10 Stillwater Ponies Football Preview • Friday , August 23 , 2024 stillwatergazette . com

BY STUART GROSKREUTZ THE GAZETTE

Stillwater features experience at all three levels on defense and will build around a strong and experienced group at linebacker as it looks to improve on the 22.5 points and 291 yards allowed a year ago .

The Ponies will miss defensive lineman Bryce Rosewicz and defensive backs Grayson Zurn and Soel Riser , who were each all sub-district selections . Rosewicz was a three-year starter who led the team with eight negative tackles and ranked among team leaders with 112 defensive points . Zurn paced the Ponies with 53 solo tackles and three fumble recoveries while racking up 163 defensive points to finish just behind linebacker John Karkula ( 164 ).

Defensive lineman Charles Goodland also graduated after leading the team with five sacks .

But Stillwater features returning players at several positions , including inside linebackers Karkula ( 6-foot-2 , 195 pounds ) and Cal Nitti ( 6-1 , 190 ). They started every game a year ago and join fellow seniors Joe Fredkove , Conor Mc- Glynn and Siwon Youn in serving as captains this fall .

Karkula finished with 85 total tackles and led the team in defensive points while Nitti totaled seven negative tackles and ranked third with 126 defensive points .

Stillwater is also wellstocked at outside linebacker , with Fredkove ( 6-4 , 210 ), senior Jack Mellgren ( 6-3 , 185 ) and junior Gus Gregg ( 6-0 , 190 ) leading the charge .

Mellgren played well a year ago before being hampered by injury .

“ They should be reliable ,” Ponies coach Beau LaBore said . “ We have good experience and leadership there .

“ We have a ( linebacker ) group that has zero body fat and as much experience coming back as we ’ ve had in a decade . We will have to be very quick and we will have to read keys fast . We ’ ll have the abilities to make some big plays because of that experience and having guys who have seen situations and should be able to react to plays .”

Senior Cash Cerar ( 6- 2 , 220 ) and junior Khalid Aluye ( 6-4 , 200 ) started at least a few games on the defensive line and should provide some stability there . The Ponies are also banking on contributions from sophomore Andrew Olson ( 6-2 , 265 ) and junior Evan Uddin ( 6-1 , 210 ), but depth is a concern on the defensive line .

“ We have two guys with starting experience and two that are battling for the other spot ,” LaBore said . “ We are not big , but hopefully we are fast . It will be a concern if we have injuries at any spot , but especially on the defensive line .”

Henry Zollar ( 6-2 , 180 ) led the Ponies with three interceptions and joins Riley Runk ( 6-0 , 185 ) and Ryan Silbernagel ( 5-10 , 150 ) with returning experience in the secondary . Runk , an all sub-district selection , finished with one interceptions and led the team with 13 knocked down passes . He was also elusive enough to return a punt for a touchdown in Stillwater ’ s playoff victory over Hopkins .

Runk suffered a serious knee injury during Stillwater ’ s state quarterfinal loss to Edina , but appears to have recovered nicely , the

See Defense , Page 11

Large-school state championship games

Stillwater linebacker John Karkula is one of the top returning tacklers for the Ponies .