Rare Thursday game for Medford; homecoming in Gilman this week
WEEK 5 FOOTBALL
Seemingly in the blink of an eye, the high school football season in Wisconsin will already reach its mid-point this weekend and playoff berths will already start to be clinched next week.
This week starts early locally with the Medford Raiders hosting Ashland tonight, Thursday, while Gilman has an early homecoming celebration and Rib Lake-Prentice heads way west for the second straight Friday.
Ashland comes to Raider Field tonight with a 1-3 record, including a 1-1 mark in the GNC thanks to an 8-6 win at Rhinelander on Sept. 2 when the second half was played inside the Hodag Dome due to lightning. Ashland’s nonconference losses were to two of the top programs in that part of the state, Northwestern and Hurley. This past Friday, Ashland moved the ball well early against pre-season GNC favorite Mosinee and was only down 21-14 late in the second quarter. But the Indians got two scores in the last 82 seconds of the half and their speed and Ashland’s inability to stop standout tight end Davin Stoffel eventually allowed Mosinee to run away with a 55-14 win.
They run a different offense, but the Oredockers have a similar approach to the game as Medford. They like to grind things out with physicality and the running game on offense.
“That’s what they’re going to bring,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “Their coach Travis Larson really preaches that style of football. They’re running the wishbone. They’re a triple option team. With triple option teams it’s all about getting off the ball and making those lanes and using your quarterback. Because of the option value of it, you need to be assignment sure and ready to go there. It’s not just being assignment sure, it’s also understanding what the offense is trying to do to you for them to be successful. So our defense needs to understand what they’re trying to get done for us to try to stop what they’re trying to get done.”
Ethan Petersen is an athlete to watch on offense. He ran for 160 yards and a 45-yard touchdown against Rhinelander and 96 yards against Northwestern and he’ll catch some passes out of the backfield from quarterback Ty O’Bey. The upback in the wishbone, Hunter Chenier is a physical back, who led Ashland with 70 yards against Mosinee.
Medford has dominated the rivalry in recent years, winning the last three games and 10 of the last 12.
With three straight road games looming, the Gilman Pirates set this week as the county’s earliest homecoming week of 2022. Friday’s game features the Greenwood Indians, who are 1-2 so far in the eight-player season. Friday’s game is the Central Wisconsin East Conference opener for both teams. Gilman comes in a perfect 3-0 and outscored its Central Wisconsin West crossover opponents 159-0.
Greenwood got a tough draw in the crossovers, possibly seeing the West’s two top teams in a 62-8 loss to McDonell Central and a 74-0 loss Friday at Prairie Farm. The Indians were solid against the run early Friday, but Prairie Farm got them with some big passing plays to grab the lead and things snowballed on the Indians from there.
The players to stop on Greenwood’s offense are Christian Thomas and quarterback River Glynn. Thomas is the primary ball carrier and he’ll catch the occasional pass as well. He ran for 125 yards against McDonell and scored on a 53-yard run. He added 129 yards and three touchdowns on the ground in a 48-8 win over New Auburn, caught a 53-yard touchdown pass and scored on a fumble recovery as well.
Glynn is second on the team in rushing attempts and completed five of six passes in the New Auburn game.
Not only did pass defense hurt Greenwood against Prairie Farm, McDonell also threw for 229 yards against the Indians with four of the Macks’ 14 completions being touchdowns.
After a tough 7-0 loss at Webster, Rib Lake-Prentice heads right back toward the Minnesota border this Friday with a visit to Grantsburg in Lakeland Conference play.
This will be a big challenge for the 0-4 Hawks. The 2-2 Pirates have put up a lot of points, averaging 36 per game in four contests. Their losses were 44-41 to St. Croix Falls of the larger Heart O’ North contest and 38-35 to Hurley in what was considered a non-conference game on Sept. 2. Those two teams will play again, possibly for the Lakeland title though Unity will have some say in that, on Oct. 7.
Grantsburg throws the ball more than any other Lakeland Conference team. According to WisSports.net statistics, quarterback Aaron Burkman has thrown for 693 yards and seven touchdowns in 71 attempts through four games. Trenton Johnson has 22 catches for 427 yards.
But Gavin Rossow also averages 7.1 yards per carry on 39 attempts and has five touchdowns on the ground and Grantsburg did most of its damage with the ground game in a 52-6 win over the Hawks last October, though Rib Lake-Prentice was heavily short-handed for that game.
“They like to spread it out,” Rib Lake-Prentice head coach Jonah Campbell said. “They have a lot of quick passes. They have passes where they take shots. They have a good run game. They have a little bit of everything in there. Defen- sively it’s another one of those strong, fast defenses where you just have to try and find their weakness and hopefully you can expose it consistently to open up some other things. They’re going to be another test that’s for sure.”
