GILMAN 43, OWEN-WITHEE 0 - Big plays, shutdown defense carry Gilman to blowout first win
The defense was dominant most of the night and got a touchdown, Tony Syryczuk scored long touchdowns on his first two carries and the Gilman Pirates ran away with a 43-0 win over visiting Owen-Withee Friday in a key week-one matchup in the North Central East Conference.
The Pirates ran out to a 30-0 halftime lead over the Blackhawks, who are coming off the 2024 WIAA eight-player state championship, but are working on reloading with a roster of 18 players that includes 10 freshmen.
The highlight for Gilman was the performance of its defense, which limited Owen-Withee to 104 total yards and limited the Blackhawks to four first-half first downs, two of which came after the Pirates already led by 30.
“Defensively when you can hold Owen-Withee to 65 yards rushing it’s is an accomplishment,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “I thought our defensive line kind of dominated their offensive line. We were really good with our slants. We didn’t get much penetration but we played well laterally, which was the game plan to not give them running rallies. There were a lot of plays that were 3 yards or less and that was kind of a goal for us.”
Offensively, Gilman’s coaches had mixed reviews. The Pirates got big plays to either score directly or set up most of their points, but sustaining drives was more of a struggle than the final score might indicate.
“I think it was a case of two teams that know each other well,” Rosemeyer said. “They did some things differently than what we were expecting on the inside. It was a struggle moving the ball on the ground. We got the two good pitch plays early on, got the touchdowns from Tony. We were able to get a couple of pass plays that helped us, with some rushing. We need to be better inside the tackles, but I give them credit for stopping us. They were pretty good on defense against the run. It gave us some things with the pass. We only completed four but they were pretty good chunk plays.”
Syryczuk’s touchdowns both came on pitches to the outside. The first one to the right was a 53-yarder on Gilman’s second offensive snap. The second went to the left, also on the second snap of the Pirates’ second series and covered 52 yards. He had 105 yards on those carries and finished with 102 on five attempts.
“We got the tight end hook, the fullback kickout and the frontside guard through,” Rosemeyer said. “If we got those three guys to get good blocks, something good is going to happen and that’s exactly what happened. With Tony’s speed he was able to beat the safety after that. Everybody did well executing at the point of attack. In eight-man football sometimes if you block three guys at the point of attack, you’re in good shape.”
The early scores gave Gilman a 16-0 lead and two more touchdowns broke it open in the second quarter. James Wojcik’s 48-yard punt spun back perfectly and was downed at Owen-Withee’s 1-yard line. On the next play, defensive end Kolby Keepers crashed in from the right side of Gilman’s defense forced Clay Mueller to fumble and Taydyn Angell recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown. Keepers, in his first game since 2023, had a big night, getting credit for 11 tackles.
“Our nose guard Dawson Robinson did a great job with his gap control and Andy Copenhaver did the same,” Rosemeyer said. “Our defensive ends did a really good job of chasing down backside guards, taking care of the B gap and causing some problems.
“(On the touchdown) Kolby was able to beat the tight end to the inside the way the slant was going,” Rosemeyer added. “He’s quick but’s also strong and he’s hard to block for a small-school tight end. Our linebackers were there to scrape and cover things up. It was a pretty good team effort all the way around defensively.”
Gilman got a fourth-down stop on Owen-Withee’s 47 and turned it into another touchdown. A 13-yard completion from Logan Halida to Cooper Krug and a 23yard screen to Sawyer Winger set up Halida’s 4-yard scoring run with 3:13 left in the first half. The Blackhawks then put together their only real scoring threat with two pass completions, but Krug’s interception at the 12 ended that with 38 seconds left.
A 43-yard bomb from Halida to Winger set up a wellplaced 18-yard touchdown toss from Logan Halida to Lucas Halida at the back line of the end zone to push the lead to 37-0 and kick in the running clock with 8:46 left in the third quarter. Alex Copenhaver’s 4-yard touchdown run capped Gilman’s most sustained drive, a 10-play, 53-yard march, with 4:22 left.
Logan Halida was four for seven in passing for 97 yards. Winger caught two passes for 66 yards. The Pirates had 212 yards rushing. Lucas Halida had 29 yards on three carries and Trevin Duellman had 28 yards on six carries in the second half.
Next up this Friday for Gilman is the second of three straight homes. Rib Lake is the non-conference opponent this week. This will be Rib Lake’s first game of the season.
The teams met last year with the Pirates winning 38-6.
