The Patriot Nation Football team finished out their year with their awards night on Thursday, December 1. It was a great season. An undefeated, State Championship will be hard to beat, but it is bitter sweet. We have to say goodbye to our seniors. Each one individually is great, but as a team we were even better. A State Championship doesn't come without great talent, hard work, and team unity; working together as one. Our community, parents, school did an amazing job supporting our team throughout the season and we cannot thank them enough.
Our seniors:
Alex Wipf did a great job recording our games. Not every team has great video, this is a very hard position, and will be a difficult spot to find a quality replacement for. Thank you Alex.
Cole Schroeder was our left offensive wide receiver. He did a great job blocking throughout the year on the outside and catching the balls he needed to catch. The State Championship was the highlight of the year for Cole. He made an amazing catch pulling the ball away from Begeman during our first drive on fourth down. Then finished it off with a great catch and run into the end zone for our first score. We wish him the best in the future.
TJ Salmen was our tight-end and defensive end. TJ never left the field the entire season except maybe three kick-off/returns. He made some great catches throughout the year and blocked well. He was a force on defense, leading in tackles, with 12 sacks, 19 tackles for loss, and 5 fumble recoveries. TJ was nominated and received votes for All-American, only two players received this honor. Brenden Begeman of Herreid/Selby Area was the other. TJ is an Academic All-State Player and he was named All-State Defensive End for 9B, was named in Argus Leader's Elite 45 out of the entire State of South Dakota at all levels. TJ plans on going to college at Black Hills State University on a football scholarship.
Landon Puffer was an all-around amazing athlete. He did a lot for us and broke many records this year. These records will be listed below. Landon I don't believe ever came off the field either, he was involved in everything. Landon received the award for Outstanding Back of the State Championship game, and All-State Wide Receiver for 9B. Landon Puffer plans on going to college at Dakota State University signing a letter of commitment to play football for the Trojans.
Jacob Michlitsch is an amazing leader. If you saw him at our Patriots Youth camp this summer you would have seen this. He grew into such a force on our offense and defense, running all over the field to make plays. Our team had over 4000 yards total offense and had 7 shut-outs. Jacob was a huge part of our success. Jacob received the award for Outstanding Lineman of the State Championship game, and All-State Offensive Lineman for 9B. He has plenty of opportunities in his life right now. He is not sure where he will end up just yet, but if he wanted to he could definitely play at the next level.
Riley Fliehe flew under the radar most the season making plays when he was called to do so. Riley was another player that hardly ever came off the field. As the season went on he was called upon more and more He is a great athlete and has great potential to do even more in the future. Riley got in the record books this year with a 94 yard reception for a touchdown against Iroquois/Lake Preston, breaking last years record of 90 yards. Riley had a great State Championship game with two touchdowns. Riley is another player with great potential to play at the next level. He is not sure what his plans are at this time.
Mason Bottum is a smart player and has great hands. He was on the left side of our defense as an outside backer. He did a great job for us. Mason was the fourth leading tackler and had three big time interceptions. What makes us a great team is that we had great players like Mason who didn't complain and filled the role we had for him to the best of his ability. Mason is an Academic All-State player and I believe plans on going to college at SDSU studying something involved with agriculture.
Carter Binger is amazing. The struggles he has gone through with his knees and being able to complete an entire season was wonderful to be a part of. His perseverance and leadership is a huge part of our success this year. Carter broke a number of records this year with his passing of the football. They will be mentioned below. Carter lead our team well. He not only broke the single season record in passing and TDs, he was our second leading tackler on defense. Carter is an Academic All-State player, All-State Linebacker, the Joe Robbie MVP award winner for the State Championship game. He deserves all of it. Carter is not sure of his plans to my knowledge at this point, but even with the knees he has could potentially do great things in college on the football field. Either way this will be a player and season I will not forget.
All-State 9B Defensive Back - Brendan Nowell had 9 interceptions this year, 2 were returned for TDs. Most notably was an interception in the State Championship game. Brendan intercepted the ball at the 2 yard line and ran it back 98 yards for a TD completely changing the momentum of the game. Brendan is a great athlete and we look forward to see him on the offensive side of the ball next year as well.
All-State 9B Running Back - Erik Salmen had over 1000 yards rushing, 18 rushing TDs, and 1 receiving TD. Erik was our third leading tackler on defense, had 3 interceptions, made the record books for a safety against Waverly-South Shore; no other safeties by an individual player were ever recorded in our record books. He is a great person and player on both sides of the ball.
2022 Most Valuable Scout Team Player Of The Year Award went to Nick Tollefson. This was voted on by the players. Blaze Binger received the next highest votes on the team. They both work hard on and off the field. Definitely players to watch for next year making an impact.
Patriot Football Records: (earned or broken during the 2022 Season)
2022 State Champions - Patriot Nation
2022 Joe Robbie MVP - Carter Binger
2022 Outstanding Back - Landon Puffer
2022 Outstanding Lineman - Jacob Michlitsch
2022 All-State Players: TJ Salmen DE, Carter Binger LB, Brendan Nowell DB, Erik Salmen RB, Landon Puffer WR, Jacob Michlitsch OL
2022 Academic All-State Athletes: Carter Binger, Mason Bottum, TJ Salmen
Records For Season:
Total Points Score 621
Margin of victory 539
Shut Outs 7
Points Per Game 51.75
Total Yards Per Att. 9.13
Rushing TD 2nd 42 first is 49
Pass Comp 2nd 98 first is 101
Passing TDs 30
2pt Passes 17
Interceptions 2nd 34 first is 36
Interception TD 2nd 5 first is 6 from last year
Punt Returns for TD 7
Kick Returns for TD 2 tied last year
Team GPA 3.328
Records For A Game
Most Points 76 vs SBA
Points Allow 7 shut outs, tied with 50 others at least
Margin of Victory 67 vs Waverly-South Shore
Combined Score 98 vs SBA, tied with one other
Interceptions 7 vs Great Plains Lutheran
Kick Returns for TD 1 each Faulkton/SBA, tied last year
Punt Returns 6 vs Jones County
Punts Returned TD 3 vs Jones County
Individual Records Career:
Receptions 52 Landon Puffer
Rec. Total Yards 1245 Landon Puffer
Rec. TDs 22 Landon Puffer, last one was Wes Frankenstein 13
Kick-Offs 157 Landon Puffer
Kick-off yards 6729 Landon Puffer
Kick PATs 5 Landon Puffer
Interceptions 21 Landon Puffer
Punt Returns 30 Landon Puffer
Punt Return Yards 689 Landon Puffer
Punt Returns TD 7 Landon Puffer
Individual Records for Season:
Passing Comp. 92 Carter Binger
Passing Yards 1843 Carter Binger
Passing TDs 28 Carter Binger
Receptions 38 Landon Puffer
Reception Yards 832 Landon Puffer
Longest Rec. TD 94 yards by Riley Fliehe from Carter Binger
Interceptions 14 Landon Puffer
Kick-Offs 86 Landon Puffer
Kick-Off Yards 3839 with 44.6% Landon Puffer
Kick Return TD 2 Landon Puffer, tied last year
Punt Returns 24 Landon Puffer
Punt Return Yards 549 Landon Puffer
Punt Return TDs 7 Landon Puffer
Safety 1 Erik Salmen
Individual Records for Season In A Game:
Passing Attempts 23 vs Faulkton Carter Binger
Completions 12 vs Faulkton Carter Binger
Receptions 6 vs Faulkton Landon Puffer
Fumble Recoveries 2 vs Northwestern TJ Salmen, tied last year
Interceptions 3 vs Great Plains Lutheran Landon Puffer, tied 2 others
Seniors, Players, Parents, Coaches, School, and Community: Thank you for a great, record breaking season.