Homecoming games in Gilman, Prentice, Antigo
WEEK 7 FOOTBALL
Homecoming season kicks into gear this week with those festivities peaking Friday for the Gilman and Rib Lake-Prentice football programs. Medford, meanwhile, is the opponent for Antigo’s homecoming contest.
_ After cruising to their fifth straight win Friday, 52-8 at Bruce, Wisconsin’s top-ranked eight-man team, the Gilman Pirates will host Phillips Friday at 7 p.m.
The Loggers come in on an offensive roll after outscoring New Auburn 54-48 in overtime this past Friday and Alma Center Lincoln 78-38 two weeks ago. They also put 58 points on Bowler-Gresham in their second game.
The 4-1 Loggers lost 24-20 at Green- wood in their final Central Wisconsin Conference crossover game on Sept. 10.
Phillips is all about running the ball on offense with James Bruhn or Will Knaack getting the ball the vast majority of the time. And why not? Knaack has 705 yards and 15 touchdowns in five games and averages 9.8 yards per carry. Bruhn had 623 yards and 10 scores while averaging 16 yards on just 38 carries.
“They run the same stuff they did last year with a lot of handoffs with tight ends and guards pulling,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “They’ll also counter back quite well with it. So both ends of the line of scrimmage have to be stout and ready to play. Our leverage guys on the outside have to do a good job. They’ve been scoring sometimes by just being able to get outside of teams and using their speed. So our leverage guys have to stay home and keep things inside.”
While Phillips averages 46 points per game, the Pirates allow just eight points per game with the first-team defense be- ing responsible for very little of that scoring.
Gilman has punished its opponents to the tune of 50 points per game, but this could be the difference. Phillips has only really shut down one team –– Bowler-Gresham. New Auburn, who Gilman held to six points two weeks ago, had 539 yards of total offense Friday against the Loggers. Alma Center Lincoln had 480 with 388 of those yards coming in the passing game.
“They don’t really show you the same defense twice in a row,” Rosemeyer said. “As a defensive team, sometimes that’s good and bad. Maybe they’re not good at one thing, but offensively it’s hard to know just what defense they’re going to be in. Our kids have to understand what our blocking scheme is and make sure we execute it right.”
_ Rib Lake-Prentice certainly didn’t draw a cupcake for its homecoming matchup this year. The Hawks will host Hurley in Prentice at 7 p.m. on Friday. The Northstars will come in with a perfect 6-0 record, including a 4-0 mark in Lakeland Conference play.
While gaining a forfeit in the standings from Lake Holcombe-Cornell this past Friday, Hurley welcomed Edgar to its house and sent the Wildcats home with a 22-20 overtime loss, stopping a twopoint conversion to seal the win.
Under head coach Scott Erickson, Hurley relies on a power running game that no one has been able to contain yet this fall, though Webster did keep a Sept. 17 game relatively close, losing 24-14.
According to WisSports.net statistics, the Northstars’ rushing attack is led by the three-headed monster of Max Blamey (90 carries, 682 yards, 12 touchdowns), Carter Hall (44 carries, 503 yards, six touchdowns) and Derek Ransanici (51 carries, 420 yards, four touchdowns. Tony Cummings chipped in with 17 carries and 93 yards in the win over Edgar.
Any team that runs for 315 yards against Edgar, like Hurley did, is a team to respect.
“They run out of a T-formation with misdirection,” Rib Lake-Prentice head coach Jonah Campbell said. “They have really good fakes, so defensively we can’t get caught looking at backs and reading backs. We have to look at their pullers. It’s something we haven’t necessarily had the greatest success stopping. But we should know what’s coming. It’s a pretty simple offense. They only run so much out of it. They’re just really good at what they do.”
The closest conference game Hurley has played was a 24-14 win at Webster, a team that edged the Hawks 8-6 on Sept. 3. Campbell said turnovers and penalties slowed Hurley’s offense down and he hopes the Hawks can get some of those breaks too to stay in this one.
_ In Antigo, Medford will face a Red Robins squad that hasn’t been able to gain much momentum after having games in weeks one, four and five taken off the schedule due to health and safety issues. They lost a 42-28 shootout to Escanaba, Mich. in week two, gave up a 12-0 halftime lead and lost 15-12 to Merrill in week three and were blown out 42-0 by league-leading Rhinelander last week.
Antigo was credited with a forfeit win over Ashland in week four and a forfeit loss to Lakeland in week five. Ashland got its first league win Friday by blowing out Merrill 41-6.
Medford head coach Ted Wilson said Antigo hasn’t changed its plan of attack. The Robins rely heavily on the ground game and try to play a physical style of football.
“The thing about them, I think from the film I saw of them versus Merrill compared to what they did against Rhinelander, is they’re getting better,” Wilson said. “We all have to remember, I think that was only their third game this year. They went through two weeks there where they had COVID cancellations. They haven’t played that much football, so they’re going to be getting much better from week to week. I expect them to be much better than they were against Rhinelander just from that sheer fact of the more you play, you get better.”
