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After climbing the mountaintop again, Bemidji boys soccer named Pioneer Team of the Year

The Bemidji High ÍáÍáÂþ»­ boys soccer team reclaimed section gold for the first time in six years. Now, they’ve been named the 2025 Pioneer Team of the Year.

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The Bemidji High ÍáÍáÂþ»­ boys soccer team celebrates winning a Section 8-3A championship in a 1-0 win over Buffalo on Oct. 17, 2024, at Buffalo High ÍáÍáÂþ»­.
Courtesy / Lainie Hiller Photography

For most of the 11 seniors on last year’s Bemidji High ÍáÍáÂþ»­ boys soccer team, the fall of 2024 was anticipated, to say the least.

Bonded together from a pre-teen age through soccer, it’s 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’t 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 ÍáÍáÂþ»­ League added a third class to the boys and girls soccer landscape. Being in one of rural Minnesota’s 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.

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The Bemidji High ÍáÍáÂþ»­ boys soccer team celebrates a 1-0 win against Buffalo in the Section 8-3A Championship on Oct. 17, 2024, at Buffalo High ÍáÍáÂþ»­.
Courtesy / Lainie Hiller Photography

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’ve 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 — Bemidji High ÍáÍáÂþ»­ girls soccer and boys wrestling, Blackduck High ÍáÍáÂþ»­ softball and Bemidji State football.

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Senior culmination

Of Bemidji’s 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’t 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 “wake-up call.†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’s 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.  

On Oct. 3, the Bemidji seniors did something most high school soccer teams wouldn’t 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.

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Bemidji's Isaac Stone (8) and Sam Byrne (18) react after Stone scored a goal during the first half of a Section 8-3A quarterfinal game against Brainerd on Oct. 10, 2024, at Chet Anderson Stadium.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer

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.

“It was epic,†Renn said. “It was so epic to be out there and finally connect on one. I was excited, and I was like, ‘It’s finally here. I finally got one.’â€

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Kavanagh said, “It was one of the happiest moments of my life. It was really cool, the whole night was really cool.â€

One quote from Toward stuck out that night as a precursor of what was to come two weeks later.

“They never get old,†he said of the celebratory moments. “You 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’s camaraderie, teamwork — all of those things. These guys genuinely care about each other.â€

One last push

The fanfare of the regular season concluded with one more reminder of what’s 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’s second goal leveled the match, then Stone’s 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’t matter.

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Bemidji senior Sam Byrne, left, controls the ball during the first half of a Section 8-3A quarterfinal game against Brainerd on Oct. 10, 2024, at Chet Anderson Stadium.
Madelyn Haasken / Bemidji Pioneer

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.

“He promised me a goal before the game,†head coach Rick Toward said. “In the second half, he promised me the game-winner. You can’t be much more prophetic than that.â€

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’t know the quality of soccer he’d be playing, or if he’d 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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“I didn’t know where I was going to end up,†Bryne said. “A family — my family — they chose me. At first, I was like, ‘Where is Bemidji? Oh, it’s all the way up north?’ I was super open to it. This team has been like family to me. I’m super lucky to be placed in a school like this with a team like this.

“(Scoring the winning goals is) a feeling you dream about. You dream about having the ball and scoring the winning goal. It doesn’t feel real.â€

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 ÍáÍáÂþ»­. Selbo scored in the 19th minute in a 3-0 win for the Millers, effectively ending the Jacks’ season.

As time goes on, the sour end to a storybook season will fade more and more. The 2024 BHS boys soccer team’s season will be remembered by one all-encompassing word: acceptance.

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Bemidji players hoist head coach Rick Toward in the air for a birthday celebration after beating Hillcrest Lutheran Academy on Oct. 3, 2024, at Chet Anderson Stadium.
Courtesy / Lainie Hiller Photography

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’t ready to represent Section 8-3A on the state’s grandest stage.

After starting 1-2-1, the Jacks had to accept that their effort wasn’t 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’t 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’ve 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’s 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’t accept, and it’s why they are deserving of being the 2025 Pioneer Team of the Year.

Previous Pioneer Teams of the Year

2024: Bemidji High ÍáÍáÂþ»­ girls wrestling 

2023: Bemidji State women’s soccer

2022: Bemidji State football

2021: Bemidji High ÍáÍáÂþ»­ boys tennis

2020: Bemidji State men’s hockey

Jared Rubado took over as sports editor at the Bemidji Pioneer in February 2023 after working as a sports reporter at the Alexandria Echo Press and sports editor of the Detroit Lakes Tribune, Perham Focus and Wadena Pioneer Journal newspaper group.

He graduated from Augustana University in 2018 with journalism and sports management degrees.

You can reach Jared at jrubado@bemidjipioneer.com or (218) 316-2613. Follow him on Twitter at
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