August 15, 2022 at 8:39 a.m.
Hodags show flashes in scrimmage
Hodags show flashes in scrimmage
The Hodags had some flashes, scoring four touchdowns in 20 plays against Northland Pines, but were held out of the end zone against Lakeland while the T-Birds marched down the field and scored early in their session at IncredibleBank Field.
"We're not there. We're not where we need to be yet in tackling and blocking, lining up yet in the right spots," Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said. "There were a couple of fumbled snaps, too. Stuff like that is going stop your drives and that's not what you want."
However, aside from cleaning up the fundamentals, Kraemer said it was a productive dress rehearsal ahead of this Friday night's regular season opener at home against Tomahawk.
"The kids had a lot of fun tonight and they enjoyed it," he said. "It started a little bit eyes wide because we have a lot of youth. We got to see a Lakeland team that's very veteran. I think we hung in there with them. I know, (when we play Lakeland) Week 9 it's going to be a whole different story as far as what team they have, what team we have."
Rhinelander and Lakeland opened Friday's three-team scrimmage against one another with the Hodags failing to score in their 20-play simulated series, with each drive starting from the opponent's 40. The Hodags went eight plays on their opening set. A holding call slowed the team's progress and Robert Schramke was stopped a yard short on fourth and 2 from the 9. Rhinelander had a second drive stall out inside the 20 as junior quarterback James Heck was sacked on fourth and 5 following a bad snap.
"I thought we moved the ball pretty well and we got opportunities to score and we just didn't put them in," Kraemer said. "Offensively, we have to fix those fundamental problems, the catching of the snaps, the one or two missed blocks, missed assignments."
Lakeland marched 40 yards on eight plays, all on the ground, scoring from a yard out to open their offensive set. The Hodag defense held Lakeland four-and-out on its next drive and the T-Birds got down to the 17 on their third drive before missing the end zone on their final play.
"Defensively, it took three plays, three hits to start rolling in the right direction," Kraemer said. "I thought we played physically after that. I wanted to see them play physical. There was something to be said about the stand down here at the goal line. We didn't a pretty nice job down there against Lakeland. They scored but, at the same time, we held them out from the one yard line for a couple of plays and then we fought right back into it with them defensively."
The defense held Pines to only one first down during the second session and created a turnover as senior Carter Krueger intercepted a fourth-and-2 pass. At one point, the Hodags held Pines to no gain or negative yardage on five straight plays.
Heck threw an interception on a slant route on the second offensive play against Pines, but bounced back on the next snap by hitting sophomore Truman Lamers over the top for a 34-yard completion. That set up a 10-yard score from junior Payton Campbell two plays later. Krueger scored from 15 yards out on a fourth-and-1 play later in the session, Campbell added a seven-yard score and the scrimmage ended on a high note as Lamers hit Kyrle Vanney for a five-yard touchdown on the final play.
Quarterback battle
While Kraemer did not directly state that Heck would be the starting quarterback in the opener against Tomahawk, there were certainly indications based on the snap count in Friday's scrimmage. Heck took the snap on 30 of the 40 offensive plays. He finished 4 of 8 passing for 56 yards and an interception. He also ran six times for 15 yards.
"He had some really good passes tonight," Kraemer said. "He made one bad read down here against Northland Pines and it cost us a pick but, I think that for him, he's got to remember he's got a varsity offensive line in front of him now. He's playing varsity football, just get those feet set and let's play. He knows what he's doing."
Heck's longest completion was the 34-yarder to Lamers, who is the second quarterback in the mix. Lamers took nine snaps at quarterback with the varsity, going 3 of 6 for 40 yards and a touchdown. He completed his final three passes, including a 32-yarder to senior Brenden Eckrich, who made a nice adjustment on a ball thrown to the sideline.
"Truman wowed me on the defensive side and you saw an amazing catch down here," Kraemer said. "He's just a great athlete. He's the type of kid that you can put in any position. He's like a Kordell Stewart, 'Slash' kind of guy. You can put him at tailback. You can put him at receiver, quarterback. He can play anywhere. Then he comes down and hits at safety. He really surprised me today."
Tricky Hodags
Rhinelander showed a little more creativity on offense, especially against Northland Pines, with new offensive coordinator Luke Roberts calling the plays for the first time.
Roberts dialed up a pair of jet sweeps against the Eagles with Eckrich and Kaleb Winter recording runs of 17 and 16 yards, respectively. Campbell's second touchdown run came on a direct snap with Heck flexed out in the slot receiver position.
"Luke's got a little bit more of an edge as an offensive play caller and I like it," Kraemer said. "He's going to do a little more unconventional than what you expect and I applaud him for that and I'm going to keep encouraging him to express himself offensively."
Statbook
According to unofficial numbers kept by the River News, Campbell was the leading rushing on the night, carrying seven times for 45 yards and two scores. Krueger has 22 yards on three carries while junior Robert Schramke had 19 yards on six carries.
"Payton's been special at the beginning of camp," Kraemer said. "He's one of our impact players as a junior and, obviously, he's got to fill the shoes of two really, really good running backs in (Cayden) Neri and (Caleb) Olcikas. He's excited about it and he's doing a really nice job."
Eckrich was the leading receiver with 40 yards on three catches while Kyrle Vanney had two grabs for 19 yards.
Rhinelander finished with 220 yards of offense - 124 rushing and 96 passing. Defensively, the Hodags gave up 78 yards on the ground and 34 yards through the air.
In the middle
Middle linebacker was one of the big question marks entering the season after the Hodags graduated a pair of all-conference players in Chad Hunt and Cole Lehman. Campbell and fellow Junior Landon Bates got the start there, with Bates recording a scrimmage-high six tackles, according to our numbers. Campbell finished with four tackles.
"I think in the middle defensively we have two young guys and I thought Landon Bates stepped up and did a great job tonight. Payton did a great job tonight," Kraemer said. "Then Sam Schoppe, Tyler Chariton, the guys that come in after them, they come in and they did a nice job too. That's been a focus of ours to get those guys reading, getting downhill, reading those plays. They made a lot more plays in the second session."
Tyler Morrison tied Bates' tackle total and had a pair of tackles for loss from his defensive end position in the session against Northland Pines. Krueger, playing at outside linebacker, recorded four total tackles and had a pass breakup to go along with his interception.
Tomahawk ahead
The Hodags open the regular season against Tomahawk this Friday night at Mike Webster Stadium. Rhinelander shut out the Hatchets 32-0 in last year's season opener, but Tomahawk rebounded to post a 4-6 record and qualify for the WIAA playoffs out of the Northwoods Conference.
"Tomahawk's going to be an improved team. I already know that," Kraemer said. "Coach (Sam) Hernandez is a great guy and he's been working his tail off to get that program back off the ground. I know that he's a proud guy and they're a proud program. They're going to want to come up and fight us for bragging rights. We're excited to host them but, at the same time, we've got five more days of work we've got to put in before we're ready to go."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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