November 7, 2023 at 6:00 a.m.

Team Review: RHS football

Hodags get back to .500, left wanting more
In this Oct. 7, 2023 file photo Rhinelander’s Truman Lamers reacts after recovering a fumble during the second half of a GNC football game at Merrill. The Hodags won that game 7-0, which proved to be a playoff-clinching victory for the team. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
In this Oct. 7, 2023 file photo Rhinelander’s Truman Lamers reacts after recovering a fumble during the second half of a GNC football game at Merrill. The Hodags won that game 7-0, which proved to be a playoff-clinching victory for the team. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)

By JEREMY MAYO
Sports Editor

That a .500 record and a trip to the WIAA playoffs could be considered just an OK year for the Rhinelander High School football team underscores the general upswing the program has experienced over the last five years.

Consider for a moment that the team made only two trips to the WIAA playoffs prior to 2019 and did not finish a season with a record of .500 or better for 24 straight years from 1995-2018. 

That’s what made 2023 a pivotal year for the Hodag football program. Following an injury-plagued 1-8 season in 2022, the question was whether that season was the blip on the radar, or the three seasons prior. 

Following an offseason of soul-searching and an offensive overhaul, this year’s Hodags made the case that 2022 was in fact the outlier. That was something coach Aaron Kraemer credited his seniors for proving during the team’s year-end banquet late last month.

“This team could have had another route, it could have had another path. It could have been another one of those years,” he said. “These guys believed. These are the guys that changed our program for next year.”

The end result for Rhinelander was an up and down season that featured a 4-0 start, but a 1-5 finish. Rhinelander lost both rivalry games to Lakeland and Antigo and was bounced from the first round of the WIAA playoffs by Onalaska. Still, the Hodags managed a pair of wins over playoff teams this year and earned their way into the postseason with a hard-fought win at Merrill in the penultimate week of the regular season.

One constant, despite the ups and downs, was the fun that the team had this year bouncing back from what was a difficult 2022 season, Kraemer noted.

“I’m disappointed that this one didn’t end the way I wanted it to but I’m not disappointed in the season and I’ll never say that,” Kraemer said after the playoff loss at Onalaska. “We had a great year. It was a lot of fun. These seniors brought everyone around and I’m proud to be their coach.”

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season. 

Hot start

It would have been hard to figure the Hodags were primed for a turnaround year, considering how the 20 minutes of the 2023 regular season started. 

Turnovers and missed assignments put the Hodags in a 21-0 hole on the road at Tomahawk late in the second quarter. The Hodags’ response to that adversity set the tone to a strong start to the season. 

Rhinelander rode three James Heck rushing touchdowns to get back into contention and Landon Bates kicked the go-ahead field goal with three seconds remaining as the Hodags stunned the Hatchets 22-21 on opening night. 

The win was reminiscent of the 2020 season opener when the Hodags scored late and then defeated Antigo 21-18 in double overtime, kicking off what was an 8-1 season.

“This one I think took a little extra courage, a little extra fortitude and the guys just kept believing that they could do it,” Kraemer said afterward. “That’s what was good about that team too. They always believed they were in it. There were five, six games that year that we were down in and we managed to come back. If these guys have the same fortitude like that group did, which I think they do, then we’re in for a helluva season.”

It was one heck of a start, at least. The Hodags pulled away from Wausau East 34-15 in Week 2 and then routed Ashland 32-7 on the road. That moved Rhinelander to No. 10 in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association D3 poll, and the Hodags stayed there the following week with a 13-7 home win over Hayward. 

Rivalry woes

As it did the previous year, the Hodags’ season turned south with a loss to arch-rival Antigo in the Bell Game. 

This time around the Robins stifled the Rhinelander offense and wore down the defense en route to a 24-0 victory that left the Mike Webster Stadium crowd stunned.

“Rivalry games don’t care about records,” Kraemer said. “Rivalry games don’t care about who’s supposed to be the better team, who is the better team. They care about preparation and they care about heart. Tonight, Antigo, they did it. They took it from us.”

That loss was followed by back-to-back defeats to the clear-cut top two teams in the conference — Mosinee and Medford. 

Rhinelander, which had won its first six trophy-trade games under Kraemer, lost its fourth straight to end the regular season with a 32-6 loss to Lakeland. Up 6-0 late in the first half, a fumble led to a Lakeland score before the break, which set off a run of 32 unanswered T-Bird points.

“It was frustration and fury on Friday night,” Kraemer said afterward. “I honestly do think we gave a game away, when you look at the film and we felt the same way at the end of the game. I think there were so many unforced errors in that game and the luck was purely on Lakeland’s side all night. It made it difficult for us to win.”

Win and in

Despite the adversity over the second half of the season, Rhinelander still found itself with a chance to make the playoffs late in the season and punched its ticket with a hard-fought road win at Merrill.

Bates scored what proved to be the game’s lone touchdown and the Hodag defense forced four turnovers as they edged the Bluejays 7-0 to earn the third conference win they needed to become playoff eligible.

“I think it was our heart,” senior defensive lineman Owen Kurtz said. “We knew going into this if we wanted to make it to the playoffs, we had to treat it as a playoff game. It was kind of our heart. We knew we wanted to flip the script from last year, get in there and beat them up on their homecoming.”

That win did not guarantee the Hodags a spot in the postseason, but it ended up being good enough despite a Week 9 loss to Lakeland. The Hodags were one of the final 40 teams in to the playoff field based on their conference strength of victory.

Statbook

    In this Oct. 13, 2023 file photo, Rhinelander’s James Heck carries the ball during the first half of a GNC football game against Lakeland at Mike Webster Stadium. Heck led the Hodags in rushing the fall with 492 yards and seven touchdowns. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
 
 


The big question mark going into the season was how the team would fare in its transition from a pro-style offense to a Wing-T philosophy. The early returns seemed promising, but the offense fizzled as the season went along. 

Rhinelander started strong, racking up at least 380 yards of offense in each of its first three games. Overall, through four games, the Hodags were averaging 25.3 points and 348.8 yards per game. 

Things faded from Week 5 on, however. Rhinelander was shut out twice over the final six games and never scored more than one touchdown on offense. Overall, Rhinelander averaged 4.5 points and 112.2 yards per game over the final six games of the year. 

What was a backfield that features as many as six ball carriers early in the season became essentially a three-back system in the second half of the year. Heck, who moved from quarterback to tailback in the offseason, led the way with 492 yards and seven scores. Bates had 324 yards and two touchdowns and Payton Campbell finished with 250 yards and a score.

Kurtz, a former first-team all-conference offensive lineman, was also moved to tailback at the start of the year. He had 207 yards and two touchdowns over the first five games, but injured his ankle in the Week 5 loss to Antigo. Though Kurtz would miss only a game and a half due to the injury, he was held out of the offensive game plan until Week 9, when he re-emerged as a tight end. 

Junior Truman Lamers took over at quarterback this season and his numbers went much the same way as the Hodag offense in general. He finished the year completing 42.7% of his passes for 625 yards with four touchdowns and 11 interceptions. All four of those touchdowns were thrown during the first three weeks of the season. 

The backs and wings saw the most work in the passing game as well, as Heck, Campbell and Bates combined for 25 of the team’s 44 receptions. Junior Zach Germain had only three catches on the year, but led the team with 131 receiving yards thanks to a 68-yard touchdown catch in a Week 3 win at Ashland, and two long completions in the playoff loss at Onalaska. 

Despite allowing 24.4 points per game, the Hodag defense put up solid numbers — allowing 156.5 yards per game and 5.3 yards per carry on the ground. The team also came up with 16 takeaways on the season. 

Lamers led the Hodags with 58 tackles from his safety position while inside linebackers Sam Schoppe and Logan Schwinger were second and third on the teams. Lamers and Germain also tied for a team-high with three interceptions apiece. 

What’s next

During the banquet, Kraemer made the expectation clear that he wants to get back to where the team was in 2020 and 2021 when it posted back-to-back eight-win campaigns. 

“We have every chance to be better and to continue down the path of being a great team,” he said. “We talk about Onalaska, Medford, Mosinee. This program, this school, this community has an opportunity to be just that. It comes from the belief that these guys have instilled in the young men that are going o play next season. It comes from the hard work and effort they’re going to put in. It comes from you, as parents, the time it takes to make sure that your sons are always involved. It takes a lot of hard work and determination. We have it in this room. This is going to move forward and continue to move forward. Next year we are going to grow on the path our seniors have put us on and this thing’s going to explode. It’s going to be an excellent year next year.”

While the Hodags will lose a number of key pieces — including all-conference honorees Heck, Kurtz, Kaeden Piller, Sam Balge and Owen Ives — it will bring back six players who received all-conference honors.

Lamers will be back after earning second-team honors at defensive back, Tyler Chariton returns as a first-team punter and will likely see extended reps next year in the Hodag backfield. Schoppe, Germain, defensive lineman Caden Sieker and offensive lineman Dolan O’Malley will also be back after earning recognition this fall.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].


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