WEEK 4 FOOTBALL - Key game at Merrill; Redmen get a major test
The middle third of the high school football regular season arrives this week with all three local teams looking to build off lopsided victories in week three.
The Medford Raiders got into the win column with a dominant 51-18 win at Antigo and now they head to Merrill Friday for an intriguing Great Northern Conference matchup with the Blue Jays.
The results in the first week of conference play likely left many observers with more questions than answers about where everyone stands. Merrill likely caught their attention by giving pre-season favorite Mosinee a scare on the Indians’ home field before falling 21-14 when a threat in the final seconds was snuffed out with an interception in the red zone by Mosinee’s Treve Stoffel.
Behind its sizable offensive line, Merrill outrushed Mosinee 249 yards to 181, getting 124 yards from junior Kanin Janke and 90 more, including an early 52-yard touchdown from wing Keylin Allen, a senior. Junior quarterback Cole Rudie runs the offense from the shotgun and had a 27-yard score that tied Friday’s game in the third quarter. Senior Noah Klug led the defense with 7.5 tackles, including six solo stops from his middle linebacker position.
“It looks they have some good, big kids,” Wilson said. “They have a really nice running back (Jahnke). He ran really well and had a couple of big runs against Mosinee. (Allen) is kind of a big-play threat whether he’s a receiver or throwing a bubble to him or a little counter game with him. He’s a nice athlete. They have some good athletes. They have some good size. They gave Mosinee everything they had and then some. They’re a much-improved team compared to last year.”
Medford won last year’s matchup 40-0, but there aren’t many players from either side back who played prominent roles.
“I think it is going to be different than last year, that’s for sure,” Wilson said. “It’s a bunch of different guys playing. We’ll have to make sure we do things correct.”
After falling to Gilman 49-0 in their first on-field game, Rib Lake (1-2) blew out host Chequamegon 44-6 last Thursday to get its first win. The Redmen will play on their home field for the first time tonight, Thursday, and it’s a tough assignment against defending Northwoods East Conference champion Phillips.
The Loggers come in at 2-1, having beaten Chequamegon 52-8 in week one and then losing 47-26 at Oakfield in week two. Oakfield sits atop the unofficial playoff matrix rankings for eight-player football through week three, one spot ahead of Gilman. The Loggers were awarded a forfeit this past week with Mellen canceling its season a few weeks ago.
The Loggers beat Rib Lake last year 56-38 behind an overpowering running game and an opportunistic bigplay passing game. They are still run-heavy on offense with 658 of their 710 yards in two games coming on the ground. Phillips returns 2024 first-team All-Northwoods East linemen Kyle Sidenbender and Kalan Chuzles, as well as first-team back Ayron DeLeasky, who has 185 yards and three touchdowns in two games. One of the school’s top senior athletes, JJ Heikkinen, joined the team this year. He has a team-high 227 rushing yards and four touchdowns so far. Ben Virnig, a first-team allconference pick on defense and a second-team pick on offense also is back for Phillips. DeLeasky was a firstteam defensive lineman last year as well.
With Phillips being above the WIAA’s 200-student threshold, a win over the Loggers will carry extra weight for Rib Lake in the playoff matrix system if it can pull off an upset.
“Make no mistake about it. We’re going to have our hands absolutely full and if we don’t come to play, it’s going to be another version of Gilman,” Rib Lake head coach Austin Edwards said. “But I do think if we do come to play, it’s going to be a really good game and I think we can compete and we can win. It’s going to be one of those where we have to be on our best game because they have too much talent and are too well-coached. But, it’s an exciting game because if you find a way to beat Phillips, you set yourself up. You’re likely in the playoffs.”
Gilman’s first road game of the season takes the 3-0 Pirates to 0-3 Cornell for a 7 p.m. kickoff in the North Central East Conference.
The Chiefs are 0-2 in the conference and were defeated 50-0 by Owen-Withee Friday. They also lost 28-0 to Lake Holcombe in their opener and made the long trip to Beaver Dam on Aug. 30, where they lost 40-18 to Wayland Academy in non-conference play.
Gilman has had no trouble with Cornell the past three seasons, winning by an average score of 71-0. With a major matchup with McDonell Central looming in week five, the Pirates are aiming to stay focused on the task at hand this week.
“(Keep improving) is kind of the focus,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “They kind of run some of the same offensive sets that McDonell does so it gives us a little bit of a look that way, but it is a matter of just staying focused. They did get some first downs against Owen-Withee, moved the ball a little bit and Owen-Withee is pretty good on defense. We still have to be disciplined with what we’re doing.”
