Pirates sail to second straight lopsided win

GILMAN 58, PORT EDWARDS 24

Two big first quarters in two weeks have the Gilman Pirates out to a quick 2-0 start to the new football season.

A week after scoring 34 points in the opening quarter against Tri-County, the Pirates jumped ahead Friday 37-0 in the first 12 minutes and led 51-16 at halftime in an eventual 58-24 win over Port Edwards.

The Pirates piled up 376 of their 406 rushing yards before halftime and took advantage of playing most of the first half in Blackhawks’ territory.

“They didn’t get any first downs in the first half,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “We were playing on their side of the field the whole time basically.”

The Pirates set the tone quickly, getting a Casey Grunseth interception on Port Edwards’ first series and turning that into a 9-yard run by Bryson Keepers just 3:43 into the game. Gilman recovered a Port Edwards fumble on the next series and turned that into a 55-yard scoring run by Keepers. The Pirates forced a punt and Keepers scored from 40 yards out and caught the two-point conversion pass from Grady Kroeplin to take a 24-0 lead with 4:18 still left in the quarter.

Keepers’ big quarter continued when he intercepted a Brynden Beck pass and returned it to the 3-yard line. Two plays later, Troy Duellman scored on a 2-yard run. Junior Wayne McAlpine scored his first varsity touchdown, a 33-yard run, with 1:02 left in the quarter.

The Blackhawks got the first of their two big plays of the opening half a minute into the second quarter when Austin Diggles got outside for a 59-yard touchdown run. But Gilman countered with two more touch- downs on its next two drives. Kroeplin kept the ball and scored on a 17-yard run just 1:18 after the Diggles score. Keepers added a 47-yard touchdown run at the 5:46 mark for a 51-8 lead.

Beck hit his top receiver, Timmy Tranel for a 27-yard touchdown strike with 1:25 left in the half.

Rosemeyer said the Pirates did a little bit of position switching in the quarter, but the Blackhawks still made their plays against a defense that had the majority of its varsity players in the game.

“We just kind of made mental mistakes at the wrong time and good teams will take advantage of that,” Rosemeyer said. “They do have a rhyme and reason to what they do offensively. I thought we did a good job early on against them. You still have to be disciplined against them. They’re not a bad team. They’re young, they’re not real physical but there’s a rhyme and reason to what they do.”

The Pirates never touched the football in the running-clock third quarter. Port Edwards recovered an onside kick and drove the ball to Gilman’s 18 before the drive stalled on downs. On Gilman’s first offensive snap of the half, Kroeplin completed his only pass of the game.

“It was a play we were going to run at the start of the second half, thinking we were going to get the ball,” Rosemeyer said. “It turned out to be an 82-yard touchdown pass to Branden Ustianowski just on a little crossing pattern. It was a 7-yard throw that turned into an 82-yard run.”

Offensively, Gilman finished with 488 yards of total offense. Rosemeyer said the team’s blocking was outstanding.

“Bryson Keepers is playing a little more running back right now because Grady is playing quarterback, so Caleb Marion has stepped in and done a great job at tight end getting those blocks,” Rosemeyer said. “He and Branden did a nice job at tight end. Casey Grunseth stepped in and did some good stuff at tight end too. Zack Marion, Braeden Person and Bryce Chovan did a good job on the line. Nate Bertsinger and Dalton Wisocky were part of some drives too. We didn’t sub at running back much, but we subbed some linemen to get them against their first teamers and they did a nice job.”

Keepers finished with 178 yards rushing and four touchdowns on just eight carries. Duellman added 77 yards on nine attempts and Kroeplin had 72 yards on just five carries.

Port Edwards finished with 197 total yards, including 105 through the air and the arm of Beck, its freshman quarterback. Tranel had five catches for 62 yards. Keepers led Gilman with six tackles. Kroeplin had five.

While the Pirates have been dominant in their first two games and will be heavily favored in this Friday’s Central Wisconsin Conference crossover game at Bowler-Gresham, Rosemeyer said there is still plenty to work on.

“One big negative was our kickoff team wasn’t very strong,” he said. “Port Edwards started two drives on our side of the field. They didn’t go very far. But our kickoff team didn’t tackle very well or stay in their lane, so they started two drives on our side of the field. That’s something we have to get shaped up. Our kickoff team has been pretty good last year and this year, but not that night. Against good teams, that’s going to hurt you.

“We did have 70 yards in penalties, including three pass interference penalties. So there are still things to correct.”