Roiled by the Red Robins

ANTIGO — How different might the Rhinelander High School football season be but for a few key plays at key times. 

For the third time in four weeks, the Hodags were left smarting and wondering what might have been after a second-half rally fell short. Friday night’s defeat was the most bitter of them all as three turnovers in the final four drives were too many to overcome in a 28-20 loss to arch-rival Antigo in the 90th playing of the Bell Game at Schofield Stadium.

It marked Rhinelander’s third straight loss in the trophy series with the Robins, who now lead 57-31-2 since its inception in 1935. After winning his first six trophy games as Hodag head coach between the Bell and the Northwoods Axe against Lakeland, Aaron Kraemer’s squad has lost six in a row against its chief rivals and have failed to bring home either trophy since 2021. 

    Rhinelander High School football coach Aaron Kraemer consoles senior Logan Schwinger following a 28-20 loss to Antigo in the 90th Bell Game in Antigo Friday, Sept. 27. The Hodags have lost three straight to the Robins and six straight trophy-trade games overall dating back to the start of 2022. (Laura Wurtinger for the River News)
  

“It’s hard to lose to the Axe. It’s hard to lose the Bell,” Kraemer said. “Obviously, they’re rivalry games and you want to come out on top of those. The positive thing is that we’ve played two really good games in those games against tough teams. The unfortunate thing is we came up a little bit short.”

Antigo’s Colton Thomae passed for 137 yards and two touchdowns — both to Ethan Buchman. Thomae ran for another 88 yards and a score. The rushing touchdown from a yard away gave Antigo a 28-14 lead with 4:52 remaining in the third quarter. 

As they did after two of Antigo’s previous three scores, the Hodags answered with a touchdown of their own. Logan Schwinger carried it in from five yards away with 9:29 left to get Rhinelander within eight following a failed two-point conversion attempt. 

From there, a Rhinelander defense that allowed a season-worst 28 points and 314 yards to the Robins stiffened — only to see the offense fade down the stretch. 

Caden Sieker stripped Antigo’s Michael Hagerty and Sam Schoppe recovered near midfield with 6:55 remaining, but the Hodags gave it right back as Myles Eagleson was stripped by Antigo’s Jayson Arrowood on the very next play. Though Antigo went 3 and out on its next drive, a punt pinned Rhinelander at its own 18 with 4:40 remaining. 

Truman Lamers converted on fourth down to keep the drive going but, on the next play, underthrew a deep pass over the middle that was intercepted by Buchman with 2:52 to play and the Robins ran out the clock from there. 

The Rhinelander sideline tried to plead that Buchman trapped the ball against the turf on his sliding interception attempt to no avail following a long conversation by the officials. Though it cannot be used to overturn a call in a regular season high school game, multiple replay angles proved inconclusive. 

“I thought the ball hit the ground. (The officials say) it doesn’t. They take it away,” Kraemer said. “That’s a call on the other side of the field. I thought it was made by the back judge, which is tough, but that part hurts.” 

Offense was the story of the first half as the teams traded touchdown blows. Antigo marched down the field on the opening drive and scored 5:07 into the contest on a 1-yard run by Arrowood. Rhinelander answered with an eight-play march capped off by a 19-yard pass from Lamers to Cyrus Leisure to tie the game late in the first quarter. 

Thomae found Buchman for an eight-yard score midway through the second. Rhinelander answered with a six-yard score by Lamers with 4:22 left in the half. That proved to be just enough time for the Robins to drive down the field — aided by a pair of pass interference penalties — as Thomae found Buchman again from 13 yards out on fourth and 10 with 11 seconds remaining in the half to give the Robins a 21-14 lead.

“Our alignment for the corners was inside when they had grass to the outside. They were running corner routes. That’s what they scored the touchdown on,” Kraemer said. “I thought we made the adjustments we needed to make (in the second half).”

Rhinelander finished the night 3 of 4 in red zone trips while Antigo was 4 for 4. The Hodags’ miss came late in the third quarter as Schwinger mishandled a pitch from Lamers with the Hodags at the Antigo 19 and the Robins recovered the loose ball. 

Rhinelander dropped to 3-3 on the season — with the three losses coming by a combined 19 points.

“One play a game does not make a game. There are a lot of plays we want back,” Kraemer said. “There were moments where we could have capitalized. We didn’t and congratulations to them. That’s a big win for them.”

Eagleson led the Hodags with 76 yards on 11 carries while Leisure had 66 yards on seven carries and added two catches for 29 yards. Lamers was 6 of 13 passing for 79 yards as Rhinelander put up 284 yards of offense. 

Buchman finished with four grabs for 70 yards and Hagerty added 60 yards on 10 carries for Antigo. 

Thomae takes over

Thomae, Antigo’s dual-threat quarterback, took over the game from the second quarter on. He was 7 of 13 passing for 101 yards and two touchdowns in the first half. While Rhinelander slowed him down in the passing game after halftime, he made inroads on the ground. After rushing four times for no yards in the first half, he carried the ball 11 times for 88 yards and a score in the second.

“He had a great game tonight. He’s a great player,” Kraemer said. “When I watched him on film, he was the danger man. I thought we did a pretty good job of shutting him down in the first half, but they made an adjustment, they went to trips and started running to the weak side. That’s what the did in the second half to accomplish what they accomplished.”

That production made it hard for the Hodag defense to get off the field. Antigo finished the night 8 of 11 on third down and converted its only fourth down attempt. 

Game time decision

    Rhinelander’s Truman Lamers scores a touchdown during the second quarter of the 90th Bell Game in Antigo Friday, Sept. 27. Lamers played both ways, despite injuring his shoulder last week in Antigo. (Laura Wurtinger for the River News)
  

Up until roughly 45 minutes before kickoff, it was unclear whether Lamers would start at quarterback. He injured his throwing (right) shoulder early in the previous week’s loss at Tomahawk but stayed in the game and finished that contest. 

With his shoulder heavily wrapped, Lamers threw a number of passes in warm-ups before getting the green light to start. Kraemer stopped short of saying the injury affected the interception Lamers threw late in the game.

“Truman, before the game and we’re at the school and it’s not feeling that great. We get out here and adrenaline can do a lot of things,” he said. “I thought he played as well as he could have played tonight. I’m really, really proud of him. I’m not going to let one bad pass change my mind of the way he played the football game tonight.” 

Playing wounded too

The Hodags were without starters Bo Stott (leg) and Mathias Fugle (knee) but did get an unexpected return from junior Caden Sieker, who was feared to be out at least a week after injuring his shoulder in the loss to Tomahawk. Sieker was limited to the defensive side of the ball, but made a huge impact there, recording a team-high eight tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.

“Caden, you know what you get from Caden every single time. It’s all heart. He certainly played as such tonight,” Kraemer said. “I’m really, really proud of him. I’ll have to talk to him and see how his shoulder is with the brace on. He didn’t practice this week much and played a heck of a game tonight at the Hodag (outside linebacker) position.”

Playoff implications

At 1-3 in the GNC with three games to play, the Hodags must run the table in order to clinch a spot in the WIAA playoffs. A 3-4 conference record would put Rhinelander in the running for one of the final spots in the playoff field of 224 teams, but even that would take a combination of two of three wins against Mosinee, Medford and Merrill, who are a combined 9-3 so far in league play.

“We’re backed into a corner now,” Kraemer said. “We have one choice, and that’s to start swinging back out of that corner. We have to. We don’t have a choice now.” 

Up Next

Mosinee comes to Mike Webster Stadium this Friday night for Homecoming. Though the Indians are 4-2 overall and 3-1 in the GNC, they do not resemble the team that dominated the conference last year. Mosinee was upset by Wausau East 23-22 back on Sept. 20 and trailed 7-0 at halftime to Tomahawk this past week before rallying to win, 28-14. 

“They have solid athletes,” Kraemer said. “The one thing you know is that they’re going to play good defense. We’re going to have to figure them out defensively. We’re going to have to get healthier. I think that’s a big part of this but, coming home for homecoming and, the way this GNC is, anything can happen. I’m not upset or worried or nervous or anything. I just want our guys to stand up and fight and I think we can do that.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].