October 10, 2022 at 8:32 a.m.
Merrill ends Hodags' playoff hopes
Merrill ends Hodags' playoff hopes
The Hodags slim postseason hopes were officially put to bed Friday night with one week remaining in the regular season. Merrill's Nathan Brzoznowski rushed for 236 yards and two scores as the Bluejays defeated Rhinelander 32-8 on senior night at Mike Webster Stadium.
The win clinched Merrill's first playoff berth since 2017. Rhinelander needed a win, and another this Friday at Lakeland, to have a chance to sneak in as one of the final teams into the playoffs. Those hopes are now dashed.
"That's painful to hear," Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said of the Hodags' elimination. "But, at the same time, I said to the seniors, "How do you want to be remembered?" You have the unique ability to go and play the last game for a rivalry trophy."
Merrill shut down Rhinelander's offense much of the night and controlled the contest with a bruising running game. Merrill racked up 287 yards on the ground and possessed the ball for nearly 33 1/2 minutes in the contest. Rhinelander had only 22 yards of offense until the fourth quarter, when quarterback James Heck ran for an 82-yard touchdown, the Hodags' longest play of the year.
Rhinelander had Merrill stopped on the opening possession before a roughing the kicker call on a punt gave Merrill another chance. Merrill eventually punted again but pinned Rhinelander at its own 3 yard line and Ryder Depies sacked Heck in the end zone for a safety three plays later. Brzoznowski broke off a 43-yard touchdown run to the outside on the ensuing possession to give Merrill a 10-0 lead late in the first quarter.
Merrill faced a fourth and 13 on its next drive, but quarterback Brian Ball hit Bradyn Pieper against single coverage in the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown that gave Merrill an 18-0 lead at the half.
The Bluejays marched 64 yards on eight plays on their opening drive of the third quarter, ending it with a 13-yard score by fullback Kaeden Henrich.
"The kids are going to look at the film and they're going to see three plays that gave them three touchdowns," Kraemer said. "One was an inside move from our outside player, from our Hodag, just got caught looking inside and Brzoznowski jumped to the outside and ran for a touchdown. The other one was we filled and didn't get the backside A gap covered by our safety and he bounced it out the other side. Then on that slant wheel, which we've been working on all week long, he had longer to throw it, a long time to get out there and it was a heart and hustle play by their receiver and a good play made."
Rhinelander finally scored in the fourth quarter as Heck took a designed quarterback keeper around right end, found a seam and sprinted down the sideline for a score. Heck finished the night with 76 net rushing yards. He had 97 yards on five called running plays, but was also sacked four times for minus-21 yards.
"Our plan was to get James running the football a little bit and he showed his dimension today with a long touchdown run," Kraemer said. "He had some bruising runs in the middle. We wanted to get him running the football and he did a good job of that tonight."
Brzoznowski answered Heck's touchdown with his second of the night, a four-yard run with 2:28 remaining that accounted for the final margin.
The Hodags were massively outdone in the ball control category on Friday. Rhinelander had only 31 plays to Merrill's 58, had three first downs and held the ball for only 14 minutes, 32 seconds.
"We got some things going, but we have to consistently move the ball," Kraemer said. "We have to start having drives a little bit longer, maintaining and getting tough yards. That's one thing I saw today that I wasn't too proud of, the way that we sometimes finished runs. That's on me. I'm working with the running backs. I've got to get them finishing north and south, putting their shoulders down and finishing."
Kraemer took extra time with the seniors after the postgame huddle in what was their final home game in a Rhinelander uniform.
"This senior class has dealt with a lot of adversity in their eight games this year," he said. "I know that this group is going to be forged by that adversity and that's what's going to make them great people and great citizens moving forward, great people for our community. They've learned lessons and those lessons will hopefully take them a long way."
Rhinelander closes the season this coming Friday at Lakeland. The T-Birds clinched their playoff spot with a 21-7 win at Hayward this past Friday. They come in 4-4 overall and looking to win the Northwoods Axe for the first time since 2018.
"We can choose to go at it (and say) we're going to go have fun next week. Or we can choose to go at and say we're going to go win this trophy and we're going to lay everything on the line because it's our last game of football," Kraemer said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
WEATHER SPONSORED BY
E-Editions
Latest News
E-Editions
Events
August
To Submit an Event Sign in first
Today's Events
No calendar events have been scheduled for today.
Comments:
You must login to comment.