Grantsburg turns to ground game to build big first-half lead

GRANTSBURG 52, RIB LAKE-PRENTICE 6

The Grantsburg Pirates relied on its passing game for most of its production in the first seven weeks of the season, but they ran the ball just as well Friday in a 52-6 homecoming win over the shorthanded Rib Lake-Prentice Hawks.

Down four key two-way players, the Hawks knew they’d have their hands full with Grantsburg, who is still in the hunt for a second-place finish in the Lakeland Conference. Grantsburg’s game with Unity this Friday will decide who gets the second spot in the standings behind undefeated Hurley.

The Pirates didn’t pile up massive statistics, gaining 273 yards of total offense. Those yards were split almost evenly with 143 coming on the ground and 130 coming through the air and they scored on their first five offensive possessions to put this one away by halftime.

“They saw some of our weaknesses on film with C-gap, counter-trap type plays that they were able to run a bit,” Hawks co-head coach Jonah Campbell said. “They did open it up with some big passes. I think we anticipated a little bit of that C-gap run, but also just them having more of a spread-out type formation. I think they adjusted a little bit based on what they saw on film.”

Thirteen different Pirates were credited with carries, including a handful of linemen, to add to their homecoming fun.

The Hawks, operating for the second straight week with Dominick Classen at quarterback, were also down to senior Jordan Yanko and freshman Jonas Staroba as their main running backs. They gained two first downs on their first drive before coming up short on fourth and three from Grantsburg’s 44. The Pirates then went 57 yards, all on the ground, in seven plays and punching it in on a 1-yard scoring run by 275-pound senior lineman Gage Hall. Senior lineman Micah Jensen ran in the two-point try for an 8-0 lead.

A strip-sack by Grantsburg’s Colten Lozier led to a 2-yard touchdown run by Aiden Burkman, who added a second 2-yard scoring run on the final play of the quarter to put the hosts up 24-0.

Rib Lake-Prentice countered with a good-looking drive that got inside Grantsburg’s 30 but ended with a lost fumble.

“We were driving down the field, moving it pretty good, picking up first downs and then we just fumbled,” Campbell said. “It looked like it was a poorly-taken handoff that got knocked out right away. That was a drive killer, a little bit of a momentum killer.

“It was just one of those moments where if you drive down and you do score, what does that do for morale and momentum going into the defensive side,” he added. “Their team’s already driven on you a couple of times. When you give the ball up you’re kind of hanging your head again. It’s tough to overcome that, especially if you haven’t gotten defensive stops.”

Grantsburg then went to the air, turning that miscue into a three-play 73-yard scoring drive. Quarterback Aaron Burkman hit Keegan Hecht for 20 yards, Jon Peltier ran for 15, then Burkman hit his top target, Zach Miller for a 38-yard touchdown down the right sideline to make it 32-0 with 6:56 left in the half.

A short punt set up a 44-yard pass from Burkman to Miller down the left side that made it 38-0. Grantsburg threatened to score again before halftime, but ran out of time.

The Hawks forced a punt to start the second half and got a nice break when the snap got by punter Aaron Burkman, who was tackled at his 6-yard line following a 25-yard loss. Two plays later, Hawk Damien Peterson powered into the end zone from 4 yards out for Rib Lake-Prentice’s lone score of the night.

“Coming out on defense and getting a stop like that and forcing them to punt to start the second half I think showed what we’ve kind of done all year,” Campbell said. “We’ve played full games. We’ve been able to turn around and face adversity. Usually the hole has just been too big to climb out of.”

That momentum didn’t last long. A 25-yard kickoff return by Isaac Quimby set Grantsburg up near midfi eld and Quimby scored on a 9-yard run with 5:25 left in the third quarter. Ian Burkman’s 29-yard touchdown run with 9:00 left closed the scoring.

The Hawks had a couple of offensive highlights on their final possession when freshman quarterback Adam Raab hit Dominic Quednow over the middle for a 32-yard gain on third and 12 and he connected with Andrew Murphy for 23 yards on a jump ball along the right sidelines before the drive ended with an interception in the last minute.

The Hawks finished with 77 yards of offense. A 31yard loss on a bad punt snap in the first quarter took a chunk out of the team’s yards gained. Staroba impressed in his first start in the backfield gaining 24 yards on 11 carries. One big tackle for loss hurt his numbers. Ends Alex Schantner and Donovan Sutherland picked up 19 yards on a handful of counter runs.

“(Staroba) got a shot this week with Heikkinen being gone, and Sammy being out with his injury from Hurley,” Campbell said. “It gave him a chance to show what he can do. As far as getting a freshman on the big stage, your biggest worry is size because he is a little bit smaller and your second worry is protecting the ball and he did fine holding onto the ball and hitting the holes. He played fast so he might get some more looks this week based on what he was able to do against Grantsburg.”

Officially, Rib Lake-Prentice sits at 2-4 in the Lakeland Conference but has lost all seven of its games played. The Hawks host a team in the exact same situation, Ladysmith, this Friday at 7 p.m. in Rib Lake. The Hawks’ last on-field win came a year ago this weekend when they won 24-22 at Ladysmith.

“This is a game we feel, just from looking at film from last year and how we played them last year and how we’ve been able to move the ball on everybody this year, that we feel fairly confident we should be able to move the ball,” Campbell said. “As long as we eliminate our own mistakes I think we can have a really good offensive day.”