Pigskin Preview Week 6: Rhinelander at Mosinee

One week, you are riding high, undefeated and ranked in the state. The next week you are licking your wounds from a loss to a rival, dealing with injuries to key personnel and staring the most daunting part of your schedule straight in the eye.

Welcome to the fickle nature of high school football. 

That roller coaster is exactly what the Rhinelander Hodags are facing as they try to pick themselves off the canvas following a 24-0 loss to Antigo last week in the 89th Bell Game. But rebound games don’t come much tougher than this as the Hodags travel tonight to face defending GNC-champion Mosinee in its Homecoming game.

Mosinee has hit its stride since falling to Stratford in the opening week of the season. It comes in the winners of four straight, and has yet to surrender a touchdown in conference play.

Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer admitted his team got caught, not looking past Antigo last week, but rather looking at the big picture of what knocking off its arch-rival would mean within the larger context of the season. 

“When you’re rolling and you’re 4-0, I think that you sometimes forget the pleasures of playing football,” he said. “You forget about the fun in playing football and you start to press and you start to worry about winning. I think that that hit us hard last week.”

“I think we just came out, played a little bit tight and then when they came out and kind of hit us in the mouth early, when there was no response, I think we were kind of shocked, and that’s the way you can say that we played in the first and second quarter,” Kraemer added.

That loss changed the narrative of the Hodags’ season significantly. Instead of becoming playoff eligible, moving to within one win of clinching a playoff berth and setting up a battle of conference unbeatens tonight, Rhinelander now enters a stretch against the two preseason favorites in the GNC knowing that if it cannot spring at least one upset, it will need to win one, if not both, of its final two games of the regular season to make the playoffs.

“We just have to continue to go on because we get five more weeks of football,” Kraemer said. “We’ve got to win at least one of the next four, and hopefully two of the next four, so we can get a fifth week of football to keep enjoying each other and the times we’ve had together.”

Here are five storylines entering tonight’s game.

Ridin’ the storm out

Rhinelander certainly will not be looking past Mosinee, but is aware the schedule doesn’t get much easier after this. Another 4-1 team, Medford, looms on the horizon next week. 

Much like Mosinee, Medford has laid waste to its first three conference opponents, outscoring them 121-20, and has a signature win against then No. 4 (D3) Onalaska on its resume back in Week 2.

The way Kraemer sees it, the Hodags will get back-to-back tests against teams that have the potential to be playing for multiple weeks in the WIAA tournament series. 

“We’re going to learn what we need to do to play against these playoff teams come October,” he said. “That’s our goal and I hope our guys understand that. Our goal is to win this game but, at the same time, there are a lot of lessons that can be learned against these playoff-type teams. 

“We believe we can win, and we obviously want to win, but these next two weeks are going to teach us a lot about our program and a lot about ourselves.” 

Trainer’s room

The Hodags will have to go into this stretch without one of their top two-way players in running back/defensive lineman Owen Kurtz, who was injured on the final play of the first half of last week’s game.

While Kraemer said the ankle injury Kurtz sustained should not be a season-ender, it will definitely keep him out of the lineup this week. It could cost the senior next week as well, depending on how his recovery progresses.

Kraemer said Kurtz will have to lead through his words this week, while getting others ready to play in his absence.

“I know that he’s going to teach these guys this week as we prepare and he’s going to be the best guy on the sideline to help give these guys some insight into helping them win at their positions,” he said.

Rhinelander’s backfield depth takes a hit with Kurtz, the team’s second-leading rusher, out. Kraemer said James Heck, who has platooned with Kurtz at the position this season, will see the bulk of the snaps tonight with junior Tyler Chariton coming to spell him on occasion. 

Kurtz’s departure also leaves the Hodags thin on the defensive line. 

“For Owen, defensively, it really hurts us because we really kind of have a 1 1/2 rotation defensively,” Kraemer said. “You see a lot of guys playing D-line and rotating in so that they’re not only fresh on the defense, but fresh on the offense. Now you take one of those pieces out of the equation and now we don’t have that same depth.”

That depth will also be tested on the offensive line as Kraemer said center Kaeden Piller (illness) is unlikely to play this evening. Senior Ben Lyon has taken first-team reps at the position this week in practice. 

On the positive side, Kraemer indicated that Payton Campbell (ankle) should be back to more of a full role this week after getting hurt in practice last Wednesday. He played last Friday night, but was limited to only the defensive side of the football.  

Mosinee offense

The Hodag defense will face its toughest test of the season so far against a Mosinee offense that has fired on all cylinders since suffering a 33-14 loss to Stratford in the opener. In the four games since, Mosinee has averaged 45.8 points and 333.5 yards of offense per game.

Quarterback Gavin Obremski has been solid, throwing for 725 yards, with seven touchdowns and only two interceptions on the season, while completing 66% of his passes. Mosinee has been very balanced on offense — with two more rushing yards than passing yards so far. Mosinee has run the football on roughly 61.5% of its plays. Running back Wyatt Harris (42 carries-357 yards-8 TD) has been very effective in an option-style attack.

While Mosinee runs a spread-style offense, Kraemer said the ground game makes Mosinee more challenging to go up against than the other spread teams it has seen this year — Wausau East and Hayward.

“They’re going to pick on our defensive end, make him wrong and then option,” Kraemer said. “When they get the ball out in the option game, they’re very explosive. Wyatt Harris and Obremski and those other receivers, they make that offense into a running offense, but a passing offense and they’re potent in both.”

    Mosinee’s Keagan Jirschele looks to make a play in space during a GNC football game at Lakeland Friday, Sept. 1. A do-it-all player, Jirschele had scored has three rushing, three receiving and two special teams touchdowns on the year. He even threw a touchdown pass in Mosinee’s Week 1 loss to Stratford. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

11 to 4

The real cog in Mosinee’s offense, however, is senior receiver Keagan Jirschele, who wears No. 4. As he has the past two seasons, Jirschele’s been a do-it-all guy in the Mosinee attack. He’s caught 20 passes for 273 yards and three touchdowns. He’s rushed 15 times for 106 yards and three scores. He has both a punt return and a kick return touchdown on the year. He even threw a touchdown pass in the Week 1 loss to Stratford.

Jirschele has been a certified Hodag killer in multiple sports since transferring from Wausau West to Mosinee prior to the start of his sophomore season. In last year’s 50-8 win over Rhinelander, Jirschele had 151 yards and two touchdowns on only six touches (four carries, two receptions). He also threw a 37-yard pass on the opening drive of that contest. 

Mosinee likes to use Jirschele in the slot, split wide as a single receiver and in the jet sweep game. Kraemer said it will be key for the Hodag defense to know where he’s aligned at all times tonight. 

“When I see him on film, it looks like every play is a punt return. He gets the ball in open space and he’s got the breakaway speed an athleticism to make every single play an extended play,” he said. “Every play he’s got the ball in his hands, we need to be aware and try to get 11 guys to that area, because he’ll make a guy miss, but if we slow him down and force him to run laterally, then we’re winning there.”

Sustaining drives

The best defense for the Mosinee offense tonight may be to try to keep it on the sideline. The Hodags will look to get back to the ball control offense it had when it possessed the ball for more than 30 minutes on average over the first four games of the season. 

The Hodags are looking to get back on track, period, after being stifled and held to just 66 yards of offense in last week’s loss to the Robins.

“We’re going to have to be better offensively in order to beat Mosinee tonight,” Kraemer said. “When you’ve got a high-flying offense that you’re playing against, you want to make sure you can control the tempo, control the clock. That’s something we’re going to want to do, but we have to be able to pick up first downs. It starts with eliminating the mistakes … When run effectively, three, four, five yards a play will get you a first down. Our guys have to understand it’s not all about the big play, it’s about sustaining and making every play count.”

That’s going to be much easier said than done against a Mosinee outfit that has allowed just one field goal in three conference games, while holding opponents to 163 yards per game.

Some of the same big names form the offensive side of the ball factor in defensively. Harris, as a linebacker, is second on the team with 45 total tackles. Jirschele has a team high five tackles for loss and his five interceptions are tied for the lead state-wide. Overall, Mosinee has 14 takeaways on the season.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].