Balanced offensive attack in Gilman’s fourth straight win

Grady Kroeplin had a big night carrying the football, while Julian Krizan picked apart New Auburn’s defense throwing the ball in Gilman’s 44-6 win over the visiting Trojans Friday.

Kroeplin ran for 146 yards on just nine carries and scored three touchdowns and added a receiving touchdown, while Krizan was eight of 10 through the air for 126 yards and two scores as the Pirates built a 38-0 halftime lead and improved to 4-0 overall.

Friday’s matchup was the Central Wisconsin West Conference opener for both teams. New Auburn fell to 0-1, 1-2 but gave the Pirates the most resistance they’ve seen in the first half of the season.

“We knew they were going to be more physical than anybody we saw before them offensively and defensively,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “That was something we needed to see. I thought the kids responded well. We know our competition will get better as the year goes on. This was the start of it.”

While New Auburn was the most physical team Gilman has seen in four games, the Pirates were still able to score five first-half touchdowns despite the first unit losing its first fumble of the season in the early going.

The Pirates capped their opening drive with a 6-yard scoring run by Troy Duellman and the two-point conversion run by Krizan to go up 8-0 with 5:50 left in the opening quarter. New Auburn gambled by going for it on fourth down in its own territory and lost when Gilman stopped the Trojans. The Pirates lost their fumble on the next snap but got another stop and turned their next drive into points. Krizan hit Branden Ustianowski with a 19-yard touchdown pass and Duellman added the two-point run for a 16-0 lead with 1:01 left in the quarter.

New Auburn picked up a couple of first downs on its next drive but the drive eventually stalled and Gilman put the game away with a four-minute scoring blitz late in the second half.

Kroeplin got it started with a 41-yard touchdown run at the 5:50 mark that made it 22-0. He scored again from 19 yards out with Duellman converting the two-point try for a 30-0 lead at 3:30. Kroeplin’s 14-yard touchdown reception and Krizan’s two-point run with 1:58 left assured the Pirates of starting the second half with a running clock. Ustianowski set up one of the late touchdowns in the half with a 36-yard punt return.

“Grady had a good night running the ball,” Rosemeyer said. “The middle trap worked well. We were able to get to their secondary and their secondary is their young area and they had trouble tackling back there. They’re pretty good on the front six. They have five seniors and a junior in their three-man front. So it was good that we were still able to run the ball effectively. I thought we executed our passing game well but that was kind of their weakness.

“It was a good combination where we have good receivers, Julian threw some good balls and when you don’t drop it, that’s a good thing,” he added. “The throws were on target and we made plays.”

Gilman stretched the lead to 44-0 on a 27-yard run by Kroeplin early in the third quarter.

New Auburn was the first team to surpass 100 rushing yards against Gilman’s defense in 2021. The Trojans finished with 132 yards on 43 attempts, led by Matt Elmhorst’s 68 yards on 15 carries. New Auburn ran for 555 yards in its previous game against Marion-Tigerton.

“They had a good running game last week, but we were able to slow them down a little bit,” Rosemeyer said. “They still had 130 yards. Nothing changes with them. They come right at you. They had some success with a counter play. They ran it a little differently than we expected them to run it. They ran it inside rather than going wide. Our kids read it better as the game went on and didn’t overpur- sue on it. They completed two passes that were well-executed on their part. We had guys in position but they just made a play.”

Those two passes Rosemeyer spoke of were the only completions of the night for Trojan quarterback Ethan Lotts in four attempts. Both completions went to Braden Johnson and gained 55 yards. Triton Robey scored New Auburn’s touchdown on a 3-yard run in the fourth quarter.

Along with his rushing exploits, Kroeplin completed a pass for 7 yards. Ustianowski led Gilman’s receivers with three catches for 82 yards, while Bryson Keepers caught three passes for 52 yards.

The Pirates, who kept their hold on the number-one spot in the state’s eightplayer rankings this week, will travel to Bruce for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday. The Red Raiders were forced to cancel their last two games due to health protocols, but are ready to go this week. They lost their first two games to second-ranked Newman Catholic 48-8 and Marion-Tigerton 48-28.