September 23, 2020 at 1:22 p.m.
A different ring
Hodags, Red Robins kick off 2020 with 86th Bell Game
A different ring
Rhinelander is set to renew acquaintances with Antigo tonight at Schofield Stadium for the 86th playing of the Bell Game.
A year ago the Hodags won back Gene Shepard's Bell for the first time since 2006, with a 20-10 triumph over the Red Robins at Mike Webster Stadium. To retain the Bell, the Hodags will have to do something they haven't done since 2002 - win in Antigo.
"It's another point of pride for us to keep this Bell (playing) down there," coach Aaron Kraemer said of a series that Antigo leads 55-28-2. "Since I've been on staff, we haven't been able to win down there. I'm not sure on the history how long it's been since we've won it at Schofield Stadium, but we want to build a program in which we're winning this every single year.
"We want to bring that luster back to this rivalry and we want to put ourselves back in a position where we can hold a point a pride that we've won over a school over a certain period of time. Our kids want to be a part of that. They felt, last year, what it meant to them to win that rivalry trophy and what it means to have it here in our building every single day. We want to keep that feeling and we want to chase it again."
The Hodags are thankful there will be a Bell Game this year, given the uncertain offseason caused by the pandemic. Tonight's game was originally supposed to be Week 5 on the calendar, smack dab in the middle of the regular season. With the start of football practice pushed back a month, tonight's game has turned into the season opener of a conference-only schedule that will run into the first week of November.
"The players that have made it this far, they've traversed one of the hardest times in their life," Kraemer said. "Honestly, for all of us, we've traversed this. We're excited to have the opportunity to play the game we love and play it against a team it means a lot for us to go out and play well against."
Aside from looking to win back-to-back Bell Games for the first time since winning three in a row from 1998-2000, Rhinelander is looking to build on a 2019 season that saw the team finish above .500 for the first time since 1994 and make the playoffs for only the third time in school history.
Meanwhile, Antigo is looking to rebound from a down 2019 season that saw the Red Robins miss the WIAA playoffs for the first time since joining the Great Northern Conference.
Here are five storylines entering tonight's matchup.
Looking sharp
Rhinelander comes in off a solid performance in last week's scrimmage against Northland Pines in which its varsity unit scored four times while holding the Eagles out of the end zone.
Specifically, the two backs looking to replace Drake Martin in the Hodags' ground game - juniors Caleb Olcikas and Cayden Neri - looked strong. Olcikas rushed for 133 yards and a score on 15 carries while Neri rushed for 116 yards and a touchdown on seven carries - including a 68-yard scamper on his final touch of the scrimmage.
Meanwhile senior quarterback Quinn Lamers looked sharp, throwing for 109 yards and a score on 7 of 9 passing. His one blemish was an interception on an overthrow with the Hodags driving in the red zone.
On the defensive side, Rhinelander held Northland Pines to 80 yards of offense and only five first downs in seven possessions. Ben Sinclair registered a team-high six tackles while junior AJ Bergman had four stops. Both recorded two tackles for loss.
Despite some areas to clean up, Kraemer called the Hodags' performance in the scrimmage, "impressive."
"The thing that was most important to me is that we looked physical and we looked fast," he said.
Different Antigo
This Antigo team figures to look much different, at least from a personnel standpoint, than the one Rhinelander defeated last September.
For starters, the Robins graduated do-it-all quarterback Nevin Cornelius, who threw the ball a staggering - by Antigo standards - 25 times in last year's contest. Offensively, all five players who recorded touches for Antigo in last year's Bell Game - Cornelius, Isaac Wickersheim, Noah Musolff, Chris Krueger and tight end Alec Hotchkiss - graduated.
Overall, Antigo is set to return only one starter on offense, and four defensive starters from last year's Bell Game.
As Antigo Daily Journal sports editor Scott Walbeck noted in the Great Northern Conference Media Poll (published in the Fall Sports Spotlight special section inserted in today's paper), senior Dakota Matuszewski and junior Connor Kolz figure to be the feature backs for Antigo this year. Matuszewski got the most work of the two last year, rushing for 108 yards and a score on 25 carries in GNC play. He's also the one who stood out on film when Kraemer watched the scrimmage between Antigo and Merrill.
"It looks like he's ready to play. He's fast, he's big," Kraemer said. "We're going to have to tackle him low. We're going to have to hit him often. He reminds me, on film, of CJ Levis who was a running back for them a few years ago and a linebacker for them - just a player, I think, that can run between the tackles and is fast enough when he breaks out in open space to break it open. We're going to have to neutralize him."
Also undetermined as of press time is who will replace Cornelius at quarterback. Senior Alex Stank and junior Zach Zupon alternated snaps at the position in last week's scrimmage.
'Antigo is Antigo'
While a number of the players will be different, Antigo's style of play will remain tried and true, similar to what the Red Robins employed when coach Tom Schofield's grandfather, Gordy Schofield, patrolled the sidelines beginning in the 1960s.
Offensively, that means a power running game out of the Tee or Wing-T formation, and defensively, a 5-2 monster front. As Kraemer put it, "Antigo is Antigo."
"They want to be a team that's going to be able to run inside the tackles," he said. "They want to power you. They want to misdirection you with their backs. (Defensively) they've been playing 5-2 monster for a very long time. They move their defensive back, the monster back, around. They try to make sure that you're off balance by unbalancing you."
Offensively, the Hodags will look to have a balanced attack, mixing in the run and play action pass, in an effort to control the ball, control the clock and keep Antigo's offense off the field, Kraemer said. When Antigo's offense does get on the field, Kraemer said the key will be to remain assignment sound, in other words stay disciplined to the player they are supposed to match up against.
"They want to get you looking at the three guys in the backfield," he said. "It's kind of like looking at the pretty girl behind the guy who's standing there, her boyfriend, that's ready to punch you."
Opening again
This is not the first time in recent memory that Rhinelander and Antigo have met to open a football season. The two teams opened the 2014 season with a non-conference game at Mike Webster Stadium that Rhinelander won 19-8. That game was the first at Rhinelander for then head coach Chris Ferge. It was also the first game for Kraemer on the Hodag coaching staff.
"It doesn't matter when you play the Bell Game, but to be able to play it the first game of the season I think is really special for our guys," Kraemer said. "My first coaching experience was against Antigo at the high school level. We won that game and we look to win this game too."
Limited capacity
Attendance will be limited for tonight's game. Antigo, like Rhinelander, is using the GNC voucher program, with only four vouchers per player allowed. That will limit tonight's attendance to mainly family members and a few students - not the packed house that's typical at Schofield Stadium or Mike Webster when Rhinelander and Antigo renew acquaintances.
While the aesthetics may look a little different in the stands, Kraemer said he doesn't expect things to feel much different at field level.
"I think the game will still be just as intense, the opponent will be just as fierce and ready to play against us and if we're too worried about what the atmosphere is like and what the fans are like, that there not as many allowed in, I think we're in for a rude awakening," he said. "We've got to worry about the things we can control.
"It's still the Bell game. People can still watch and cheer from home, send us their spirits and hopes and I think it's going to be just as fierce as it ever has been."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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