RIB LAKE FOOTBALL PREVIEW - After early turmoil, it’s finally time for Redmen to play football

The kickoff to the 2025 football season is coming better late than never –– and with a huge opening test –– for the Rib Lake Redmen. A tumultuous first few weeks for the Redmen have included starting their second eight-player season with just 12 players and dropping to 10 at one point which put their season on pause for what was supposed to be the second week of practice. After some recruiting and regrouping, the Redmen restarted their season last week with 14 players and a new head coach as Austin Edwards, who will start his third year leading Rib Lake’s girls basketball team this winter, has taken over the lead role after the abrupt resignation of Jonah Campbell. All of that did not happen in time for Rib Lake to be able to play its first game, so the Redmen forfeited last Thursday’s Northwoods East Conference opener to Hurley. With the first game now set for Friday at Gilman, the Redmen hope to finally settle into the routine of a football season and find a way to continue building their program after a successful 5-3 eightplayer debut in 2024. “I would say the kids were pretty mature with the whole fallout of things,” Edwards said Tuesday. The coaching staff going forward also includes Jimmy Cook, who will coordinate Rib Lake’s defense and Jim Dobbs will run the offense. “They took a week off. After that week off, they came back. We had a meeting with parents where we just kind of laid out everything that was happening. We told everybody this was how it was going to be moving forward. “Myself I’m not necessarily a football guy in terms of experience, but I love the game and I’m going to do everything I can to not only put a staff together that will be able to help them with the x’s and o’s, but I will use my ability to hopefully put a little life into the program. It’s what I’ve tried to display in the girls basketball program. Hopefully we can do the same thing with the football team. Not that it’s a finished product either with girls basketball. We’re just trying to make the best of it and trying to instill a winning culture and a positive culture to make sure the football program can not only stay alive, but thrive in the future.” Rib Lake’s 14-man roster still is thin on depth, but the coaches are upbeat about the athletic ability it features. With luck and strategic planning with snap counts, the coaches and players are optimistic the Redmen can remain competitive in the seven regular-season games that remain. It is no secret, however, that the first one Friday will be tough. Gilman beat Rib Lake 38-6 in last year’s season opener and, again, is viewed by most eight-player football followers not only as a contender in its conference, the North Central East, but a contender to do some damage in the WIAA post-season as well. Gilman kicked off its season Friday with a 43-0 win over Owen-Withee. “We’re going into week two with a deck kinda stacked against us,” Edwards said. “We’re going up against a really, really, really good Gilman team with a new system, a new offense. I don’t know how that’s going to go. I do think we’ll be a competitive team this year. I will say the learning is important for everybody. A slow start, if we do happen to fall upon a slow start, is not going to define our season because we are getting better every day. I think we have a lot of studs on our team and I’ll take my studs over a lot of teams’ studs every day of the week.” Dobbs, a one-time assistant at Rib Lake before he was the head coach at Athens for several years, oversees an offense that will be led by senior quarterback Talon Scheithauer, a first-team all-conference selection a year ago. A dual threat as a runner and passer, Scheithauer rushed for 899 yards on 6.5 yards per carry last fall and scored 16 touchdowns. He threw for an additional 362 yards and six touchdowns with just four interceptions while completing 25 of 43 passes. “Talon is the heart and soul of the offense in terms of our success on the ground and through the air being in the quarterback position,” Edwards said. Rib Lake also returns senior Ethan Cook at one of the guard positions. He was a second-team All-Northwoods East choice last year, both offensively and defensively. “Ethan is a very smart football player,” Edwards said. “He has one of the highest IQs on our team. He’s not only good as a guard at pulling and understanding who he’s blocking, but he has the next steps in his head. He’ll make the first initial block and then he’s already got who he’s going to be blocking down the field as well.” Sophomores Slade Scheithauer and Lucas Cook are expected to be the main running backs. Edwards said their speed should be asset, especially if they can get to the edges. Junior Brevin Brahmer is back after his sophomore season was cut short by injury. He is the other starting guard and sophomore Lawson Carlson is the center, taking over for the graduated Brady Heiser, a secondteam all-conference pick in 2024. Freshman Grant Beard brings size and strength and the ability to both block and receive at tight end and sophomores Josiah Mann and Ty Niemi hope to develop into downfield receiving threats. “I think every good passing attack starts with a good running attack,” Edwards said. “You can’t really be an effective passing team without running. I think everything we do starts on the ground.” Talon Scheithauer and Ethan Cook will lead the defensive unit as well as the team’s linebackers. In front of them, Brahmer and Carlson will get some snaps on the defensive line, but the Redmen hope to limit them so they can stay fresh to block on offense. Junior Briley Leonhard is being tried as unorthodox nose guard. Beard and Lucas Cook will get time at the end positions. “I think Briley is going to have a lot of success getting underneath big guys and going around them,” Edwards said. “He just has a nose for the football. It’s a see ball, get ball mentality with him. He’s always around it.” In the backfield, Slade Scheithauer returns at a cornerback spot after earning honorable mention in the conference as a freshman. Gavin Zondlo, a first-year senior in the sport has picked things up quickly and may be used in a variety of positions. Cornerback is a spot he’ll be tried at first. Mann and Niemi certainly will factor in the defensive backfield too. Filling out the roster are sophomore Kylan Bartelt, junior Zach Olson and freshman Trygve Nelson. Olson and Nelson are players being tried at different positions to see where they fit best. One of Bartelt’s roles will be as the team’s kicker. “With the numbers that we have, everybody is going to play,” Edwards said. “It depends on when and how and what role. We’re not very deep. We’re excited because the group we have we like. “Jimmy Cook has been great with implementing his defense and not changing too many things up from last year, but he’s also putting his own wrinkle on things. Jim Dobbs’ résumé speaks for itself. He’s got a quarter-century of football coaching on his résumé coaching at Athens for all those years. We’re lucky to have them on staff.” In the Northwoods East Conference, Phillips is the defending champion and would appear to be a favorite again as the Loggers bring back a handful of players who earned all-conference awards. They won their league opener 52-8 over the Chequamegon Co-op last Thursday. Hurley got second place after edging Rib Lake 18-14 in last year’s regular-season finale. The Northstars were hit a bit harder by graduation and their Hall of Fame coach Scott Erickson stepped down in the off-season. Flambeau, the Chequamegon Co-op, Athens and Prentice all finished below Rib Lake in last year’s standings. Athens opened with a 54-6 rout of Prentice Thursday. Rib Lake goes to Chequamegon next Thursday before hosting Phillips the following Thursday. “I do feel that the athletes on this team are good athletes,” Edwards said. “If you have good athletes you can do a lot with them. They’re smart kids so I know we can do a lot with them that way too.”