After slow start, late firsthalf flurry buries Antigo

MEDFORD 53, ANTIGO 21

Antigo came into Friday’s football finale with nothing to lose and made things interesting for a quarter and a half, but the heavily-favored Medford Raiders weathered some early big plays by the Robins and eventually took over the game late in the first half and rolled to a 53-21 win on Senior Night at Raider Field.

Medford put 30 points on the scoreboard in the last six minutes of the half, including 24 in just the last 3:14 to finish the regular season at 7-2 overall and 6-1 in the Great Northern Conference, a game behind champion Mosinee.

Antigo was one of three GNC teams to finish 1-6 in league play. The Robins ended up 2-7 overall.

The Red Robins hit Medford early through the passing game, something Antigo doesn’t historically do a lot of. Sophomore quarterback Colton Thomae hit six of his first nine passes for 161 yards to lead scoring drives on two of Antigo’s first three possessions which gave the visitors a 13-8 lead with 5:55 left in the second quarter.

“We played a tough game against Mosinee (the week before) that I think we all fully expected to win,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “I think there was a little bit of a hangover, if you want to call it that, from that loss. We didn’t start quite as quickly as we wanted to, but it wasn’t like the game ever got out of hand the other way. In the second quarter to score 30 points there right toward the end was pretty big.”

Antigo’s first score, a 28-yard touchdown pass to Theoden Reetz on a short corner route to the left side, was quickly answered by a three-play, 61-yard scoring drive by the Raiders. Logan Baumgartner completed a short 6-yard pass to Charlie Kleist and a 20-yard pass to Tucker Kraemer before Kraemer bolted 35 yards for the touchdown on an end around. Tukker Schreiner added the two-point conversion for an 8-7 Medford lead.

On Antigo’s third possession, Thomae hit Zeke Fobes for 48 yards and Mason

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Gray for another 31 to overcome a holding penalty and set up a 1-yard scoring run by Fobes.

“As a whole their quarterback threw the ball really well,” Wilson said. “Their kids went up and made some pretty good catches. Those things happen. In this day and age, it seems teams are trying to go more up top and see if they can make it happen.”

The Raiders needed just one play, however, to make it happen for them and take the lead for good. Tukker Schreiner took a pitch to the right, got a big hole to run through, spun out of a tackle near midfield and then stiff-armed his way down the sideline for a 65-yard touchdown that made it 14-13.

“It was blocked well from the start but Tukker did a good job of keeping tacklers off of him,” Wilson said. “He kept their kid at the end off of him and got into the end zone. It was him just keeping kids off of his legs and using a good stiff-arm to finish that run off. But it was blocked well from the get-go.”

From there, Medford took advantage of Antigo mistakes to put the game away. First, Schreiner got through a hole in the Robins’ protection and partially blocked a 9-yard punt that Kleist pounced on at Antigo’s 38-yard line. Four plays and a personal foul on Antigo later, Schreiner scored from 14 yards out and Baumgartner hit Kraemer with the two-point pass for a 22-13 lead.

Antigo kick returner Ethan Buchman then slipped as Braxton Weissmiller’s kickoff bounced by him, leaving it up for grabs and Raider Evan Wilkins beat everyone to it to give Medford the ball at the 15. On fourth and one, Kleist slipped behind the defense for a 6-yard touchdown reception that extended the lead to 30-13.

“Tukker got his hand on the punt to get us good field position with Charlie recovering it,” Wilson said. “Evan Wilkins made a play on the kickoff. Those two plays gave us short fields. When you get short fields, you have to cash in and offensively we did.” Thomae then made his only big mistake of the half when the ball slipped out of his hand as he attempted a long pass and it fluttered to Kraemer for an easy interception at midfield. Kraemer returned it to the 26 with 1:05 left. With 22 seconds left, Cole Dassow extended his body in the back of the end zone to secure a laser of a 21-yard pass thrown by Baumgartner that just got over the 6-7 Gray and found its target.

Medford’s passing game continued to be a weapon Friday as Baumgartner completed seven of 12 passes for 83 yards and three touchdowns. He now has 16 touchdown passes and just four interceptions for the season.

“I think that’s important for us going forward is to be able to get that passing game going a little bit more and being able to have a threat there,” Wilson said. “We’ve done pretty well the last couple of weeks. Even earlier in the season, when we weren’t throwing it a lot, it was still very efficient when we were. We have to keep that going forward. The efficiency is the important thing. It’s not throwing it 40 times a game. It’s being efficient with the throws that we have and being efficient running the ball. It’s being efficient at all times and in all phases of the game. That’s what we’re striving for and hopefully we can keep going forward with that offensively.”

The goal for the second half was to get the running clock established as quickly as possible and get starters safely out of the game. That mission was accomplished as Gilles capped a three-play, 57-yard drive with a 29-yard touchdown run just 1:29 in and, after a three and out from the defense, another 57-yard drive ended with an 11-yard scoring pass from Baumgartner to Kleist that made it 53-13 with 5:08 left in the third.

Offensively, Medford finished with 345 yards, including 262 on the ground on 31 carries for an average of 8.5 yards per attempt. That number went down as the reserves found little room to run late in the game against most of Antigo’s starters. Schreiner had 108 yards on eight carries, while Gilles had 79 yards on nine attempts. Kraemer had two catches for 34 yards while Kleist caught four passes for 28 yards and two scores.

Thomae finished 11 of 24 for 199 yards, but he had two passes intercepted, the second coming late from senior reserve Brayden Stelzel, and the Robins ran for just 66 yards on 27 attempts.

Medford drew the fourth seed in its WIAA Division 3 playoff bracket and will host GNC rival and fifth-seeded Lakeland (5-2, 5-4) Friday at 7 p.m. in Level 1 action. Medford beat Lakeland 38-14 in week four, dropping Lakeland to 0-4 at the time. The Thunderbirds haven’t lost since.

Cole Dassow cradles a 21-yard touchdown reception with 22 seconds left in Friday’s first half, giving Medford a 38-13 lead.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS