Playing for more than pride?

The Rhinelander High School football team looks to play the role of playoff spoiler tonight and — if all the stars align — perhaps still sneak in to the postseason itself.

The Hodags host Merrill at Mike Webster Stadium. Sitting at 2-4 in the GNC, Merrill is in a must-win scenario tonight in order to qualify for the WIAA playoffs. Though the Hodags are 1-5, they still have an outside chance to make the tournament with a win and a lot of help. 

Given that Rhinelander’s playoff fate it not in its own hands, Hodag head coach Aaron Kraemer said it’s up to his team to go out and fight like tonight is the last game it will play, regardless of the outcome.

“The seniors owe it to themselves this week to play as hard as they possibly can. What I’ve asked of them is to put their best foot forward and leave all their best play on the field,” he said. “A lot of these guys, unfortunately, aren’t going on to play college football. This is it for a lot of these guys. For our seniors, we would be doing ourselves a disservice and themselves a disservice if we didn’t do everything we possibly could.”

Merrill finds itself in a win-or-else situation after a 17-11 loss at home to Tomahawk on Saturday — setting up a wild final night in the GNC where as many as six conference teams could find their way into the tournament. 

In that sense, it’s a role reversal from last year, when the Hodags went to Merrill in a Week 8 game needing a win to become playoff eligible. Rhinelander won 7-0 in a defensive slugfest and Kraemer said he expects a similar dogfight this evening.  

“They’re a team that’s full of pride,” he said. “They have a lot of tradition in that school. You know it when you go down there for track meets. You know it when you go down there for other sporting events … We have to play a clean game to beat this team. They’re physical in the middle. They have some really nice athletes on the offensive side of the ball and they like to throw it, so we’re going to have to take it away.”

Here are five storylines going into tonight’s game:

So you’re telling me there’s chance …

Conventional wisdom says it takes four conference victories to clinch a playoff berth and three to become playoff eligible. However, the WIAA takes the top 224 teams in the state with no mandate on how many conference wins a team must have to make the field. 

That’s important for the Hodags because, should fewer than 224 teams finish with a conference record of 3-4 or better, there is a still chance Rhinelander could sneak in at 2-5. 

Working in Rhinelander’s favor in this regard is the team’s 28-7 win over Wausau East back in Week 4. That’s because one of the top playoff tiebreaker criteria is, essentially, strength of victory — the conference winning percentage of defeated opponents. 

If Rhinelander wins tonight, that percentage will be at worst .423, and could be an even .500 if Wausau East (4-2) takes care of Antigo (2-4) on the road. Long story short, a Rhinelander win and a Wausau East win could potentially give the Hodags the best strength of victory tiebreaker among 2-5 teams in the state. 

That’s not to say the math is in Rhinelander’s favor, as a lot would have to happen for a 2-5 squad to get in. Currently there are 215 that are either guaranteed to finish with a better conference record than Rhinelander, or finish 2-5 and have a better strength of victory tiebreaker. Assuming Rhinelander and Wausau East win, there are 41 games featuring a 2-4 team (or 1-4 team in the case of Beloit Turner, which plays in a seven-team conference with no crossover). Of those 41 teams, at least 33 would have to lose in order to keep the qualifying field under 224 teams, and allow room for a 2-5 team to make the field. That, in itself, will require some upsets because, of those 41 teams, 13 play teams that are either 0-6 or 1-5 in their conference.

Additionally, there are three 1-5 teams that, should they pull off an upset over a 6-0 conference leader tonight, would get to a .500 strength of victory and have a tiebreaker over Rhinelander by virtue of the result over their conference champion. What’s more, another four teams 1-5 teams could get to a .500 strength of victory with a win, plus a win from the team they defeated earlier in the conference season. 

The odds are long at best. Because of that Kraemer said the Hodags just need to win “and let the chips fall where they may after that.”

“We have to win this week and that’s the key,” he said. “We’re expecting not to play in the playoffs, so that shouldn’t even enter our minds at this point. It’s simply we want to put our best foot forward. We want to win on senior night and send the seniors off the right way and we want to play a good game of football, like I know we’re capable of.” 

     

Trainer’s room

The Hodags were down several starters last week, including their top two rushers on the season — Cyrus Leisure and Logan Schwinger. The good news is, as of early this week, Kraemer said Leisure (knee) is likely to play tonight and Schwinger (ankle) will  make every effort to get out and play in what could be his final high school football game.

“Excited for him to even give it a shot. It’s tough with a high ankle sprain, but he’s going to give everything he can this week for his teammates,” Kraemer said of Schwinger. “He’s one of those classic guys where, as a freshman, he doesn’t look as dynamic as he is as a senior. He’s just grown so much, just grown into a really, really smart tackler and a very, very good wing for us.”

As for Leisure, his return is an opportunity to put a capper on what has been a breakout season for the junior. 

“It’s a feel-good story when someone works their tail off and sees the fruits of that labor during the season. He’s earned that and I’m excited to have him back,” he said.

Merrill offense

The Bluejays will look to run a balanced offense with a mix of pro-style pistol and spread formations. They coming in averaging 17.9 points and 267.9 yards per game.

Merrill’s ground game was stymied in rainy conditions in Saturday’s loss to the Hatchets, as the team had only 19 yards rushing. Senior Callum Wheeler is the team’s leading rusher with 561 yards and five touchdowns on the year. His breakout game was Merrill’s 31-0 win over Antigo in Week 5 in which he ran for 224 yards and thee scores. Quarterback Aiden Lonsdorf is second on the team with 231 rushing and three touchdowns. 

“When they get into open space, they can be very, very quick through there,” Kraemer noted. “The quarterback, the running back (Wheeler) are very good. They’ve got some big guys running the ball. We’ve got to tackle them low. Those guys we’ve got to hit low, get the to the ground.”

The Bluejays will also look to challenge Rhinelander’s secondary with some tall, physical receivers. Lonsdorf comes in completing just under 50% of his passes on the year (65 of 131) for 856 yards with seven touchdowns and five interceptions. His top three targets are 6-3 tight end EJ Weix (21 catches-258 yards-TD), 5-11 receiver Keylin Allen (19-399-4) and 6-1 receiver Aidan Houghton (18-175-2). 

“They do a nice job of putting the ball in the air and letting their guys make plays,” Kraemer said. “You see a lot of deep routes from them. They’re trying to single up and allow their athletes to make plays and, so far, they’ve done a pretty good job of that. The one thing I noticed against Tomahawk, the ball’s in the air a long time, but their guys are coming down with it … We have to be disciplined and make sure we get bodies on them when their running deep. Then we’ve got to take the football away. We feel we have a couple really good guys that can do that.” 

Merrill defense

The Bluejays have one of the better defenses in the GNC, allowing 18.1 points and just under 250 yards a game. They kept Tomahawk under 200 yards of total offense last week and teams are rushing for just 4.6 yards per carry.

“I think they’re solid on the defensive front and they do a nice job of stuffing the front,” Kraemer said. “We’re going to have to make sure we open up holes and we’re physical up front in our running game. We’ve got to get the ball to the edges to our players and we have to keep them honest in the passing game, too.”

Weix is active from his safety spot, as he leads the team with 68 tackles, has forced two fumbles and has recorded an interception. Noah Klug is second on the team with 57 tackles and two tackles for loss and was a wild card last week for Merrill’s defense, lining up at defensive tackle when the Bluejays used a 5-2 look and at inside linebacker when they showed a 4-4.

Playing for a cause

In addition to being the final home game of the season, the Hodag football team is using tonight as an opportunity to show support for breast cancer awareness and for a district employee battling the disease. 

The Hodag Gridiron Club pre-sold pink “Tackle Cancer” shirts with proceeded benefiting Holly Klaas, who is currently battling Stage 1 breast cancer. According to a Hodag Football Facebook post, proceeds from the T-Shirt sales will go to support the Klaas family.

Kraemer said the cause is especially poignant, given how long he and Klaas have worked together in the district. 

“She’s someone who is very kind and kind-hearted and works her tail off for the kids that she services. It’s the least we can do is give back for someone that is struggling with cancer.” he said. “It’s never something you want to go through, but if we have the opportunity to help Holly and her family, I’m really grateful to be able to do that.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected]. 

WEEK 9 AT A GLANCE

WHAT: Merrill at Rhinelander

WHEN: 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 18

WHERE: Mike Webster Stadium

WEATHER: Mostly clear & breezy. 60 degrees, winds S at 10 MPH, gusting to 23 MPH.

RECORDS: Rhinelander 3-5, 1-5 Great Northern. Merrill 4-4, 2-4 Great Northern

LAST WEEK: Rhinelander lost to Medford, 43-13. Merrill lost to Tomahawk, 17-11

LAST MEETING: Rhinelander 7, Merrill 0 — October 8, 2023

BROADCAST: Audio — 101.3 FM/1240 AM/Thegamenorthwoods.com. Video — fan.hudl.com (search: Rhinelander High School)