August 8, 2018 at 1:04 p.m.
Team preview: RHS football
Hodag gridders aim to parlay strong 2017 finish into successful 2018
Team preview: RHS football
Now the Hodags look to ride that momentum into the 2018 season.
"Winning those two games, in conference, at the end of last year definitely gave them a shot in the arm," said coach Chris Ferge, now in his fifth year at the helm of the RHS program. "The guys that were there last year experienced it and I think our program wants a lot more of that feeling. There's nothing like winning on a Friday night."
Repeating the success from the end of last season will not be easy, however, especially after graduating a senior class more than 15 strong.
The numbers flip for the Hodags, who will be a much younger team this year. Of the 39 players listed on the opening week varsity roster, nearly half (18) are sophomores.
The most prominent of the returning players is junior running back Drake Martin who last season became Rhinelander's first 1,000-yard back since Austin Murphy in 2008. Martin averaged 5.0 yards per carry as he rushed for 1,122 yards and eight touchdowns. He added a pair of receiving touchdowns on only 10 receptions and earned first-team All-GNC honors.
Martin won't sneak up on anyone this season, however, and Ferge knows opposing defenses will gear up in an attempt to slow down No. 28.
"We have to be able to counter that," he said. "Our quarterback has to be able to run the ball on the zone and the veer. We have to have some run/pass (options) because they will key on Drake most definitely. We do have athletes to counteract this, we just need them to step up."
Many of the parts around Martin in the offense are either new or being featured in new roles.
Senior Brock Lieder gets his shot a quarterback this season, after spending the last two seasons behind Logan Freund on the depth chart. Lieder's 6-3 frame and mobility make him a good fit for the Hodags' spread-style offense. The question is how he will settle into the starting role.
"He did spend a lot of time behind Logan and he understands (the offense)," Ferge said. "He's played some receiver so he does understand the position from a different perspective. He waited for this. This is his year. He's excited. He should be excited. His leadership skills are going to have to get better every single day. He's going to have to deal with the highs and lows which are unlike any position in any sport. Quarterback is the hardest thing to play. He's learning how to become a leader and take on that responsibility."
Ferge added that he doesn't expect much change to the offense this season with a new signal caller. Last season, Rhinelander ran the ball more than two-thirds of the time, with offensive coordinator Aaron Kraemer calling the plays for the first time.
"We had it pretty cut and dried and I thought we were playing faster and executing a lot better," Ferge said of the offense. "I want to get back to how we were running our offense the last two weeks of the year because it was very exciting and the ball was moving."
Junior Peyton Erikson has seen more time on offense so far in practice. The scatback is both a rushing and receiving threat out of the backfield. Sam Tjugum is the top returning receiver from last year for the team. The senior caught seven passes for 121 yards and a touchdown a season ago.
Of course it all starts up front for the Hodags, who are looking to replace a line anchored by all-conference honorees Jared Fabich and Alec Kurtz. Juniors Trevor Knapp and Connor Lund are the holdovers from that line, but are slated to be in different spots this season with Knapp getting the first-team reps at center during the Family Day practice and Lund listed as a tight end on the opening roster.
Senior Jeremiah Bellow and sophomores Ben Sinclair, Kristian Klinger and Alex Olson filled out the offensive line when the No. 1 unit was on the field.
Olson, in particular, is an intriguing line prospect with a big frame and quick feet. He appears to go 6-foot-4 and around 270 pounds, though the RHS football team did not list heights and weights on its roster.
"I think we have some decent size with some of our sophomores that are playing," Ferge said. "We have a couple kids who have some experience. We have some guys who are going to grow, I think, as seniors this year, become that senior player we've been looking for."
Perhaps the loss of last year's senior class will be most felt on the defensive side of the ball, where the team must replace its top eight tacklers from a season ago. Kurtz, Kenny Baumgardner, Colton Krueger and Reuben Guzik all earned all-conference recognition on defense last year.
Senior Josh Francisco, along with Erikson, are the top two returning tacklers from last year, and are expected to anchor a fast, athletic secondary.
Tjugum, Payton Johnson and another speedster, Nick Kriesel, figure to be in the secondary mix while Ferge said Lund, Seth Stafford and Isaiah Piosalan will help comprise the linebacking corp.
"I think, overall, our defense has been playing very fast," Ferge said of a unit looking to improve from last season when if finished sixth in the GNC in both points (34.3) and yards (365.3) allowed.
Rhinelander will get its first opportunity to see how it stacks up against another team tomorrow morning, when it hosts Lakeland, Northland Pines and Three Lakes in a scrimmage at Mike Webster Stadium.
"We've got to be physical in that scrimmage," Ferge said. "We've got to show good discipline. We have to block. We have to tackle. We have to show we're ready to play football. It will be a good scrimmage, a good test for us."
Rhinelander will open against Prescott and Tomahawk at home the first two weeks of the season before traveling to Wausau East on a Thursday night in Week 2. The conference slate begins Sept. 7 at home against Medford, before traveling to Antigo for the Bell Game. The Hodags will be Merrill's guest for homecoming Saturday, Sept. 29 and will host Ashland in their own homecoming game six days later. Rhinelander and Lakeland will play the fourth Northwoods Axe Game to close out the regular season Oct. 12.
As for the rest of the conference, Antigo enters as the preseason favorite after going undefeated last year and advancing to Level 3 of the WIAA playoffs. From there, Ferge feels the conference is fairly wide open.
"I'd imagine everyone in the GNC is excited and is looking forward to getting more wins than one would actually expect," he said. "If I only shoot for three wins, the kids know I'm only shooting for three wins and they're only going to perform to three wins. That isn't going to get it done. Usually, if you want to get something, your goals have to be a lot higher than you actually maybe think you can get."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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