August 13, 2018 at 12:24 p.m.
Hodags pound the rock during scrimmage
Hodags pound the rock during scrimmage
Martin rushed for 67 yards and a score on only nine carries as the Hodags exerted their will on the ground against Lakeland, Northland Pines and Three Lakes in the preseason tune-up at Mike Webster Stadium.
But Martin, who rushed for 1,122 yards and eight scores last year for the Hodags, wasn't the only one carrying the load a week before the season opener. Quarterback Brock Lieder tallied 48 yards and two scores with his legs and, in total, the Hodags averaged more than five yards per carry while rushing the ball on 30 of their 38 offensive snaps.
"We've got a quarterback that can run and we've got Drake," Hodag coach Chris Ferge said afterward. "We also have Seth (Stafford) back there and Walker (Hartman) back there. Our offensive line's doing a pretty good job. They've got to finish their blocks, but they're hard guys to bring down. They're good athletes. We're excited about running the ball. Our offensive coordinator, coach (Aaron) Kraemer loves to run the ball. We're pretty happy about today.
The No. 1 offense scored touchdowns on its first series of downs against each of the three other squads present. Lieder capped a seven-play scoring drive with a five-yard scamper against Lakeland. Lieder scored again from nine yards out against Northland Pines and Martin added a 14-yard score on the third play of the offensive session against Three Lakes, the last snap for many of the starters on the morning.
Martin, Lieder and Stafford got the bulk of the carries for Rhinelander. Stafford rushed for 16 yards on eight attempts in the scrimmage.
Lieder was also 2 of 5 through the air for 57 yards. The highlight came in the second session against Northland Pines when he hooked up with Max Spaulding for a 34-yard scoring pass.
"I saw a lot of good things and some glaring weaknesses," Ferge said of his team's performance. "There's some glaring mistakes in technique that I just don't like. We're going to coach that up. I asked our guys to be physical. We did that. I thought we were the most physical team here today. We've got to work on our blocking and tackling a little bit more. I said, let's play hard and let's see the mistakes so we can correct them. I think our guys did that, and I'm proud of them."
Defense holds
Rhinelander held its three opponents to an average of 3.5 yards per play on 40 defensive snaps, though the performance could be described as mostly bend but don't break. Northland Pines drove inside the Rhinelander 20 on its first possession before turning it over on downs while Three Lakes churned out an 11-play drive that started at the Rhinelander 35 and got down to the Rhinelander 4 before a halfback option pass backfired on fourth down, bouncing off several receivers and defenders before falling harmlessly to the turf in the end zone.
The only scoring blemish came late in the opening session against Lakeland when Chase Hunt - who transferred from Rhinelander to Lakeland last season - got behind Max Spaulding on a deep rout for a 27-yard touchdown grab.
"Our guys got to keep everything in front of us. We had maybe one our two big plays we gave up, but we corrected it," Ferge said of the defense. "We picked each other up and our crew did a pretty good job of getting off the field on fourth down. I thought they did all right tackling. They've got to break down better. We've got to get more guys to the ball. We've got to be more aggressive but, overall, we had our guys in the right spot, I thought."
Junior safety Peyton Erikson unofficially led the team with seven tackles. Walker Hartman came up with an interception, picking off an underthrown ball on Northland Pines' final offensive play.
Keeping it clean
There were a very low number of mistakes for the Hodags during the scrimmage. The varsity was penalized only once the entire morning - and that came after a no-call when it appeared Stafford was brought down by the facemask during the Lakeland session.
"Our formula for that is that we're really hard on them for that," Ferge said. "It matters. In years past, some of the other teams I've coached, the penalties just kill you. Our guys understand that it's important to have strong discipline. Our group's doing a good job of that so far."
What's more, the varsity group did not fumble the ball or commit a turnover. The team got away with one near mistake when backup quarterback Nathan Kempf underthrew a deep pass on the final play of the Northland Pines scrimmage. The ball deflected off the hands of a Northland Pines defensive back and was caught by Payton Johnson for a 25-yard completion.
Let's get physical
Rhinelander did not show Great Northern Conference foe Lakeland many new wrinkles in their scrimmage, but did try to set the tone for when the rivals meet Oct. 12 in the Northwoods Axe Game in Minocqua.
"It was important that we play really physical and get after it," Ferge said. "We kept it vanilla, and did the whole scrimmage. We didn't show everything that we could. That's just kind of how teams are, but we played really, really hard and matched the intensity well."
Up next
The Hodags will open the 2018 regular season at home this Friday in a non-conference game against Prescott. It marks the third straight year Rhinelander will open the season against the school located near the Minnesota border.
The Hodags scored a 27-8 win over Prescott in Rhinelander two years ago. The Cardinals returned the favor with a 27-13 win last season.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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