For most of the 11 seniors on last year鈥檚 Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 boys soccer team, the fall of 2024 was anticipated, to say the least.
Bonded together from a pre-teen age through soccer, it鈥檚 a group that watched the dynastic Lumberjacks three-peat from 2016-18, winning consecutive Section 8A championships and advancing to the state tournament. They watched the 2018 Jacks make a run to the state title game, a team that ultimately lost to Blake 1-0 in extra time.
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Their turn to leave their lasting stamp on the BHS boys soccer program wouldn鈥檛 come for another six years. While they waited, the road back to the state tournament became more challenging.
In the years following the 2018 runner-up finish, the Minnesota State High 歪歪漫画 League added a third class to the boys and girls soccer landscape. Being in one of rural Minnesota鈥檚 larger high schools, the Jacks were bumped up two classes.
For Bemidji and Sartell, their section foes shifted from the likes of Detroit Lakes and East Grand Forks to Buffalo, Moorhead, St. Michael-Albertville, Brainerd and more. Gone were the days of coasting through the early rounds of the section tournament.
The bulk of the aforementioned 11 seniors saw how difficult it is to get through sections. In 2018, Bemidji dispatched Detroit Lakes 7-2 in its second-round match. Five years later, BHS suffered a crushing 2-1 season-ending loss at the hands of Sartell in the second round.
It could have served as the pinnacle of humbling moments for a wide-eyed, hopeful group of soccer players. Instead, it became the foundation for their push to make good on what they promised themselves years earlier: Bemidji will win a section championship again under their watch.
Three hundred and sixty-five days later, with the help of a goal 4,000 miles in the making, the Lumberjacks reclaimed section gold for the first time in six years. Now, they鈥檝e been named the 2025 Pioneer Team of the Year.
First introduced in 2020, the Pioneer Team of the Year award is meant to annually recognize the accomplishments of one area team from the preceding school year that most impressed fans and media alike. The Jacks beat out other worthy candidates 鈥� Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 girls soccer and boys wrestling, Blackduck High 歪歪漫画 softball and Bemidji State football.
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Senior culmination
Of Bemidji鈥檚 11 seniors, Charlie Zellmann, Al Toward, Brady Riley, Isaac Stone, Hunter Oson, Dash Hiller, Reed Johnson, Lincoln Schmitt and Levi Renn all played organized soccer together from a young age. They picked up Andrew Kavanagh along the way, as well as Sam Byrne, a senior exchange student from the Netherlands.
Despite being eager to begin their final high school soccer season, the 2024 slate didn鈥檛 get off to the best of starts. After beating Sauk Rapids-Rice 5-0 in the opener, Bemidji lost two of its next three games and fell to 1-2-1.
Head coach Rick Toward called the 2-0 loss against Duluth East on Sept. 5 a 鈥渨ake-up call.鈥� It was a scare that propelled Bemidji to an 11-match unbeaten streak.
In that stretch, the Jacks dispatch quality teams routinely. They blanked Duluth Denfeld and Section 8-3A鈥檚 Moorhead before picking up their first-ever win over state power Hill-Murray. Bemidji earned a worthy draw against 8-3A favorite Buffalo, then beat Sartell on the road for the first time in program history.聽聽
On Oct. 3, the Bemidji seniors did something most high school soccer teams wouldn鈥檛 get the chance to do. On Senior Night against Hillcrest Lutheran Academy on Oct. 3, Toward started all 11 seniors at the 11 available positions.
Renn and Kavanagh scored their first varsity goals. Olson, the emergency keeper behind junior Kellen Heuer, picked up his first varsity clean sheet in goal.
鈥淚t was epic,鈥� Renn said. 鈥淚t was so epic to be out there and finally connect on one. I was excited, and I was like, 鈥業t鈥檚 finally here. I finally got one.鈥欌��
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Kavanagh said, 鈥淚t was one of the happiest moments of my life. It was really cool, the whole night was really cool.鈥�
One quote from Toward stuck out that night as a precursor of what was to come two weeks later.
鈥淭hey never get old,鈥� he said of the celebratory moments. 鈥淵ou love to see your kids celebrate each other. To me, it says a lot about the things we want sports to give us besides a victory. It鈥檚 camaraderie, teamwork 鈥� all of those things. These guys genuinely care about each other.鈥�
One last push
The fanfare of the regular season concluded with one more reminder of what鈥檚 at stake. Bemidji dropped the season finale against former Section 8A rival St. Cloud Cathedral 3-1. The Lumberjacks, however, had done enough to earn the No. 2 seed in the 8-3A Tournament.
BHS danced its way past seventh-seeded Brainerd with a 5-0 quarterfinal win on Oct. 10. It set up a third match against Moorhead, the sixth seed, in the semifinal. Despite falling to Bemidji 4-1 and 2-0 in the regular season, the Spuds upset third-seeded Sartell in the first round to book a trip to Bemidji.
Moorhead got the better of the Lumberjacks in the first 50 minutes. After falling behind 1-0 in the third minute, the Spuds scored twice to take a 2-1 lead in the opening minutes of the second half.
Junior Austin Riewer鈥檚 second goal leveled the match, then Stone鈥檚 successful penalty kick gave BHS the lead in the 70th minute. Byrne added some insurance six minutes later to help the Jacks advance to the Section 8-3A title game in Buffalo.
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On a brisk, windy night in the suburbs of the Twin Cities, Bemidji and top-seeded Buffalo were knotted at 0-0 after the first 40 minutes. As play resumed in the second half, the Lumberjacks lost their advantage of kicking with the wind at their backs.
Ultimately, it didn鈥檛 matter.
In the 70th minute, Byrne, a substitute striker, buried a cross from Johnson to put BHS ahead with 10 minutes left. The senior who joined the senior-laden team scored the destined goal to land Bemidji its fourth section championship in program history and its first at a Class 3A school.
鈥淗e promised me a goal before the game,鈥� head coach Rick Toward said. 鈥淚n the second half, he promised me the game-winner. You can鈥檛 be much more prophetic than that.鈥�
Bemidji had enough senior leadership, but it needed one more, and a little bit of luck.
When Byrne chose to spend a semester in the United States as an exchange student, he opted for a random selection. Despite being passionate about soccer, he didn鈥檛 know the quality of soccer he鈥檇 be playing, or if he鈥檇 get to play at all.
In the end, Byrne needed Bemidji as much as Bemidji needed a goal from the kid who lives 4,000 miles away.
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鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know where I was going to end up,鈥� Bryne said. 鈥淎 family 鈥� my family 鈥� they chose me. At first, I was like, 鈥榃here is Bemidji? Oh, it鈥檚 all the way up north?鈥� I was super open to it. This team has been like family to me. I鈥檓 super lucky to be placed in a school like this with a team like this.
鈥�(Scoring the winning goals is) a feeling you dream about. You dream about having the ball and scoring the winning goal. It doesn鈥檛 feel real.鈥�
Naturally, the Lumberjacks drew one of the shortest sticks in the state tournament seeding, drawing favorite Minneapolis Washburn and Mr. Soccer winner Ronan Selbo in the first round at Monticello High 歪歪漫画. Selbo scored in the 19th minute in a 3-0 win for the Millers, effectively ending the Jacks鈥� season.
As time goes on, the sour end to a storybook season will fade more and more. The 2024 BHS boys soccer team鈥檚 season will be remembered by one all-encompassing word: acceptance.
Bemidji had to accept the fact that it was no longer a Class A school. The Lumberjacks had to accept their fate after a gutting semifinal loss against Sartell in 2023. They had to accept that they weren鈥檛 ready to represent Section 8-3A on the state鈥檚 grandest stage.
After starting 1-2-1, the Jacks had to accept that their effort wasn鈥檛 good enough to reach the goal they set for themselves when they were younger. They had to accept that their talent and prowess alone weren鈥檛 good enough to have the dream season they anticipated without a commitment to the process.
A group of seniors who had spent half of their lives on the pitch together accepted the idea that they needed one more piece to get over the hump. It would鈥檝e been easy for them to disregard Byrne, the outsider who was added to the fold in the final hour.
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Most high school athletes will never know what it鈥檚 like to win a team or an individual section title. They will never be under the bright lights competing for a state championship and have the blue section medals to show for it.
For the Bemidji boys soccer team, that reality was the only thing they didn鈥檛 accept, and it鈥檚 why they are deserving of being the 2025 Pioneer Team of the Year.
Previous Pioneer Teams of the Year
2024: Bemidji High 歪歪漫画 girls wrestling聽
2023: Bemidji State women鈥檚 soccer
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