Pigskin preview Week 9: Lakeland at Rhinelander

The Rhinelander High School football team plans to play like there’s no tomorrow in tonight’s regular season finale, even if there might be. 

The Hodags find themselves in a unique situation as they get set to take on Lakeland in the ninth playing of the Northwoods Axe Game. At 3-3 in the Great Northern Conference, the Hodags sit firmly on the WIAA playoff bubble entering the final night of the regular season. A win will guarantee the Hodags another game next Friday night in Level 1 of the WIAA playoffs. A loss will not necessarily knock the Hodags out of playoff contention, though they would be among several teams with 3-4 conference records around the state looking to be among those that fill the field of 224 playoff qualifiers.

There has not been a lot of talk about the P-word, however, this week at practice. Coach Aaron Kraemer said that’s because win-or-else mode began last week for the Hodags in their 7-0 victory at Merrill.

“We talked about last week being playoff game No. 1 and the fact that we just need to go 1-0 every week from now on,” he said. “You can’t look past any game now. You have to do the best you possibly can to prepare and win every single game from here on out, because their might not be any more chances.”

Regardless of how things shake out, with its win last week, Rhinelander clinched a winning regular season. It’s only the 10th time in the last 50 years that the Hodags have accomplished that feat. Four of those occurrences have come in the last five years under Kraemer.

“I’m really proud of our guys. They’ve bounced back after a tough season last year, did the things they needed to do to come together in the offseason,” he said. “This has been one of the funnest years of coaching I’ve had just because of the makeup of the group and the resolve, how fun they make practice for us and our coaches and how well our coaches have bonded together. It’s been a really fun year.”

All that said, the Hodags don’t want their season to end tonight, and can assure that won’t happen if they can defeat a Thunderbird team that has come to life over the second half of the season. 

After an 0-4 start in which the T-Birds scored only 21 points, Lakeland has won four straight games and has scored three or more touchdowns in all of them.

“When you look at the conference opponents, they played Antigo tough and beat them,” Kraemer said. “They beat Ashland, just like we did. They beat Hayward, just like we did; Merrill just like we did. And they took Merrill to town in that game. When you look at the crossovers, you’d say they are the team that’s rolling, has things figured out going into the playoffs.” 

Here are five storylines going into tonight’s game.

    In this Sept. 29, 2023 file photo, Lakeland’s Noah Bruckner carries the ball during a GNC football game at Ashland. Bruckner enters tonight’s game at Rhinelander as the second-leading rusher in the GNC with 698 yards and seven touchdowns in six conference games. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

Emerging offense

One of the big questions for Lakeland going into the season was how it would replace its big offensive trio from 2022 of quarterback Brayden Wiczek, running back Rocky Wagoner and wide receiver Max Masayesva. 

It took a few weeks, but a new set of triplets has emerged for the T-Birds. Junior Noah Bruckner has established himself as Lakeland’s featured back. His 698 yards and seven touchdowns rank in the top three in the Great Northern Conference.

Senior Kort Meyer has settled into the quarterback role, completing 48% of his passes in conference play for 310 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions, while also serving as Lakeland’s second-leading rusher with 273 yards and four touchdowns. Meanwhile senior tight end Maccoy Holmquist has become a consistent threat in the passing game with 190 yards receiving and two touchdowns.

“It’s a downhill, smack you in the mouth offense, which is different than the Lakeland of the past, the four-wide spread Franklin system team,” Kraemer said. “They still do have parts of that offense still built in to what they do. They do go 4-wide, they do roll out. Kort Meyer’s good on the run, throws a pretty good ball on the run … They can win in both aspects, offensively. It’s about making sure we’re disciplined in our reads, making sure we understand if it’s run or pass.” 

Solid defense

Lakeland’s defense has allowed only 32 combined points in its four-game winning streak. The T-Birds are No. 4 in total defense in the GNC, giving up 202.7 yards per game. Kraemer said Lakeland has impact players on both ends of the defense. Junior lineman Greyson Allen has been a matchup problem in the interior and the Lakeland defense has generated six interceptions on the back end, led by two picks from ball-hawking safety Talon Haling. 

“It’s a 4-4 defense. We saw a mixed 4-front last week where the defensive line was moving and shifting — packing the box in and then widening out when they thought we were going to go outside,” Kraemer said. “That was kind of a chess game. I think it’s going to be the exact same thing with their defensive coordinator Justin Nimsgern. He’s going to try to put us in a situation where he’s chosen the right defense against what we’re going to run. So, offensively, we’re going to have to prepare ourselves to get the right play call.”

Though Rhinelander picked up the win last week, the Hodags have still managed only 27 points in their last five games and sit barely ahead of Hayward for the No. 6 spot in total offense in the conference. While the Hodags showed some life in the first half last week, Kraemer said the team is still a step or two away from getting back on track on the offensive side of the ball. 

“It just seemed like one missed assignment or one mis-executed play hurt us,” he said as the Hodags won despite totaling only 135 yards of offense. “We had some big plays in the second half that could have broke the game open and we just didn’t get that final block or we didn’t finish to the whistle and that hurt us. We’ll look to rectify that this week in practice and get to a spot where we can challenge against Lakeland.” 

A fortune in energy

Kraemer commended Lakeland for bouncing back from an 0-4 start, crediting the high energy of the squad, led by coach Dan Barutha. That energy, Kraemer contends, is what has allowed Lakeland to come up with big plays when its needed to during its four-game winning streak.

“They make their own fortune. They bring energy up,” he said. “They have high-energy players, high-energy coaches and, because of that high energy, other people see them as lucky, but I just see them as fortunate based on their energy. That energy is worth 6-10 points for them per game — whether it’s turnovers and pick-6s, you’ve seen that the last two weeks against Ashland and Hayward, or a big momentum play of offense — they are fortunate because of their energy. We have to pick up our energy to match them. That’s something they do really, really well.” 

Finding the balance

The Hodags should have plenty of energy this week. Playoff and rivalry implications aside, homecoming week and senior night should provide plenty of juice for tonight’s matchup.

“This week is a celebration of high school sports,” he said. “It’s a celebration of high school culture in general. It’s homecoming week. There’s a lot of things going from senior sunrise to bonfires, powderpuff, spike volleyball, the parade, the pep rally. There’s just a lot of energy around the school. I told our guys to utilize that energy to turn their warrior dial up in practice this week.”

While Kraemer said he wanted the energy level at 11 during the week, it will need to be dialed back down to 10, or even 9.99, for tonight’s game.

“We need to be able to on Friday turn that warrior dial down a little bit and say to yourself, ‘OK, where do I need to be, to be at my most-focused position. I can’t get too hyped up. I can’t get too high before this game. I can’t come into this game riding this major emotional high. I have to get myself down to where I can be successful and where I can focus.’”

Rivalry game

Kraemer admitted that may be easier said than done against Lakeland which, until Tomahawk moves back into the GNC next year, is Rhinelander’s closest rival from a geographic standpoint.

“There are so many close connections and relationships with these guys,” he said. “Their goal is to beat Lakeland because of maybe that fear of judgement and fear of failure from the opposite side. That’s what we’re going to focus on, don’t fear failure here. Understand that that’s something that happens in life and all we can control is the way we can respond.” 

It’s also the ninth time the two teams have played for the Northwoods Axe. The trophy game started in 2015 and is sponsored by the Northwoods River News and our sister paper, The Lakeland Times. 

The teams are tied at four wins apiece in the series. Rhinelander had won four of the five meetings against the T-Birds until Lakeland’s 49-0 drubbing of an injury-riddled Hodag squad to end last season.

After starting 6-0 at Rhinelander in trophy trade games, Kraemer’s Hodags have won three straight against arch-rivals Antigo and Lakeland. Kraemer said he hopes the team uses lessons from a 24-0 loss to the Robins last month as it prepares for tonight’s matchup with the T-Birds.

“We know how our last rivalry game went and where our heads were,” he said. “We need to dial that down a touch to get to where we need to be, to be focused to win.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].