Mosinee too much for Hodags on homecoming

Mosinee’s passing attack overwhelmed the Rhinelander High School football team Friday night, leaving the Hodags’ playoff chances on life support.

Treve Stoffel threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for another, as the Indians defeated the Hodags 26-6 on homecoming night at Mike Webster Stadium.

Tight end Brady Lokken hauled in all three touchdown passes, part of a six-catch, 144-yard night for the Great Northern Conference’s leading receiver. The Hodags, with the seventh-ranked pass defense in the eight-team GNC, struggled to keep Mosinee’s top-ranked passing offense in check. 

The loss was Rhinelander’s third in a row and fourth in the last five games. Sitting at 1-4 in the conference, the Hodags must now win their final two games — including Thursday’s tilt at GNC-leading Medford (see sidebar) — in order to become playoff eligible. 

“We had our chances in the first half. Unfortunately, we didn’t capitalize on those chances and, in the second half, Mosinee showed their depth,” Hodag head coach Aaron Kraemer said. “They played really, really well against us in the second half and pulled away. 

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the effort of our guys tonight. The effort was spectacular. I’m not down about that at all. I told our guys that same effort, same heart, same desire is what we’re going to need next week.”

Ultimately, three things stood out for the Hodags in Friday’s loss — the inability to slow down Lokken on either side of the ball, struggles yet again inside the red zone and more key injuries that are testing the team’s depth.

    Mosinee’s Brady Lokken breaks a tackle attempt by Rhinelander’s Sam Schoppe on his way for a 70-yard touchdown during the first quarter of a GNC football game Friday, Oct. 4 at Mike Webster Stadium. Lokken caught six passes for 144 yards and three touchdowns in Mosinee’s 26-6 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Lokken gave the Hodags a gift on Mosinee’s opening drive, fumbling away a catch on the second play of the night. But he recorded a third-down sack on the other side of the ball, forcing the Hodags to punt and then showed his big-play ability on a 70-yard catch and run for a score that put Mosinee up 7-0 with 7:37 left in the opening quarter. 

Lokken made a sliding catch in the end zone on fourth and goal from the 5 as Mosinee scored with 1:44 before halftime to give the Indians a 13-6 lead at the break and hauled in a third score from 18 yards between safeties Truman Lamers and Rowan Wiczek in double coverage to make it 19-6 with 4:19 left in the third. 

“He’s got my vote. He’s the (top) tight end in the conference that we’ve seen for sure and he’s a really, really good player,” Kraemer said of Lokken. “Offensively, we knew coming in how he could be the game changer. We had a plan for that and I thought the plan worked decently until the big play. We were on him, made some tackles on him. He fumbled early in the game, put the ball on the ground. But he’s a good player and sometimes you’ve got to a tip your cap to a good player.” 

Stoffel added a nine-yard run on a scramble for the final score with 4:28 remaining as the Indians racked up 414 yards of offense — the most allowed by the Hodag defense this season. 

Cyrus Leisure recorded this third touchdown run of the season for Rhinelander. He busted out for a 70-yard rundown the right sideline with 2 seconds remaining in the opening quarter to pull the Hodags within 7-6, but the first half for the Rhinelander offense was underscored by continuing struggles in the red zone. 

The Hodags went 0 for 2 with the ball inside the Mosinee 20. The Hodags had first and goal from the 5 on their second possession of the night but went backwards from there and Lamers threw an interception in the end zone attempting to force the ball between defenders to Evan Shoeder on fourth and goal. Rhinelander got down inside the 10 again in the second quarter as they faced fourth and 2 from the 8. Instead of attempting what would have been a go-ahead field goal, the Hodags went for it and Lamers had his pass swatted away in the backfield by Stoffel after the Indians brought an all-out blitz. 

Rhinelander has struggled in the red zone in conference play. In the Hodags’ four losses they have failed to score from inside the 20 on eight separate occasions. 

“Just a few mental mistakes in critical situations. We practiced that this week. We knew that was an issue coming in,” Kraemer said. “We did a pretty good job of it in practice and, in that one situation, we had a couple brain farts and that’s what costs you. We talked about it last week. It’s the difference between 3-3 and 6-0 just a few mental mistakes. We had it in that moment, which is unfortunate.”

Rhinelander had another chance to seize back momentum early in the third quarter after Corde Wright muffed a punt that the Hodags recovered at the Mosinee 41, but Lamers was sacked by Lokken on third down as the Hodags went 3-and-out.

Lokken finished the night with two sacks and several tackles for loss and Rhinelander’s offense, which had 197 yards at halftime, was limited to 50 yards after the break.

“He did a nice job getting up the field. We had plays to set him up and he did a good job squeezing. He’s just a very good player on the defensive end side,” Kraemer said. “Defensively, he disrupted us more than I thought he would.”

    Rhinelander’s Cyrus Leisure breaks a tackle en route to a 70-yard touchdown run in the first quarter of a GNC football game against Mosinee Friday, Oct. 4 at Mike Webster Stadium. Leisure rushed for a team-high 76 yards, but left the game in the third quarter with a knee injury. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Adding injury to insult, Rhinelander saw two of its top rushers leave the game due to injury. Senior Logan Schwinger injured his ankle in the second quarter and tried to briefly return before leaving the game for good after halftime. Leisure went down with a knee injury on a run in the third quarter and also did not return. 

Afterward, Kraemer said he was hopeful that Schwinger’s injury would not be serious, but was less sure about Leisure, who had a game-high 75 yards rushing for Rhinelander and has a team-high 459 yards on the ground overall this season.

“Right now, he’s a guy I think deserves all-conference recognition for what he’s been able to accomplish this season, especially on the offensive side of the ball,” he said. “I’m really proud of him. I hope it’s not long-term. I hope we can get him back but the biggest thing is to make sure that he’s healthy.”

Kraemer said both players were set to be further evaluated after the game to determine the extent of their injuries. He also noted that junior lineman Caden Sieker re-aggravated the separated shoulder he suffered in the Sept. 20 loss at Tomahawk. 

Stoffel, the GNC’s leading passer, was 16 of 23 through the air. He did throw an interception late in the first half as Mosinee committed three turnovers in the contest. Wright added 91 yards on three catches for Mosinee and Ben Beckman was the Indians’ leading rusher with 49 yards on 14 carries.

Lamers was 5 of 11 passing on the night for 74 yards with a pick. Sam Zwaard made a contested grab against Wright for 36 yards in the third quarter for the Hodags’ lone first down of the second half. Sam Schoppe had 59 yards on eight carries while Myles Eagleson had nine carries for 35 yards. 

If Rhinelander manages to pull off an upset against Medford — which entered the week No. 8 in the WSN D3 coaches poll and rolled past Tomahawk 38-7 on Friday — it would set up a week 9 showdown at home against Merrill with a possible playoff berth at stake. Otherwise, Rhinelander will almost certainly miss the playoffs for the second time in three years. 

“I know there are two games left this year and we’re not writing anything off. We’re going to play as hard as we possibly can and try to get into the playoffs,” Kraemer said.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].