October 2, 2017 at 1:39 p.m.
Big games, short travel
This week's game could have big conference, postseason implications for several RHS teams
Big games, short travel
The Hodag boys' soccer team could clinch a share of its fourth straight Great Northern Conference title - and sixth in the last eight years - with a win tonight at home against Mosinee. If that doesn't happen, Northland Pines waits in the wings Thursday in Eagle River, seeking to tighten the conference race.
The Hodag volleyball team will also be in Eagle River this week, taking part in the second leg of the Great Northern Conference tournament on Saturday. It will be Rhinelander's last chance to bolster its postseason resume prior to next Monday's regional seeding meeting.
But first, the Hodag spikers will take on Tomahawk tonight in a battle of GNC rivals at the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. The same two schools will meet next door at the Heck Family Community Pool on Thursday in a battle of two remaining unbeaten girls' swim teams in the Great Northern Conference.
The Hodag cross country team, meanwhile, will preview the venue for the Oct. 14 GNC meet today when it takes part in the Northland Pines Invite in Eagle River. That meet and Saturday's Hatchet Invite in Tomahawk are Rhinelander's final tune-ups before a series of championship Saturdays begins.
Here's a closer look at the contests mentioned above:
Boys' soccer
The math is pretty simple for the RHS boys' soccer team when it comes to another Great Northern Conference title. Its magic number is down to one to clinch a share of the title, and two to win the title outright.
Rhinelander needs to win only one of its final three games to wrap up the championship, but those three games are against its three closest pursuers in the GNC.
It starts tonight at home against Mosinee (8-6-1, 4-3-0 Great Northern), which pushed Rhinelander to the brink when the teams met last month at Edgewood Park in Mosinee.
Daniel Ritchie scored the game-winning goal in the Hodags' 2-1, Sept. 7 victory. Rhinelander trailed much of the way before getting an equalizer from Jonus Sabani in the 70th minute.
"Mosinee played us real tough the first time we played them," coach Dan Millot said. "Their keeper had a phenomenal night. We also made him look good a little bit by always hitting him in the stomach with the ball. He still had a nice night. I think they were probably the toughest defense we played this year so we need to make sure we provide an extreme offensive against them."
With 10 goals allowed in seven conference games, Mosinee is tied for second in total defense in the GNC with Northland Pines, who the Hodags will face Thursday.
The Eagles struck first in a Sept. 12 matchup against Rhinelander at Mike Webster Stadium, but the Hodags fought back for a 3-1 victory.
"They continually get better. They're in second place in the conference. We've got to contain their speed up top. They like to play those wide defenders, but we're starting to adjust to that," Millot said.
Volleyball
Tonight the Hodags will look to avenge a conference loss from earlier in the season, but on Saturday, Rhinelander will be the team with the target on its back.
Rhinelander entertains Tomahawk tonight at the Miazga Gym in what will be the Hodags' cancer awareness night (see related story, Page 15).
Though Tomahawk is currently tied for sixth in the GNC with a 1-7 league mark, that one win came against Rhinelander in four sets when the two teams played in the first round of the Great Northern Conference tournament last month in Mosinee.
The Hatchets have defeated Rhinelander 11 straight times, dating back to the 2012 season. That includes a pair of five-set losses for the Hodags last year. Coach Kathy Wawrzynowicz said the Hodags don't necessarily have to do anything differently against the Hatchets this time around, they just have to do what they do better.
"I think the kids learned something from it," she said. "They've been playing really well and hustling. Our movement on the court's been good."
Wawrzynowicz said she hopes a lively atmosphere inside the Miazga Gym will help her team Tuesday night. The Hodags are 4-0 at home so far this season.
"It's great to have a lot of people in the gym," she said. "It makes it loud and I think we've played better in that atmosphere this year for whatever reason."
On Saturday, the Hodags will take on three teams they have already defeated once this season - Antigo, Northland Pines and Lakeland. The Hodags pulled off a surprising three-game sweep of the Red Robins Sept. 7, held on to defeat Northland Pines in five games Sept. 19 after relinquishing a 2-0 lead in that match, and swept Lakeland last Thursday in Minocqua.
"We have to go in there with confidence," Wawrzynowicz said. "This is a chance to finish in the upper half of the conference for us, which I think we can do if we're on our game."
The Hodags also could, conceivably, be in the running for a home playoff game should it play well this week. Rhinelander's seven-team regional includes all the GNC schools except Mosinee, along with presumptive No. 1 seed Merrill from the Wisconsin Valley Conference.
Cross country
The Hodags travel to Northland Pines today for the Northland Pines Invitational and will return to Eagle River 11 days later for the Great Northern Conference meet.
In that vein, it would make sense if the Hodags treated today's meet as a conference preview. But coach M.J. Laggis said the Hodags will instead put all of their eggs into Saturday's Hatchet Invite at Edgewater Country Club in Tomahawk.
"We're looking at Pines at like a practice night. We're going to go up there and it's going to be a tempo run and just part of our training plan for the week," he said.
While today's meet will be a preview of the conference championship venue. Saturday's meet will be a final dress rehearsal against the majority of the teams in the GNC.
"Saturday, that's really a huge race for us to do well," Laggis said. "We love the course. It's fast and it's always a fun race. You're on that golf course on a Saturday morning and we always seem to run good times. That's when we've got to figure out what (the lineup) looks like for conference. It's a big day for us."
Girls' swimming
Though the Hodags are undefeated in the GNC, they will likely come in as underdogs Thursday when they host the three-time defending conference-champion Hatchets at the Heck Pool.
Rhinelander has seen Tomahawk only once so far this season, and that was at a season-opening pentathlon Aug. 16 in Colby where no team scores were kept.
Still, on paper, it will be hard for the Hodags' to crack Tomahawk's top-heavy lineup. So far, Tomahawk has posted the fastest time in the conference this season in all 11 events - and has all of the top three times in the 50-yard freestyle, 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke.
"Tomahawk, it's going to be a great meet. It's going to be a tough meet. We definitely need our girls to come with their A game and don't really expect anything less," interim co-coach Marna Winnicki said.
The meet will be the first for the Hodags since Winnicki and Jenny Heck were announced as the co-interim head coaches for the team for the remainder of the season.
While only one team will be undefeated in the GNC following Thursday's meet, dual meet records have no bearing on the final conference standings, which will be determined exclusively by the results of the GNC meet Oct. 27 in Ladysmith. Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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