Bell Game blues

In the eyes of the Rhinelander faithful, the 89th Bell Game was not supposed to go like this — not with the momentum the Hodag football team had built in a 4-0 start and not against an Antigo team that was dominated by Hayward two weeks earlier.

However, when it came time to lay the cards on the table, the Robins simply pushed the Hodags around — much they way it did when they dominated the series from the 1960s through the 1980s and again from the mid 2000s through the 2010s. 

The Robins rushed for 218 yards, held the Hodags to 65 yards of offense, and blanked Rhinelander 24-0 Friday night at Mike Webster Stadium

Antigo scored touchdowns on its first three offensive possessions and tacked on a field goal to start the fourth quarter while the Hodag offense never got out of neutral, picking up only three first downs on the night. 

The Hodags came in undefeated and ranked No. 10 in the WisSports.net D3 coaches’ poll. Antigo was a .500 outfit. None of that seemed to matter on Friday.

“Rivalry games don’t care about records,” Hodag coach Aaron 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.”

The Robins’ game plan was simple, yet effective. Offensively, it was a steady diet of the power running game, with a sprinkling of the pass to help pick up a few key third-down conversions. Defensively, Antigo threw more rushers at the Hodags than they could block. 

The tone was set early, as Antigo marched 64 yards on seven plays on the opening drive, capped by an Alex Schlieve 2-yard run. 

After forcing the Hodags to punt, Antigo marched down the field again — this time 72 yards on 12 plays — and quarterback Colton Thomae hit Jayson Arrowood on third and 8 for a 17-yard score on the opening play of the second quarter. 

It was rinse and repeat from there. Another Hodag punt led to another touchdown for Antigo — this one on another Schlieve 2-yard plunge — that put the Robins up 21-0 with 8:19 left in the half.

“I got outcoached on the offensive side of the football,” Kraemer said. “Their defensive scheme was ready for us. I didn’t make the adjustments I needed to early in the first half and I fault myself for that. In the second half, we just didn’t have it enough times to make it count. 

“Defensively, you can’t keep the defense on the field for that long against a team that runs the ball so well. We struggled because of the amount of time we were on the field.”

Rhinelander’s defense stiffened in the second half, turning over Antigo on downs midway through the third quarter and making the Robins settle for a 20-yard field goal from Nolan Bunnell to start the fourth. From there the Hodags hit their only explosive play of the night, a 42-yard pickup on a screen pass from Truman Lamers to James Heck. That drive stalled out, however, when Logan Schwinger couldn’t haul in a fourth down pass. 

After holding Antigo to a rare three-and-out, Lamers underthrew a deep ball to Zach Germain that was intercepted by Ezekial Fobes with 7:45 to play and the Hodags never touched the football again. 

“Defensively, we stood up and we had our opportunities to come back in the game,” Kraemer said.

If last year’s 26-14 loss to an underdog Antigo was a punch to the gut for Kraemer and the Hodags, this year’s defeat was a well-delivered right cross.

“I take that one on the chin, big time, and it doesn’t feel good,” Kraemer said. “But, at the same time, we’ve got to be better from Monday to Wednesday as a team. That includes coaches, that includes players. We have to be more intense and we have to prepare.”

      

“Rivalry games don’t care about records. 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.”

- Aaron Kraemer, RHS football coach

Bringing the house

    Rhinelander quarterback Truman Lamers attempts to throw a pass away while being tackled by Antigo’s Alex Schlieve during the fourth quarter of the 89th Bell Game at Mike Webster Stadium Friday, Sept. 15. Lamers was sacked five times in the game as Antigo held Rhinelander to 65 yards of total offense. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)  

Antigo had shown a number of five- and six-man rushes on film in its 5-2 Monster defense, but cranked the heat up to 11 on Friday night with multiple eight-man blitzes. 

That made for a long night offensively as the Hodags had seven negative rushing plays, including five sacks of Lamers.

“They were playing man coverage and they were just bringing the house, and that worked for them,” Kraemer said. “We didn’t make a change to max protect on the back side until the second half, didn’t get enough plays.

“I put them in a bad position tonight by all of the blitzing that we saw in the game. I was not anticipating all of that pressure and I was not anticipating Cover 0. They outschemed us and they played with heart tonight and they deserve the Bell.”

Trainer’s room

A Hodag team that had largely escaped the injury bug through the first four weeks of the season was not so lucky against the Robins. 

The troubles began Wednesday when senior wingback/safety Payton Campbell rolled his ankle in practice. Though he played Friday night, he was limited to only the defensive side of the football. 

Things went from bad to worse on the final play of the first half where, following an eight-yard gain, Owen Kurtz appeared to have his ankle twisted on a tackle by Antigo’s Ayden Kaiser. Kurtz did not return following that play.

“As far as Owen’s concerned right now, it’s just an ankle injury,” Kraemer said, noting that preliminary sideline evaluation did not reveal any structural damage. “He’s going to need to have some time to rest and we’ll see if we can get him for the Mosinee game. If we do, we hope we can get him on at least the defensive side of the ball so he can play against that tough Mosinee offense. 

“Payton, we were just doing a tackling drill and he kind of got rolled up. The limitedness of his ankle had more to do with the feeling of what that ankle was feeling. He got taped it, it didn’t help it and once he put the brace on in the second half, he felt a lot better.”

Statbook

Alec Knapkavage rushed for 101 yards on 20 carries — eclipsing the century mark on a fourth-down run on the game’s final play. Javon Bussey added 70 yards on 10 carries while Schleive had 13 carries, 37 yards and two scores for the Robins. 

Thomae was 4 of 6 passing as he split time with senior Jake Verhasselt who was 1 of 3 on the night. Mitchell Hotchkiss caught three passes for 62 yards while Arrowood caught his first two passes of the season.

Kurtz, despite the injury, was Rhinelander’s leading rusher, with 24 yards on five carries. Lamers was 2 of 9 throwing for 46 yards and an interception.

Antigo did to Rhinelander what the Hodags did to their opponents during the four-game winning streak — take over the game with a ball-control offense. The Robins possessed the ball for 30 minutes, 20 seconds and converted 7 of 11 third down attempts. The Hodags went just 1 of 9 on third down and ran only 31 plays to Antigo’s 59.

Rivalry rundown

Friday’s game marked the 102nd meeting between the teams, with Antigo improving to 65-34-3 all-time. The Bell Game was established in 1935 and the Robins now hold a 56-31-2 edge in the series.

Friday’s game marked the 15th time that Rhinelander has been shut out in the Bell Game, and the first since 2013. 

Difficulty ahead

Things get no easier for the Hodags, as they go on the road to take on defending conference champion Mosinee this Friday.

Mosinee has steamrolled through opponents since suffering a Week 1 loss to Stratford. Hayward was the latest victim, falling to Mosinee 44-3 on Friday night. 

After that, it’s a home date with Medford, which is also on a four-game winning streak after blasting Ashland 59-6 on Friday.

“This is a good opportunity for us to understand how fragile winning streaks can be, how fragile a team can be on a high. Instead of getting ourselves down in the valley (we need to) rise up,” Kraemer said. “It’s time to do that. We have two of the toughest games on our schedule moving forward in Mosinee and Medford. If we play like we are capable of playing in those two games, there’s no reason why we can’t win both of those and turn this season around.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].