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Wolves lead All-Union football team
McCarty is coach, Buffington captain of 2023 squad
The 2023 high school football season saw plenty of action in the Union Coverage area, from Week 0 to the UNI-Dome.
A handful of teams appeared in The Gazette’s Top-10 rankings throughout the year, and a few made some deep playoff runs, but nobody had a bigger year than Winfield-Mount Union.
The Wolves’ dream season, which led them to the UNI-Dome for the first time since 1999.
The 2023 All-Union team reflected the Wolves’ big year. WMU had seven players on the list. Sigourney-Keota finished with five, and Mid-Prairie had four.
Coach: Scott McCarty, Winfield-Mount Union
Winfield-Mount Union football had just won one game in the fall of 2019. Four years later, the Wolves were running out of the tunnel at the Class 8-Player semifinals.
The Wolves went 11-1 on the season. WMU knocked Belle Plaine, Moravia and Don Bosco out of the playoffs en route to a state semifinal berth, and made their mark on the UNI-Dome for the first time in a quarter of a century.
Captain: Cam Buffington, senior, Winfield-Mount Union
There was perhaps no player more feared in Southeast Iowa than Winfield-Mount Union’s Cam Buffington.
Buffington came into the year as a clear favorite for the All-State team, and he didn't’ disappoint, putting up bonkers numbers all year long.
On offense, Buffington finished the year with 1,362 rushing yards, 613 receiving yards and 36 total touchdowns.
On defense, Buffington led the Wolves with an astounding 106.5 tackles, 80 of them solo.
QB: Brady Weber, junior, Mid-Prairie
The 2023 Mid-Prairie team needed to open up the offense this year, and the Golden Hawks had the perfect guy to do it in junior Brady Weber.
Weber slung the ball around for 1,497 yards and 20 touchdowns. On the ground, he dashed for 223 yards and four scores.
RB: Kaden Amigon, senior, Columbus
It’s no surprise why Kaden Amigon was so dominant in his time as a Columbus Wildcat. Amigon’s speed and athleticism was nearly unmatched.
Amigon rushed for a ridiculous 1,860 yards this season. He found the end zone on the ground 28 times, and also caught one touchdown pass.
RB: Hudson Ehrenfelt, sophomore, Mid-Prairie
Only a sophomore, Hudson Ehrenfelt became a work horse for the Golden Hawk offense this season.
Ehrenfelt took 227 carries for 1,336 yards, scoring 12 touchdowns on the ground. He also caught 26 catches for 355 yards and three scores.
WR: Dylan Henry, senior, Mid-Prairie
Mid-Prairie senior Dylan Henry was a dangerous threat for the Golden Hawks’ offense in 2023.
Henry caught 27 passes on the year and led the team with 375 yards and seven touchdown catches in his final year of high school ball.
WR: Carter Loyd, senior, Winfield-Mount Union
Wolves’ senior Carter Loyd proved WMU had plenty of weapons on offense, serving as the Wolves’ main deep threat.
Offensively, Loyd caught 17 passes for 408 yards and six touchdowns. On defense, he ended the year with 42 tackles and three takeaways, two interceptions and a fumble recovery.
WR: Lucas Fett, senior, Van Buren County
Van Buren County completed a total of 90 passes this year, and almost half of those went to senior wide out Lucas Fett.
Fett caught 46 passes this year for 572 yards and 10 touchdowns, leading the Warriors in all categories.
TE: Abram Edwards, senior, Winfield-Mount Union
WMU senior Abram Edwards proved time and time again he was an absolute force on both sides of the ball for the Wolves.
Edwards earns his spot on the offense for his team-leading 23 catches, as well as his 393 yards and six touchdowns.
Edwards, however, was an all-stater on the defensive line. He finished the season with 60.5 tackles, including a team-leading 22.5 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries and a pick-six.
OL: Cooper Buffington, junior, Winfield-Mount Union
You can’t be one of the best offenses in Class 8-Player without having a strong offensive line, and Cooper Buffington was a huge part of the Wolves’ front line.
Buffington and the line blocked for a team that ran for 2,337 yards and 50 touchdowns, one of the toughest teams to stop in Class 8-Player.
OL: Chase Waterhouse, senior, WACO
Another year, another 2,500 yards for the WACO offense, and a large part of that was the Warriors’ big man up front.
Senior Chase Waterhouse led a line that blocked for 1,627 rushing yards, 899 passing yards and 53 total touchdowns in nine games this season.
OL: Evan Vittetoe, senior, Sigourney-Keota
The Cobras just continued to run the ball down everyone’s throats in 2023, sticking to school tradition with a run-heavy offense.
Senior Evan Vittetoe and the SK line pushed forward for 2,952 rushing yards and 45 touchdowns this season. The team also racked up 683 yards passing, with 10 scores.
OL Conner Strand, senior, Sigourney-Keota
Alongside Vittetoe on the Cobra line was fellow senior Conner Strand, who made quite a difference in 2023.
Strand, along with his senior teammate, earned All-State bids for an SK line that proved to be one of the best in the state of Iowa once again this fall.
UTIL: Jake Edwards, junior, Winfield-Mount Union
WMU junior Jake Edwards earns his spot on the team as a utility player after a huge year under center for the Wolves.
Edwards jumped into the starting quarterback roll in 2023, and showed he had what it takes to lead the offense. Edwards threw for 673 yards and 26 touchdowns, while throwing just four interceptions.
UTIL Cason Miller, junior, Fairfield
Nobody controlled the Fairfield offense in 2023 like running back Cason Miller, who earns his spot on the All-Union team as a utility player.
Miller had just over 100 carries this fall, running the ball 103 times for 724 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught three passes for 22 yards.
DL: Colton Leichty, senior, WACO
WACO senior Colton Leichty just kept disrupting backfields in 2023. One year after playing at the UNI-Dome, Leichty continued to wreak havoc this fall.
Leichty finished the year with 53 tackles, a team-leading 18.5 tackles for loss and a team-leading seven sacks. He recovered two fumbles this season and picked off one pass.
DL: Louden Huisenga, junior, WACO
WACO’s Louden Huisenga was a star on both sides of the ball this season, but he gets on the list not for his 785 rushing yards or his 16 total touchdowns.
On defense, Huisenga led the Warriors with 54 tackles. He led the team with 4 solo tackles, including 11 tackles for loss. He picked off three passes and recovered two fumbles.
DL: Payton Walker, junior, Mt. Pleasant
Although Payton Walker flew around the field as a linebacker this year, the Mt. Pleasant junior slides into the 2023 All-Union team as a defensive lineman on a very speed-oriented defense.
Walker led the team in a slew of categories, including 71 tackles, 52 of them were solos. Walker also managed to lead the Panthers with 609 rushing yards, 582 passing yards and 12 total touchdowns, playing both quarterback and running back this season.
LB: Tyson Kaalberg, sophomore, Columbus
Sophomore Tyson Kaalberg had a huge year on defense for the Columbus Wildcats.
Kaalberg led the team with 52.5 tackles on the year. He was a menace in the pass-coverage game as well, picking off six passes for 18 return yards.
LB: Casen Evans, senior, Washington
Washington’s Casen Evans was certainly a Demon on the defensive end this season.
The fourth-year linebacker led the way with 62 tackles this fall. He also paced the Demons with 60 solo tackles on the year.
LB: Kamden Nusbaum, junior, Van Buren County
Linebacker Kamden Nusbaum made a huge splash for Van Buren County in 2023.
Nusbaum led the Warriors with 64.5 tackles on the year. He scooped up two fumble recoveries and picked off one pass, both of which co-led the Warrior defense.
LB Kaden Kos, sophomore, Mid-Prairie
Another strong underclassman for the Mid-Prairie football team was linebacker Kaden Kos.
DB: Cole Milks, senior, Winfield-Mount Union
WMU senior Cole Milks had a great year offensively, rushing for 532 yards and 13 scores, but it was his work on the defensive end that earns his spot on the 2023 All-Union list.
Milks ended the year with 51 tackles this season and picked off five passes, including the game-clinching interception against Don Bosco in the state quarterfinals.
DB Jake Moore, senior, Sigourney-Keota
It was nearly impossible to throw the ball against the Sigourney-Keota defense this season, and a lot of the credit for that goes to senior defensive back Jake Moore.
Moore finished the season with 41 tackles on the year. He picked off two passes, and finished the year with one fumble recovery.
DB Cole Kindred, senior, Sigourney-Keota
Right alongside Moore was Cobra defensive back Cole Kindred, who was the king of picks for SK this fall.
Kindred intercepted four passes this year, running back picks for 115 yards, both marks which ended tops on the team.
DB: Sven Dahlstrom, senior, Pekin
Pekin senior Sven Dahlstrom was fantastic for the Panther defensive backfield in 2023.
Dahlstrom led the Panthers with 55.5 tackles on the year. He had 30 solo tackles and co-led Pekin’s defense with four interceptions for 85 return yards.
PR: Mason Morgan, junior, Washington
Washington’s Mason Morgan was electric for the Demons all over the field in 2023.
He makes the team as a punt returner after taking nine returns for 126 yards, but Morgan also led Washington with 20 catches for 325 yards and four touchdowns, and finished the year with an interception and a fumble recovery on defense.
KR: Isaac Bruns, junior, Sigourney-Keota
Sigourney-Keota’s dominance on the ground didn’t just come from the line of scrimmage. Junior Isaac Bruns was electric in the return game this season.
Bruns had just 11 kick returns on the year, but he took those back for 363 yards and three touchdowns, including an 85-yarder, his longest return of the fall.
K: Carter Moore, senior, Fairfield
Senior Carter Moore parlayed his soccer skills into becoming one of the best kickers in Southeast Iowa in 2023.
Moore made three of his five field goal attempts this season, including a long of 27 yards. In nine point after attempts, he never missed one.
P: T.J. Jirak, senior, Van Buren County
Warrior senior T.J. Jirak booted the ball like nobody else in the 2023 season. Jirak flipped the field for VBC all year, lining up for all but one of the team’s 26 punts this season.
Jirak had 25 punts this year for a total of 724 yards. That amounted to nearly 30 yards-per-punt.
