GILMAN 49, RIB LAKE 0 - Big plays, shutdown defense carry Gilman to blowout first win

The Gilman Pirates pounced on a Rib Lake team that was in its first football competition of the season Friday, scoring on their first four possessions to set the tone in their 49-0 non-conference home win.

Logan Halida, Lucas Halida and Tony Syryczuk scored two touchdowns apiece for the Pirates, who ran for 419 yards and barely needed to go to the passing game while improving to 2-0 with their second straight shutout win.

“We were happy we were able to run the ball as well as we did,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “We only completed the one pass. We didn’t have to throw much but completed the one pass for a big first down on third and eight. We controlled their run game, which was good. There was one series where they moved the ball well and got a few first downs at the end of the first half. We were fortunate to get a fumble in the end zone.”

For Rib Lake, whose season got off to a delayed start that forced a week-one forfeit to Hurley, the opening assignment against one of the state’s top eight-player teams was humbling at times, but also could serve as a good starting point to build from.

“When you never have a scrimmage or a week-one game it’s really tough to go up against a team like that,” Rib Lake head coach Austin Edwards said after his debut in that position. “I think a lot of the mistakes that we were making are pretty correctable mistakes. It was tough. They’re bigger, stronger, faster than us. They’re clearly one of the best teams in the state. But I don’t think we’re 49 points worse than them.”

Gilman’s defense forced a three-andout to start the game and the offense hit the Redmen with four chunk plays to put the first six points on the board. Quarterback Logan Halida ran for 16 yards, Kolby Keepers plowed up the middle for 13, Tony Syryczuk got another first down with a 10-yard run and Logan Halida capped the 68-yard drive with a 29-yard touchdown run, rolling to his left and scoring untouched behind blocks from Keepers and Taydyn Angell.

Rib Lake got two first downs on its second possession but eventually had to punt. Slade Scheithauer’s kick was downed at the 12, but a 37-yard run by Syryczuk quickly flipped the field position. A seven-play drive ended with another Logan Halida touchdown run, this one on a run to the right from 20 yards out to make it 12-0 with 25 seconds left in the opening quarter.

“On the boot keeps, we got a good seal from our tight ends and our guards were able to get out,” Rosemeyer said. “Whether it was Taydyn, Dawson Grunseth or Henry Syryczuk, they did a good job getting out there and getting the finishing blocks.”

A bad punt snap led to an 18-yard loss that set the Pirates up at Rib Lake’s 9-yard line and Syryczuk scored on the next play for a 20-0 lead early in the second quarter. The Pirates went 67 yards on seven plays on their fourth drive, overcoming a penalty and scoring on Syryczuk’s 4-yard run. The two-point pass from Halida to Cooper Krug made it 28-0 with 6:56 still left in the first half. The drive included Gilman’s only pass, a 15-yard completion to Krug, and a 24-yard run by Syryczuk, who led Gilman with 126 yards on 11 carries.

Rib Lake ended the half with a solid stretch of football. The Redmen put together a nice drive, including Talon Scheithauer’s 11-yard gain on a fake punt that picked up a first down and another 18-yard gain from him. Two runs by Slade Scheithauer gave Rib Lake a first down at Gilman’s 13. Talon Scheithauer then found Ty Niemi open for a short pass that got to the one, but Sawyer Winger’s hit jarred the ball loose and Logan Halida recovered the fumble in the end zone for a touchback.

Rib Lake’s defense got its first stop of the game and season with Briley Leonhard and Grant Beard stopping Logan Halida for no gain on third and 10. The offense then drove into Gilman territory again with a leaping, contested 28-yard catch by receiver Josiah Mann, but the drive stalled on downs at the Pirates’ 20 with 17 seconds left.

“We had some opportunities,” Edwards said. “We fumbled on the 1-yard line. We had a lot of missed tackles. Those are things that you iron out as the season goes on.

“I’m not ashamed of the effort. We didn’t come out flat. The kids were ready to play. It’s just a tough game. Down the road, if we were to see them again, we’d give them a good game. It’s just a tough starting point especially with a brand-new system that our kids are learning.”

“That was big,” Rosemeyer said of the turnover near the goal line. “It was 28-0 at the time. They would’ve closed the gap to three touchdowns. It was a change in momentum before halftime.”

Gilman got a 54-yard touchdown run by Syryczuk on the first play of the second half, but it was nullified by a holding penalty. Still, Gilman overcome that thanks to a 30-yard run by Logan Halida and scored on Keepers’ 1-yard touchdown run. The two-point pass to Keepers made it 36-0 and kicked in the running clock with 9:08 left in the third quarter.

Backup quarterback Beau Pockat had two sizable runs to set up Lucas Halida’s 4-yard touchdown run with 11:17 left. Lucas Halida broke a couple of tackles and ran away from the Redmen’s worn-out defense for a 71-yard scoring sprint down the left sidelines with 1:36 left.

Logan Halida finished with 103 yards on eight carries and Lucas Halida did most of Gilman’s second-half damage and had 95 yards on six carries.

Rib Lake managed to get to 95 yards rushing against Gilman’s defense, but it took 43 attempts. Talon Scheithauer had 53 yards on 19 carries, while Slade Scheithauer had 29 yards on 15 carries. Talon Scheithauer completed five of 12 passes for 57 yards. Beard had two catches for 15 yards.

The Redmen got 10 first downs, but weren’t able to string enough together to find the end zone.

“Most of their drives were two or three plays, a missed tackle and then a touchdown,” Edwards said. “There were plays where we just missed our read key. We didn’t see the pulling guard so we didn’t get anybody out there or we didn’t see the counter step by the running back. A lot of correctable errors that we were able to watch on film. I think there’s a benefit to playing a team that good in the first game of the season because you’re able to see where your biggest flaws are and you’ll be able to start closing the gap.”

Henry Syryczuk, who was injured and lost for the season in last year’s opener at Rib Lake, led Gilman with 15 total tackles. Winger had eight and Krug had seven. Rosemeyer said the teams did exchange some information beforehand, but for to some extent, the Pirates went into this one blind and adjusted well.

“They are a little more athletic than Owen-Withee was,” he said. “You could tell they haven’t practiced a lot of stuff yet. This was kind of their scrimmage. They’ll get better as the year goes on. It all starts with Talon Scheithauer. He’s a good football player.

“We shared a little bit with formations, but you still don’t know what plays they’re running, Rosemeyer added. “We made some minor adjustments with some quick pitches and things like that that we hadn’t seen or were expecting. For the most part, it was just some minor adjustments on some leverage things and where they wanted to go with the football, but I thought our kids handled it well.”

Rib Lake heads to Park Falls tonight, Thursday, for a 7 p.m. Northwoods East Conference matchup with the 1-1 Chequamegon Co-op. Gilman hosts 1-1 Frederic in a North Central Conference crossover game Friday at 7 p.m.