in on a shot by ….

in on a shot by Rudolph. Rudolph got his fourth goal at 37:43 to give Medford a monstrous 9-0 halftime lead.

Needing to play 20 more minutes in the second half to reach the 60-minute, eight-goal mercy rule requirement, the Raiders kept attacking.

Right off the opening kick of the second half, Medford got sophomore Grant Neubauer free for his first varsity goal just 17 seconds in. Rudolph put away a breakaway shot at 49:48, van Meurs poked in a rebound off a Gripentrog shot at 51:29 and Gripentrog assisted on van Meurs’ third goal at 56:47.

Kowalski, Rudolph and Murillo Aguirre had two assists in the win. Vincent Siedel added one.

Medford improved to 9-0 in the GNC and pushed its point total to 25, seven ahead of Rhinelander and Lakeland. The Raiders, who are 11-1-3 overall, will try to complete their undefeated run through conference play tonight, Thursday, when they host Northland Pines at 7 p.m.

Over the weekend, Medford, as expected, drew the number-one seed in its half of the WIAA Division 3 sectional bracket, which means the Raiders will open post-season play Oct. 20 at home against either ninth-seeded Merrill or eighthseeded Antigo.

“We’re actually taking Friday and Monday off,” Bilodeau said after Thursday’s win. “We have guys that are banged up. Naut got limited minutes, Silas got limited minutes, (Aaron) Schield and Kowalski a little bit. Let’s just take the time, we have the opportunity to, and rest up. We have a game on Thursday that doesn’t mean a whole heck of a lot and then we’re likely to get the one-seed so then we’ll have another week to rest up. Let’s not get lazy, but let’s just recover. Let our bodies heal and be at full strength.”