Pigskin Preview Week 4: Hayward at Rhinelander

It’s hardly a stretch to say that few expected tonight’s contest between Rhinelander and Hayward to be a clash of undefeated teams.

The two programs combined to win only twice last year — with Rhinelander’s win coming in a 14-0 shutout at Hayward. WisSports.net had these two teams picked to finish seventh and eight in the GNC. The conference media gave them a hair more respect — slotting them fifth and sixth in the conference media poll. 

Yet, whichever team comes out of tonight’s clash at Mike Webster Stadium victorious will have the distinction of being the Great Northern Conference’s lone remaining undefeated team.

Hodag head coach Aaron Kraemer, for one, said he’s not surprised that both teams have been able to bounce back from 1-8 seasons.

“They look like an outfit that has had a lot of senior leadership,” he said of a Hayward team that’s off to its best start in coach Noah LeBlanc’s three seasons at the helm. “They look like an experienced outfit. They look like a group that’s ready to win. They’re going to be wanting to do the exact same thing that we did to them last year, which is come into our field and beat us on our home turf. 

“We feel like we have also changed. We feel like those changes have been for the good and we feel pretty comfortable offensively and defensively in what we’re doing. We feel confident in the gains we’ve been able to make over the last three weeks, and we feel like we’ll be ready for this Hayward team.”

Both teams come in off their most lopsided wins of the season. Rhinelander overcame some first-half mistakes and ran away from Ashland with a 32-7 victory on the road last Friday night. Hayward jumped ahead early and never looked back in a 27-8 win at Antigo. 

Both teams will see preseason conference favorites Mosinee and Medford before the end of the month. A win tonight would help both enter the tough middle portion of the schedule with a ton of momentum. 

“We feel like our strengths match their strengths this week,” Kraemer said. “We feel confident, but we also know that this is a really, really good team.”

Here are five storylines going into tonight’s game.

Dual threats

The Hodags will see their second spread offense team in three weeks. While Rhinelander stifled Wausau East for the most part in a 34-15 win, Hayward’s offense comes with a twist — multiple quarterbacks. 

Junior Alex Depew is the incumbent starter and has already put up some solid numbers to start the season. He’s thrown for 126 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for a team-high 213 yards and two scores. 

But Hayward has also used sophomore Keegan Walsh in a number of series this fall. He threw a pair of touchdown passes in Hayward’s season-opening win over Cumberland and has three touchdown passes on the season in only 17 attempts. 

Kraemer said both quarterbacks bring something different to the table. Depew likes to run while Walsh is more of a prototypical pocket passer. The key will be to force both to beat Rhinelander in a manner in which they are not comfortable.

“When you can really focus on one and take away the strength and force that player into doing something they’re not comfortable with, that’s when we can be successful,” he said.

Depew had a team-high 43 rush attempts on the season and it averaging 5.0 yards per carry. Junior Brock Chucka, who had 34 yards on eight carries in last year’s meeting agains the Hodags, is Hayward’s second leading rusher. 

Xzavier Stojek has been the big-play receiver so far for Hayward, averaging 23.1 yards per catch. Four of the seven passes he’s hauled in have gone for touchdowns. 

The best defense …

For Rhinelander, this season, it has been a game-controlling offense. The Hodags are averaging more than 31 minutes of possession time per game through three games this season. That’s something Rhinelander will look to continue this week to keep Hayward’s offense on the sidelines. 

“When you have the football, you have control of what you can do, and you have control of the points. Defensively, when you’re constantly on the field, it’s tough to score points,” Kraemer said. “That’s what this offense is built around. It’s about tempo, getting to the line quickly and running the play, but it’s not about tempo out of the huddle. We need to take our time and make sure we control the possession, keep the defense off the field. Then, when we have those long drives, the 20, 21, 22-play drives like you’ve seen so far this year, we have to cash in and capitalize on those with points.”

Still improving

Kraemer was still disappointed on Tuesday after the Hodags took the opening drive 20 plays last Friday night against Ashland, but came away empty following a fourth-down interception inside the 5. 

While the mistakes are becoming fewer for the Hodag offense, they are still out there. Rhinelander had six penalties in the Ashland game and turned the football over twice. 

“We’re executing a little bit better than we were the week before, and definitely better than we were Week 1, but we’re not all there yet,” Kraemer said. “That makes it kind of scary when you think about that we’re not yet at full capacity as far as the way we’re executing, but we’re still putting up points.”

Defensively, Ashland’s lone score came on a 66-yard pass through busted coverage — the fourth scoring play of 58 yards or longer allowed by the Hodag defense this season. 

“You take those plays away, we’ve had one of the best defenses in the conference,” Kraemer said. “Our job this week is just to take away those big plays, make teams earn their points. We’re going to dictate the ball offensive, dictate the time of possession. We’re going to take over the tempo of the game offensively. So, defensively we just need to get them off the field and let our offense operate.”

Hayward’s defense

The Hurricanes have been playing some sneaky-good defense to start the year, holding teams to just over 7 points and 183 yards per game. The Hurricanes return a pair of all-conference players from that side of the ball in defensive end Luke Snider and safety Sam Schmitt.

Schmitt already has a pair of interceptions, has recovered a fumble and is the team’s second leading tackler through three games. Snider is fourth on the team with 18 tackles. 

Inside linebackers Kayden Kennel and Lucas Jorczak have been seeing the lion’s share of the action, with 39 and 24 tackles, respectively on the year. 

“They’re certainly strong up front,” Kraemer said. “Their defensive line is very good and they’re experienced. They have some all-conference players up there. They have athletes on the perimeter offensively, and those athletes play defense as well. You can expect those guys will be very good in the secondary.”

Kraemer said Hayward has been susceptible to big plays at times in the misdirection game, which is something the Hodags will likely employ at times this evening

    Owen Kurtz carries the American flag as he leads the Rhinelander High School football team on to the field to take on Ashland in a GNC football game in Ashland Friday, Sept. 1. The Hodags will honor active and former military members as well as law enforcement and emergency personnel prior to tonight’s game. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Honoring and remembering

Off the field, tonight’s game holds special significance as the home game that falls closest to the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. 

The team is marking the occasion by dedicating the game to active and former military members as well as law enforcement and emergency personnel. Those who have served in these roles have been invited to join the Hodags for their team meal this afternoon prior to the game. They will also be recognized during a pregame ceremony that will include a presentation of colors by the Northwoods Honor Guard. 

“It certainly means a lot to our program to give back to those that serve us and allow us, first of all freedom but, second of all allow us the opportunity to play football,” Kraemer said. “We look forward to giving back to them, look forward to having them at our team meal and having a little bit of fellowship and we definitely look forward to honoring them at the game.”

Additionally, the Hodag Gridiron Club will be selling patriotic-themed Hodag football T-Shirts with proceeds going to benefit Camp Ryan Adams, whose mission is to “facilitate emotional healing in the outdoors of veterans and their families,” according to its website.

 The camp’s environment and activities promote fellowship, community and new relationships.

The camp was founded in honor of Adams, a Rhinelander native and former RHS football player, who was killed in action while serving in Afghanistan in 2009.  

“We’re thankful that we’re able to give back to Camp Ryan Adams,” Kraemer said. “I’ve heard so many stories about him, not only from his coaches but from players that played with him. The type of guy he was and obviously the tragic accident that happened to him while he was serving in the military. We need more people like that. We need people that are willing to give selflessly for others and always do so with a smile on their face. It seems like Ryan was that type of person. We want to make sure we’re able to honor him.”

Kraemer credited junior team member Dominic Lehmann and his parents for taking the lead on the Gridiron Club’s behalf in planning tonight’s festivities. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].