New quarterback steps in at Cromwell-Wright

Jeff Gronner is entering his fifth season as the head coach for the Cromwell-Wright Cards football team. Since taking over the helm from Keith Bergstedt, Gronner has only had one player at the quarterback position – until now.

“Cody Hendrickson has taken every meaningful snap at quarterback since I have been head coach,” mentioned Gronner. “This year is going to be a big transition in that way. You can not replace what [Hendrickson] was for our team the last few years. This year is going to be a new experience.”

Sophomore Jordan Suhonen will step into the role at quarterback, but fortunately he will find himself surrounded by other quality athletes.

“We do have five returning starters on both sides of the ball,” Gronner commented. “We also have a total of eight players who started at least one game last season.”

That depth should prove useful for the Cards even though they lost their entire interior line.

“We lost Taylor Forconi, Evans Hakamaki and Ethan Hutar and those are key losses,” remarked Gronner. “This will be a tough challenge for us because of our lack of experience in the line and at quarterback.”

Leading the way will be senior end Tyler Burggraff and senior backs Adam Smith and Shale Korpela. Burggraff is a three-year starter, was First Team All-Area and a captain. Smith is a captain, he had over 1,700 all-purpose yards, 15 touchdowns and was First Team All-Area as well. Korpela was the second leading tackler and finished with 114 from his linebacker position.

Other returning starters include Jordan Smith at defensive back and wide receiver, Mike Hedin at linebacker, and Nolan Wester at end.

“I feel that this year we are going to have more depth than in past years,” explained Gronner. “We expect to contend for a section title which is what we expect every year.”

The Cards went 9-1 last season, they won the Great North East Conference and lost in to Floodwood in the section semifinals.