A homecoming rout over Hodags

MEDFORD 66, RHINELANDER 0

Playing an undermanned and wounded opponent in their homecoming game Friday, the Medford Raiders scored on every possession and cruised to a 66-0 win over the Rhinelander Hodags to remain unbeaten in Great Northern Conference play. Peyton Gilles ran for 136 yards on just eight carries and two scores, while quarterback Logan Baumgartner ran for 79 yards and two touchdowns on his only carries of the game and also threw for two more scores as the Raiders scored 54 points in the first half for the second straight week.

“The kids did well,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “We scored on every drive, we never punted once. That’s a pretty good night of offensive football.”

Defensively, Medford allowed 116 total yards, including just 27 on the ground. The Hodags got 89 yards in the passing game, but the Raiders never allowed anything big with Rhinelander’s longest completion being a 26-yard play in the second half. That drive ended in a fumble against Medford’s reserves which was recovered by Hank Crass. The defense also got a first-half interception from Landen Viergutz.

“I think we clamped down a little bit,” Wilson said. “From watching the film, our d-backs got themselves into a little bit of a conundrum by playing at the same level. It’s something we talk about quite a bit. We have to be at different levels. That’s pretty much what happened on the completions where they got most of their yards.”

Gilles found holes on the edges most of the night and hit them hard. He had a 55-yard scoring run nullified on the third offensive snap of the game, but two plays later he scored from 38 yards on a run off right tackle. He added a 27-yard scoring run off left tackle 37 seconds before halftime.

A first-year starter, Gilles has taken noticeable strides since the start of the season.

“With all of our running backs, especially coming out of the younger years when a kid is maybe faster than everyone else or a little more physical than everyone else, you have to kind of get them to run the ball like they need to run on Friday nights,” Wilson said. “It takes a little bit of time for kids to understand that you’re not going to be able to just run straight to the sidelines and up the sidelines. As the years progress, Peyton’s done a good job of taking the coaching on how we want them to run and how our blocking scheme works and he’s gotten better week by week.”

Baumgartner, the homecoming king, was Medford’s top playmaker in the middle of the first half. First, he waited as long as he could in the pocket before launching a throw down the left sideline that Tucker Kraemer ran under for a 42-yard score that made it 16-0 with 4:53 left in the first quarter. The offensive line gave him a huge hole that he ran through untouched for a 49-yard touchdown with 3:08 left that made it 24-0. After the Hodags (1-4 GNC, 1-6 overall) misfired on a wide-open pass on a fake punt that would’ve gotten them a first down, Medford needed just three plays to go 44 yards for a score early in the second quarter. Baumgartner got the last 30, scrambling out of the pocket, making two guys miss and then sprinting to the end zone to open up a 30-0 lead.

After a 9-yard touchdown run by Tukker Schreiner, Medford got a fourthdown stop and drove 39 yards for another touchdown. That came when Baumgartner, moving to his left, threw a perfect low strike to Charlie Kleist at the pylon for a 15-yard touchdown that made it 46-0 with 3:48 left in the half.

“The scramble he turned into a touchdown was a very athletic play,” Wilson said. “He had a couple of really tough throws. The one he got hit and still got it off to Tucker, that was a good throw. What I would consider his best throw of the night was into the corner of the end zone to Charlie, who was well covered. He put it low where only Charlie would be able to catch it. That was a great job.”

The big question of the second half was could the reserves maintain the shutout. They did with Crass recovering the fumble, forcing a punt and then getting a sack from Jude Stark on the final play.

Offensively, senior Itsael Medina ran for 49 yards on eight carries after halftime and scored on a pair of 5-yard touchdown runs.

The win sets up a Great Northern Conference championship showdown Friday between the Raiders and host Mosinee, both of whom come in at 5-0 in league play. Medford is now 6-1 overall, while Mosinee is 5-1-1.