1968

Team Picture:
Back Row: Coach Light, Mark Raymond, Doug Peterson, Rich Frisbie, Fred Moore, Denny Ruppert, Coach Hurley, Eric Jennings, Jim Johnson, Nels Johnson, Coach Meis
Middle Row: Paul Marks, Melvin Choponis, Fred Davis, Joe Johnson, Bruce Lucas, Gale Wanstead, Dale Holmes, Mike Williams, Park Harris, Ed Heyd, Jerry Nyland
Front Row: Rick Johnson, Tom Gydesen, Mark Nixon, Dan Stemen, Doug Kanouse, Mickey Lucas, Pat Wilson, Denny Flynn, Bil Logan

The 1968 Pine River Football Team was the first to win their homecoming game and the first to shutout an opponent. The Bucks started out with three losses, but dropped Onekma on homecoming by the score of 20-12. The victory over Onekema gave the Bucks their first Chippewa Conference victory in school history.They Bucks followed up the Onekema win with a 67-0 thrashing of Baldwin in a game that saw Doug Kanouse score 4 touchdowns. The Bucks dropped the following game to Marion but then used 2 touchdown passes from Doug Kanouse to defeated Gaylord St. Mary’s on the last day of the season. The Bucks were led on defense by linebacker Dan Stemen who was the first Bucks player to be 1st team all conference. Pine River played all their home games in ’68 on Saturday afternoons because they didn’t have lights at their stadium. The Bucks finished the year a respectable 3-4 in just their third year of playing football.