October 19, 2020 at 8:41 a.m.
Fantastic 4-0
Hodags overcome injuries, drop Ashland to remain perfect in GNC
Fantastic 4-0
Caleb Olcikas rushed for 108 yards in place of the injured Cayden Neri, Walker Hartman scored touchdowns on offense and defense, and the Hodags moved to 4-0 for the second time in as many years with a 26-7 victory over Ashland at Mike Webster Stadium.
The Hodags, ranked No. 4 in the WisSports.net D3 coaches poll, had a couple of moments where things could have went south after Olcikas muffed a punt early in the opening quarter and Neri left after only two offensive touches with an apparent ankle injury, but Rhinelander rose to the occasion again. The Hodag defense shut down Ashland's rushing attack, and quarterback Quinn Lamers threw for a touchdown and ran for another, as Rhinelander kept pace with Medford atop the Great Northern Conference standings.
"I'm really proud of our guys tonight," Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said. "I thought this was going to be our biggest challenge so far and they stood up to the challenge. We had adversity early in the game where it could have been easy for our guys to get down.
"This is a different team. I can't put my finger on it, but they have some kind of special gene where we're down but never out. They're a fight back type of group. They're a scrappy type of group and I love coaching them."
The Hodag defense generated four turnovers against an Ashland team that had only one turnover in its first three contests.
After Ashland recovered Olcikas' muff, the Oredockers (2-2) drove down to the Hodag 19 where they faced fourth and 4, but Ashland quarterback Jackson Bonneville couldn't handle a low snap, and the Hodags recovered the loose ball to turn the Oredockers away.
Rhinelander failed to convert on fourth down on its ensuing possession, but another fumble by Bonneville set the Hodags up at the Ashland 20. Olcikas scored three plays later on a six-yard run to give Rhinelander a 6-0 lead in the final seconds of the opening quarter.
Ashland marched down the field for a score as Bonneville found Carter Brown for a six-yard pass on fourth and 3 to give the Oredockers their only lead of the game.
That's when Hartman, a senior who scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown in last year's 16-12 playoff-clinching victory for the Hodags at Ashland, rose to the occasion again.
Rhinelander drove deep into Oredocker territory on the ensuing possession and, on third-and-11, Lamers found Hartman following a long scramble in the back corner of the end zone for a 12-yard score that gave the Hodags the lead for good.
Later in the second, with Ashland facing third and long, Kirk Mathews strip-sacked a scrambling Bonneville. Hartman plucked the loose ball out of the air and returned it 30 yards to give Rhinelander a 20-7 lead at the break.
"Walker is just always finding himself in an opportunistic position defensively," Kraemer said. "Offensively, he's a exactly that. He's a guy that studies film, a guy that's constantly leading by example and he deserved that one tonight. It was a great catch, good concentration with hands in his face. You never count No. 4 (Lamers) out and I tell you right now, he can make a play happen. He knows how do that."
Lamers made two more big plays happen in the fourth quarter to finish off the Oredockers. Facing fourth and inches, Lamers called his own number on a quarterback keeper, rushed up the middle and scored from 28 yards to put Rhinelander up 27-6 with 8:13 remaining. Lamers added a tip-toeing interception on Bonneville on the Oredockers' next possession to snuff out any thoughts of an Ashland comeback.
The Hodag senior finished with 94 yards on 8 of 18 passing with a touchdown and an interception.
Trainer's room
Neri, who had averaged nearly 135 yards per game in the Hodags' first three contests, was injured midway through the first quarter after getting twisted up on a tackle by Ashland's Jared Stricker on a screen pass. He did not return to the game and was seen on the sidelines with ice on his left ankle, and on crutches, later in the contest.
Neri was not the only Hodag to get banged up in the game. Starting center Connor Jensen left the game in the fourth quarter after getting rolled up on from behind on a run play and defensive lineman Brock Snyder, who had a fumble recovery in the first quarter, also left the game late.
The extent of the injuries were unknown as of deadline for this edition. In addition, the Hodags had a couple of players out for medical reasons.
"We're at 25 (players suited) tonight. We're going to get a couple of guys back off of COVID (injured reserve) and get some guys back from injury next week," Kraemer said. "We'll have a few boo boos, but I think that half the guys or more than half the guys that were injured tonight will be coming back next week. They have a good prognosis."
Next man up
Olcikas filled in admirably following Neri's injury and gave Rhinelander a 100-yard rusher in four consecutive contests.
Going into the season, Kraemer expected more of a timeshare between Neri and Olcikas in the backfield, before Neri emerged late in the Bell Game win at Antigo.
"We had to change a few things," Kraemer said. "He likes to run the ball in the middle. He wants to get up in between the tackles where Cayden wants to get out in the open field. I thought Caleb did a really nice job tonight. Walker did a great job lead blocking. The offensive line picked it up. They knew I was hurting when Cayden went out and knew that they needed to pick us all up. They did the job."
Junior Jacob Schoppe filled in at center in the fourth quarter following Jensen's injury.
Stifling Ashland
Ashland had dominated teams on the ground through the first three weeks of the season, rushing for 279 yards per game. Rhinelander held the Oredockers to only 65 yards and 29 carries. Parker Goodreau, who had averaged 114 yards per game, was held to five carries for 17 before leaving the contest in the second quarter. Brown was the Oredockers' leading rusher with 27 yards on nine carries.
Kraemer said the Hodags "played lights out defense."
"When you make a team that wants to run the football throw it and they're not comfortable throwing it as much as they did, bad things happen," he said. "I said when they started throwing it early in the game, I said, 'Mistake's coming. Mistake's coming.' And they did. Credit to coach (Gary) Zarda to getting the guys ready. Credit to the secondary for stepping up when they were called, and our defensive line and our outside and inside linebackers putting the pressure on and making Bonneville run and throw off balance and giving us opportunities to make plays."
Bonneville threw for 100 yards on 8 of 20 passing with a touchdown and an interception. Kevon Powell had seven catches for 87 yards.
Down on the farm
The Hodags had a little less depth than normal on Friday due in part to a program-wide decision this week to segregate its varsity and JV squads. Only juniors and seniors suited up on Friday night. The sophomores have combined with the freshman for a revamped JV squad that will get the opportunity to play five times down the stretch.
"We made that for several reasons and one of the reasons was because of our COVID restrictions and we knew that we had to split players," Kraemer said. "We wanted to give our freshmen an opportunity to play more games and wanted our sophomores to have an opportunity to lead. The sophomore class is a very good class, but they need to be put in positions of leadership so that they can grow in that field. That's something we're going to look to do this season."
The revamped JV squad had its first contest Monday night at Ashland.
Up next
The road doesn't get any easier for the Oredockers, who will welcome undefeated Medford to Weikal Field on Friday night. Medford downed Merrill 42-6 on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Hodags will travel up Wisconsin Highway 47 to take on Lakeland in the Northwoods Axe Game. The T-Birds fell to 1-3 on the season after losing to Hayward/Lac Courte Oreilles 14-6 at home in Week 4. It will be the sixth playing for the Axe. Lakeland holds a 3-2 lead in the series, but Rhinelander has won two of the last three meetings.
"That's all I said afterward in the huddle. Now we go for the Axe," Kraemer said. "They're ready. They want that. They want to keep it going. They don't want to lose it there, that's for sure."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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