August 27, 2018 at 1:08 p.m.
Halted by Hatchets
Tomahawk grinds to 14-7 win, snaps Hodags' 3-game winning streak
Halted by Hatchets
The Hatchets sucked the life out of the Hodags' three-game winning streak, controlling the ball and the clock in the second half, as they rallied to a 14-7 win. A Max Bembinster 1-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter proved to be the winning score, capping off a glacial 17-play, 60-yard drive for Tomahawk that ate up more than nine minutes to start the second half.
Tomahawk won the battle up front and, eventually, beat the Hodags using the very same blueprint Rhinelander used to defeat Prescott in the season opener.
"I would definitely say that their line played better than our line today. It was very disheartening the entire game," Rhinelander coach Chris Ferge said.
Momentum was entirely in Rhinelander's favor early in the contest. Quarterback Brock Lieder rushed for a 25-yard score in the game's opening possession and Rhinelander forced Tomahawk to punt on its first two drives of the contest.
Fortunes turned after Peyton Erikson muffed a punt for Rhinelander near midfield, which the Hatchets recovered, following Tomahawk's second possession. Though Rhinelander forced a punt, it went 3-and-out on its next possession and Bembinster ended the opening quarter with a 51-yard run to move Tomahawk into the red zone. Cody Scholz scored five plays later on a one-yard run to cut the Hodags' lead to 7-6 with 9:51 remaining in the opening half.
After taking the lead, Tomahawk had another clock-churning drive that chewed nearly seven minutes off the clock before turning the ball over on downs in the Hodag red zone. Rhinelander got the ball back on its own 13-yard line with 6:02 remaining and put together its longest drive of the evening. Two long passes to Connor Lund moved Rhinelander into the red zone, but Lieder was unable to find Lund one more time on fourth-and-10 from the 13 with 1:24 remaining. With no timeouts remaining, Rhinelander was defenseless as Tomahawk took a knee and ran out the clock.
Bembinster finished with 163 yards and a touchdown on the ground for Tomahawk, while the Hatchet defense held Rhinelander to 203 yards of offense - 74 of which came in the Hodags' final drive. Tomahawk controlled the second half, possessing the ball for nearly 18 minutes - almost equal to the time Rhinelander held the ball for the entire game.
"They beat us at times off the ball tonight, but other times I think we just really shot ourselves in the foot tonight," Ferge said. "We need to get back to work as fast as possible because I know everyone's really hurting right now - our staff, our kids, our parents, our whole program."
Penalty problems
While both teams were penalized seven times for 65 yards in the contest, it seemed the timing of the penalties was especially damaging for the Hodags, who had three personal fouls accepted against them. One of those personal fouls gave Tomahawk a free first down deep in its own territory. A second personal foul wiped out what was a first-and-20 situation on the Hatchets' game-winning drive.
A couple of procedure penalties cost Rhinelander as well. The team committed a false start on first-and-goal from the 1 late in the second quarter and eventually came away scoreless as Lieder's slant pass to Sam Tjugum in the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 4 fell incomplete.
Early in the fourth quarter, Rhinelander jumped offsides on fourth-and-1, allowing Tomahawk to extend the drive and take almost an additional four minutes off the clock.
"Penalties took them all the way," Ferge bemoaned. "Every single time the got a penalty to get something. I would say, overall, it wasn't really them, it was us. We gave them penalties to get first downs, every single time. We have a penalty on the 1-yard line, a five-yard penalty, don't get a touchdown down there."
When asked if the nature of the non-conference rivalry - the schools are located only 25 minutes apart and are Great Northern Conference opponents in several other sports - played into the penalty situation, Ferge instead cast some of the responsibility on the officiating crew.
"Some of them I understand and some of them I didn't understand at all," he said. "I really don't know. I'm not going to say anything bad. I don't know. I know some were called for and some I don't know where they came from in certain situations. They started throwing them and, I don't know. I thought there were times they could have thrown (flags) on (Tomahawk), they didn't do it.
"(The refs) really moved a lot of first downs for them tonight, a ton, with penalties. Without those penalties, they don't move the ball. Our defense played well at times. Our kids did screw up a couple of times. When they screwed up, and I saw them screw up, I called them on it. Overall, I really think this officiating crew really moved the ball all over the place today instead of letting them play."
Martin contained
A week after rushing for 177 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-6 win over Prescott, Rhinelander junior Drake Martin was held to 46 yards on 17 carries against the Hatchets.
Tomahawk used a five-man front with a few different blitz combinations and appeared to focus their entire defensive game plan on keeping Martin in check.
The Hodags effectively used Lieder and the option game to counter Tomahawk's strategy on the opening possession, but had trouble getting much going, offensively, until late in the fourth quarter.
"Drake's a hell of a player and our guys understood what they had to do, and they did it the first drive, but it's the effort we're not seeing with our line to finish plays," Ferge said. "It's the effort we're not seeing by other players to make them pay when they're focusing on Drake. We'll really focus on that."
Lieder finished with 78 yards rushing on eight carries and was 6 of 19 passing for 78 yards and an interception.
Lights out
Friday night's kickoff was pushed up 10 minutes due to the threat of late-evening thunderstorms. But it turned out that lighting - not lightning - was the main logistical issue of the evening. The entire bank of lights on the southwest corner of the field flashed and went out during the second quarter of the contest.
The teams played through the malfunction, without issue, though the south end zone became noticeably darker than the rest of the field as night fell in Rhinelander.
Rhinelander activities director Brian Paulson said heavy rains during the day coupled with recent construction at Mike Webster Stadium were the likely cause of the electrical issue. He said crews were working on the issue Monday. The Hodag football team doesn't play at home again until Sept. 7, but the RHS boys' soccer team also uses Mike Webster Stadium and is scheduled to host Antigo tonight.
On Monday, Paulson said the start of Tuesday's soccer games would be pushed up one hour to 4 p.m. for junior varsity and 6 p.m. for varsity to ensure they would be completed before sunset in the event the lights are still not functional.
Up next
Rhinelander (1-1) travels to Thom Field to face Wausau East in a rare Thursday night game this week. The Lumberjacks are 0-2 on the season following a 20-14 loss at Southern Door this past Friday.
"I want to play. I want to get right back in the swing of things," Ferge said of the upcoming short week. "We had to make some adjustments and move things up. Our kids are going to have to respond."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.