Raiders put final touch on title; look to recharge for post-season

MEDFORD BOYS SOCCER

Thursday night was expected to be a night of celebration for the Medford Raiders and they made sure that’s what it was in a 13-0 drubbing of last-place Antigo at Raider Field.

On the first bone-chilling cold night of the fall, the Raiders warmed things up by getting several players involved while shredding the Red Robins’ defense for nine first-half goals, the first five of which came in a 10-minute span.

The win put the finishing touch on Medford’s journey to an outright Great Northern Conference championship, the first in the program’s 13-year history. The 2019 Raiders shared the title with Northland Pines. Thursday’s margin of victory was also a school record, surpassing 12-0 wins recorded over Altoona-Fall Creek in 2019 and Antigo in 2015.

The Raiders had clinched a title share two nights earlier and while it was a foregone conclusion they would clinch the title Thursday against an overmatched Antigo squad, there was nothing sloppy about how they did it.

“The message before the game started was let’s play as a team,” head coach Nathan Bilodeau said. “It’s a team we know we can beat but let’s do it the right way. Let’s play Medford soccer. If you look at the stats sheet, there were goals and assists across the board. It wasn’t 13 goals and Zach Rudolph got 12 of them.”

Rudolph did score five goals as he strengthened his credentials for consideration as the GNC’s Offensive Player of the Year. Silas Wipf and Naut van Meurs, the team’s foreign exchange student from Norway, both had hat tricks while playing limited minutes and nursing injuries.

But even more impressive were the 11 assists the Raiders had in their scorebook, including four from Adyn Gripentrog.

Once the Raiders broke the seal with their first goal from Wipf at the 12:58 mark, their passing was on point as they weaved their way through Antigo’s de-fense, whether it was through the middle of the field or the pressure came from the wings on the outside.

“Some of the guys that we’ve wanted to step up during the season like Adyn Gripentrog, phenomenal job tonight, and Nick Kowalski, phenomenal job tonight,” Bilodeau said. “They got assists. They got goals. It was great to see guys wanting to win. It’s a big momentum game for us to win, obviously clinching the title on our own and then taking that momentum into next week and into the playoffs.

“Even Silas said this felt better that we all got involved, we all played and we won how we wanted to win. There is no disappointment.”

After Wipf’s opening goal, Rudolph got his first one at 15:02 on a beautiful pass from Kowalksi. Gripentrog centered a pass for van Meurs, who didn’t miss at 21:23. Just 25 seconds later, Rudolph threaded the needle on a pass to Wipf, who came right down the middle of the field to beat Antigo keeper Logan Griese and make it 4-0. Gripentrog assisted on Wipf’s third goal at 22:59.

Rudolph scored twice in a row at 29:52 and 32:58 to make it 7-0. Yonatan “Jimmy” Murillo Aguirre assisted on the second one.

Griese denied Murillo Aguirre on a penalty kick at 34:35, but just 2:03 later Murillo Aguirre got a point-blank tap- 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.”

The Medford Raiders left little doubt they are the number-one team in Great Northern Conference boys soccer Thursday night, clinching the outright championship with a 13-0 win over Antigo at Raider Field. The Raiders are unbeaten in nine conference outings and 11-1-3 overall. Medford hosts Northland Pines tonight, Thursday, to wrap up the regular season.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Rib Lake-Prentice defensive back Dominic Quednow intercepts a second-quarter pass intended for John Davis (3) during the Hawks’ 26-0 homecoming loss to Kingdom Prep Lutheran Friday evening. Jonas Staroba also defends on the play.EMILY GOJMERAC/THE STAR NEWS