Momentum gained in second quarter carries Raiders to win over Jays
MEDFORD 30, MERRILL 12
While another injury was something the Medford Raiders could least afford, they fought their way through it Friday and finished the regular season with a solid 30-12 Great Northern Conference win at Merrill.
The victory secured third place in the final GNC standings for the Raiders, who finished 5-2 in league play and 5-4 overall heading into a daunting WIAA Division 3 Level 1 challenge this Friday at Rice Lake.
Senior Jake Seifert was the latest key player to go down, injuring his knee while Medford was on defense on the second play from scrimmage. While that wasn’t ideal for the defense, his loss was felt more on offense, where the Raiders had to scramble to find a new center as backup Will Haavisto was already not suited up due to injury.
After a rough first quarter with some snapping miscues, the Raiders got a solid emergency effort from sophomore Logan Kawa and eventually took over behind a punishing rushing attack that piled up 365 yards on the ground and scored on four of five possessions midway through the game.
“I thought for being a sophomore and kind of being thrown into the wolves there, he did pretty well,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said of Kawa. “He had a few rough snaps at some points. But overall, honestly, I thought he played pretty well. It’s very difficult. We ask a lot out of our centers. It was a tough spot to be in, especially with having Will on the sidelines.
“After we got through our rough spot there, we did pretty well,” Wilson added. “We had 24 rushes for 189 yards in the second quarter. Then we added another 14 points in the third quarter. After starting negative-2 overall in the first quarter, we rushed for 365 yards for the game, so that’s pretty good. Offensively the production was pretty good once we settled in.”
Merrill’s first touchdown came after a high snap was recovered by the Blue Jays at Medford’s 13-yard line. Quarterback Brian Ball hit Bailey Turenne for 14 yards on a key third-and-13 conversion and scored from a yard out two plays later to give Merrill a 6-0 lead one play into the second quarter.
A penalty on the ensuing kickoff pinned Medford on its 8-yard line, but the offensive line and backs settled in and went on an 11-play, 92-yard scoring drive to take the lead for good. Aiden Gardner, who clinched the GNC’s 2021 rushing title with 212 yards in the game, had runs of 23 and 11 on the drive, Caleb Guden ran for 13 and Tukker Schreiner closed it out with a 4-yard scoring run. Gardner ran in the two-point conversion to give Medford an 8-6 lead.
The defense forced a quick punt and the offense did its thing again, marching 67 yards in nine plays. A 10-yard run by Gardner aided by a personal foul on Merrill was the key play in the drive, which ended on a 9-yard blast for a touchdown by Guden and Schreiner’s two-point conversion that made it 16-6.
Wilson said Medford’s response to Merrill’s first score was crucial.
“It’s good to get that momentum going back your way,” he said. “That’s a part of the game that can be an issue sometimes –– momentum swings and sudden changes. That was probably the worst start we can think of having. Luckily they only got one touchdown out of it.”
Merrill answered the Guden touchdown with its only lengthy drive of the night. It lasted just three plays, but a 20-yard run by Bell and his 49-yard touchdown pass to Turenne covered all 69 yards. Bell’s two-point run failed. Turenne came out of the backfield and his route took him down the middle of the field and it took a perfect throw from Bell to complete the pass.
“I thought the defense played very well,” Wilson said. “I had them giving up 54 rushing yards, 19 in the first half, and 113 passing yards, of which 49 came on one play. The kids played well. Even on that pass, Alex Dittrich had pretty decent coverage. The quarterback made a really nice throw and the running back made a nice catch. Those types of things are going to happen sometimes.”
Ty Metz sprinted 42 yards on a quarterback draw to give the Raiders a shot at the end zone in the final seconds of the half, but his last-play pass was intercepted.
The Raiders though, with all of the offensive momentum, weren’t denied in the third quarter.
A couple of chunk runs by Gardner set up his 2-yard score and two-point run that opened up a 24-12 lead. After a three-and-out forced by the defense, the Raiders went 67 yards on nine plays, including a 30-yard burst by Gardner, and scored on Gardner’s 5-yard run.
The teams traded six fourth-down stops over the last 14 minutes. Merrill finished 2-5 in league play and 2-7 overall.
Gardner’s 212 yards on 29 carries gave him 1,540 yards for the season and he’s rushed for 15 touchdowns. Of those yards, 1,423 came in GNC play, putting him 40 yards ahead of Rhinelander’s Cayden Neri on the rushing leaderboard.
Guden added 67 yards on 11 carries and Schreiner had 46 yards on 13 attempts. Guden had Medford’s only pass reception. It went for 11 yards.
The Raiders now begin the post-season in the same place the regular season started. Rice Lake won that matchup 28-6 and went on to finish 7-2 overall and shared the Big Rivers Conference title with Menomonie at 6-1.
“They’re tough, but we’ve gotten a lot better,” Wilson said. “Going forward, we’ll just try to go out there and execute and keep the ball away from them. We have to make sure we don’t turn it over. There was room to run earlier this fall. We’ve definitely gotten better on our offensive and defensive lines. That’ll come into play on Friday.”
