Photo illustration by Travis Rosenau Springfield’s Jakob Nachreiner was named the 2022 All-Journal Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday.

SPRINGFIELD — When Springfield Tigers head coach Adam Meyer handed the proverbial keys to the offense to junior quarterback Jakob Nachreiner this past fall, Nachreiner wasn’t looking to reinvent the wheel.

Instead, he just wanted to continue the Tigers’ winning tradition with an offensive system that had raised havoc on many defenses over the past several years and get back to the state tournament.

“The goal [was] to make it to the state tournament and just manage the team the best I can,” Nachreiner said. “Going into the first year, there’s no guarantees on performance, but it’s just a great thing to go to the state tournament in your first year.”

Playing in his first season as the Tigers’ varsity starting quarterback, Nachreiner completed 210 of 307 passes (68.4%) and was able to amass 3,119 yards passing. He also threw for 40 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.

He missed just one game this season due to illness against Martin County West on Oct. 13.

Nachreiner’s ability and willingness to throw the ball not only helped lead Springfield back to the state tournament, but it also led the team to the Class A state title game for the first time since the Tigers won the championship in 2005.

This season didn’t end with a championship for Springfield as Minneota earned its eighth title in program history with a 38-21 win, but it was still a memorable season for Nachreiner and the Tigers.

Nachreiner said his favorite memory from the season dates back to Nov. 11 when the Tigers took down Tracy-Milroy-Balaton 40-28 in the Section 3A title game to earn a trip back to state. Nachreiner was on top of his game that night, completing 14 of 16 passes for 319 yards and a season-high five TDs.

The win was redemption for the Tigers, who were eliminated from the section tournament by TMB in 2021. TMB also cruised past Springfield 34-6 during Week 4 of the regular season this year in Tracy.

“When we beat Tracy in the section championship after kind of getting destroyed by them the first time,” Nachreiner said of his favorite memory this year. “After all that, all the noise around saying how we don’t belong there and how they’re just going to destroy us again, going out there and flipping the script.”

The Tigers made the state tournament in 2018 and 2019 with Decker Scheffler under center. There was no state tournament in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic shortening the season, and the Tigers finished the 2021 season 7-3 overall with Brendon Buerkle at quarterback.

Both Scheffler and Buerkle finished their senior years with All-Journal Offensive Football Player of the Year honors. He still has another year to play for Springfield, but Nachreiner joined Scheffler and Buerkle’s company Thursday as he was unanimously named the 2022 All-Journal Offensive Football Player of the Year as voted on by The Journal’s sports staff.

“All these individual awards, I see them as team awards,” Nachreiner said. “I can’t do anything that I do without the team around me and the coaches. So give credit to everyone else.”

Nachreiner added that the step up from JV to varsity was an adjustment early on and while he did feel some pressure having big shoes to fill at quarterback, he made smarter decisions as the year went on and gained confidence.

“Consistency and trust in my ability,” Nachreiner said of his biggest changes throughout the season. “I kind of hit a patch where it really wasn’t smooth, I wasn’t throwing the ball too well, and just being able to trust the guys out there and battling through the mental part of the game.”

Carter Olson, a junior this season, was Buerkle’s go-to receiver in 2021 with 90 receptions. He was also Nachreiner’s top target this year as he finished with 99 catches, 1,264 yards and 11 TDs.

Olson’s success isn’t to say Nachreiner had a lack of talent to throw to. On the contrary, Nachreiner had three other reliable receivers he could key in on at any moment in MaCoy Krick (41 catches, 14 TDs), Ashton Toll (39 catches, three TDs) and Brayden Sturm (28 catches, 10 TDs).

But Olson earned his looks last year and it was deservingly so the same again this year.

“I’ve been playing with him since eighth grade and he’s always been reliable out there,” Nachreiner said of Olson. “You know he’s always going to be open, and you can tell when I don’t throw it to him, he was open.

“He’s very good out there and he always just finds a way to be open. Our offense is very friendly towards him, we get him a lot of touches and it definitely works out for us.”

With teams in the district and section getting plenty of extra time to see, hear and read about the Tigers this season, how many new tricks and plays Nachreiner and the team will try next year remains to be seen.

Springfield will surely have a target on its back next year, though, and that’s fine by Nachreiner.

“We definitely see the target on our back, and we like it,” Nachreiner said. “We want to be the team that everyone wants to beat, we want to be the top team that everyone has to go in worried about.”