GILMAN 52, THORP 0 - Big second quarter breaks it open for Pirates at Thorp

There was no letdown Friday for the Gilman Pirates after their big win over McDonell Central a week earlier as they scored touchdowns on their first six offensive possessions and got a defensive score in a 52-0 win at Thorp.

The top-ranked Pirates bent a bit on defense, allowing 180 passing yards, but they absolutely shut down any thoughts the Cardinals had of running the ball and they churned out 349 rushing yards of their own, averaging 10.3 yards per carry.

Quarterback Logan Halida led the offense, running for 111 yards and three scores, while his brother Lucas Halida also had a nice all-around outing, getting in on 16 tackles, scoring that defensive touchdown and adding one on the ground.

“We did put ourselves in a couple of third-down spots that we had to navigate out of,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “Fortunately, we were able to do that. We got some nice chunk plays. We got two good pass plays and we were able to run the ball pretty consistently with a couple of different kids. Logan had the big night with some longer touchdown runs. I thought we kind of owned the line of scrimmage, minus a few plays, and we were able to get some nice, decent chunk plays.”

Thorp’s freshman quarterback Avery Girard completed 18 of 29 passes, but the longest gain was just 18 yards. He completed five of those passes on the Cardinals’ opening drive, which eventually stalled after three first downs on Gilman’s 23-yard line.

The Pirates quickly went the other way, going 77 yards on five plays. Logan Halida took a quarterback keeper to the right side to the house from 40 yards out. Tony Syryczuk took in the two-point conversion and Gilman was off and running with an 8-0 lead with 4:25 left in the first quarter.

A tackle for loss from Andy Copenhaver and a stop on a fake punt carried out by Thorp’s Chason Philson gave Gilman a short 40-yard drive that ended with Logan Halida’s 16-yard touchdown pass to Sawyer Winger.

Thorp again put together a solid drive after that, but it ended with a fourth-down sack by Syryczuk and Alex Copenhaver. Thorp never really threatened to score again after that.

“Defensively they converted some big third downs early in the game,” Rosemeyer said. “Part of it was we weren’t hitting the guy off the line of scrimmage as well as we had to. We were supposed to chuck their slot guy and sometimes we just didn’t get a good piece of him and he got deep into the route. That just created more confusion with who we had on a couple of plays.

“Their pass game is basically a long handoff,” he added. “They’re going for those short, quick passes. They completed a number of 4- and 5-yarders. They still ended up with 180 yards passing, but it was nothing really big. We got pressure on the quarterback, we got four sacks on the night. There were just enough incompletions to stop them. We were able to control their run game with basically four guys in the box.”

Gilman turned that stop into a 75-yard scoring drive that started a 30-point second-quarter barrage. On the eighth play of the drive, Logan Halida took a shotgun snap and shot through a big hole untouched on the left side of the line for a 47-yard score that made it 24-0 with 5:07 left in the half.

“That was a little counter for him where we fake the handoff and he cuts back against the grain with the guard (Dawson Grunseth) and tight end (Winger),” Rosemeyer said. “We had a good seal from the playside guys and a pulling guard (Taydyn Angell) and the backside tight end (Cooper Krug) did a good job. Logan got through the hole quick and they got their blocks. It was a nice team play.”

Alex Copenhaver tackled Philson for a 6-yard loss on a fumbled punt snap to set the Pirates up on Thorp’s 31. A 21-yard pass to Krug and a 10-yard touchdown run by Kolby Keepers made it 32-0. Winger’s 17-yard punt return set the Pirates up on Thorp’s 38 and Logan Halida scored on a 10-yard run five plays later to make it 390.

Then Lucas Halida made it 46-0 stepping in front of a Girard pass in the left flat and taking it 46 yards to the end zone.

“He was sitting in his flats,” Rosemeyer said. “He kinda read it, took two steps to the ball and it was thrown right at him. He finished it off with a nice runback.”

Lucas Halida’s 31-yard run set up his 8yard touchdown run that finished the scoring with 8:06 left in the third quarter.

Logan Halida got his 111 yards on just seven carries. Keepers had 51 yards in five carries, Trevin Duellman had 50 yards on five second-half carries and Lucas Halida and Syryczuk both ended up with 49 rushing yards. Lucas Halida’s defensive helped fill the void left by Henry Syryczuk, who sat this one out with an injury. Tony Syryczuk had nine tackles and a sack.

Gilman aims to clinch at least a share of the North Central East Conference championship with a homecoming win this Friday over Alma Center Lincoln. The Pirates then wrap up the regular season Oct. 10 at Lake Holcombe.

This week’s unofficial playoff matrix rankings have Gilman fourth in the state and sitting as a one-seed, one spot ahead of McDonell. Oakfield, Flambeau and Lena-St. Thomas Aquinas are the top three teams and other hypothetical one seeds with two weeks to go.