August 30, 2021 at 9:24 a.m.
Tiger tamers
Neri rushes for 5 scores, Hodags rout Milwaukee Riverside 50-22
Tiger tamers
Cayden Neri racked up five touchdowns and 221 yards from scrimmage on only 11 touches, Caleb Olcikas added a pair of scores and the Hodags routed Milwaukee Riverside 50-22 in a non-conference contest.
Neri had four scoring runs of 34 yards or greater, including a 54-yard scamper that put the game away in the fourth quarter after Riverside scored 22 unanswered points against some of Rhinelander's backups.
Neri's 214 rushing yards and five touchdowns were both career highs. He did so on only 10 carries and added one reception for seven yards.
"Cayden's a human highlight real. He gives us a chance to break one every single time he touches the ball, as you saw," Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said.
Rhinelander dominated the first half, rolling out to a 43-0 lead at the break. The Hodags scored on each of their first six possessions and added a safety for good measure, while the Tigers amassed only two first downs before halftime.
Riverside, which had 15 straight playoff appearances before seeing its 2020 season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, dropped to 0-2 - allowing 98 points in a pair of blowout losses.
"We didn't know what to expect," Kraemer said. "There was some question on how many guys they would bring. There's some things going on with (Milwaukee Public Schools) with physicals and different things. We had no idea what we were going to get.
"I'm just really, really proud of the way we handled the situation. It's a bigger school and you can start to think negative thoughts about teams being bigger than you and whatever it may be. They had some big guys in the middle, for our guys to step up to that challenge, a D1 school from Milwaukee, I'm really, really proud of the way we played overall."
It took Rhinelander only two plays to find the end zone on its opening drive, as Neri scored from 34 yards. The lead increased to 9-0 when, after going three-and-out on its first possession, Milwaukee Riverside had a bad snap on a punt go out of the back of the end zone for a safety.
Rhinelander scored again five plays later as Jacksen Smith found Olcikas on a toss in the flat for a nine-yard score.
Neri made it 23-0 three plays into the second quarter on a 37-yard run and Riverside fumbled on its next possession, recovered by Carter Krueger at the Tigers' 15. Smith found Olcikas for a score on the very next play.
Back-to-back three-and-outs by Riverside were answered by back-to-back touchdown runs of 3 and 54 yards by Neri to make it 43-0 at the break.
Fearsome foursome
Remarkably, only four players touched the football offensively for Rhinelander in the first half - Neri, Olcikas, Smith and center Conner Jensen. The Hodags needed only 16 plays over the first 24 minutes to rack up a big lead.
"Our studs, they showed up and they played the way we expect them every single week," Kraemer said. "Those are four pretty good guys to have the ball in their hands."
Smith completed all three of his pass attempts for 31 yards and two scores Friday. Olcikas had 79 yards on five carries to go along with his two receiving touchdowns.
The 50 points Rhinelander scored are the most by a Hodag team in the last 20 seasons, surpassing the 49 scored by Rhinelander against Lakeland in 2017.
Reserve reservations
Riverside did all of its damage in the second half as the Hodags rotated different personnel in on offense and defense.
Tobias Jewell found Jaiden Pickett for a 64-yard score on fourth-and-6 during the opening drive of the third quarter, which was played under a running clock with the Hodags' lead at greater than 34 points. Riverside scored again on its next possession on a 13-yard draw by Jewell. Then, on Rhinelander's next offensive snap, Pickett plucked a backward pitch from backup quarterback James Heck and returned it 15 yards for a walk-in touchdown to make it 43-22 with 8:18 remaining.
Rhinelander's starting offense returned after that and Neri scored his final touchdown of the night on the very next play.
"I thought we took our foot off the gas pedal," Kraemer said. "We had our first team offensive line in when we gave away our fumble. That makes me a little upset and a little disappointed. I don't like feeling that way after scoring 50 points but, at the same time, the young kids have to learn to have these opportunities and experiences. I'm glad they had that opportunity but, when it came down to it, when they started scoring, it was time to just get out of here and finish."
Curing the ailments
Fundamentally, Rhinelander looked much sharper Friday than it did in a season-opening win against Tomahawk. After nine botched quarterback-center exchanges in the opener, the Hodags did not have a single bad snap on Friday. Rhinelander also cleaned up the penalty situation, going from 11 infractions down to three. Only one of Friday night's flags was due to some sort of offensive illegal procedure, down from eight in the opener.
"We shored up the issues we had from last week, very few procedure penalties and very few fumbled snaps," Kraemer said. "I'm happy that Conner and Jacksen shored up their hands this week. They worked very, very hard on it and it was a couple of easy tweaks from the quarterback-center exchange to fix it."
Furthermore, Kraemer said he was pleased with the improved blocking downfield from his wide receivers - Cole Worrall, Brendan Eckrich and Jaden Beske.
Safe at home
Despite the threat of thunderstorms, Friday night's game went off without a hitch. The adjacent Hodag Dome was set up in case inclement weather a stoppage in play.
Friday's game marked the first of three straight home games for the Hodags and Kraemer said it was nice to have a fuller crowd in the stands after attendance was limited last year due to the pandemic.
"Our student section was amazing and our parents are happy with the way we are playing and I was so happy they were able to come out here and that we didn't have any lightning and rain," he said.
Up next
Rhinelander hosts Lakeland in the Northwoods Axe game this coming Friday at Mike Webster Stadium. It will be the seventh playing for the Axe. Rhinelander has won three of the last four meetings to tie the series at three apiece, that includes last year's 27-20 win in the first round of the WIAA culminating event.
Lakeland improved to 1-1 this past Friday with a 21-6 win at Tomahawk and outscored Rhinelander three touchdowns to one when the two teams scrimmaged at Mike Webster Stadium back on Aug. 13.
"They're going to get our best shot next week," Kraemer said. "We can't wait to host them here, can't wait to bring that Axe out and, by the end of the game, we want to be swinging and celebrating together."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
Comments:
You must login to comment.