Pigskin Preview Week 3: Rhinelander at Lakeland

Entering the 2024 season, the Rhinelander High School football team chose “find a way” as the slogan for its campaign. The Hodags had no way of knowing just how appropriate that mantra would be just two games into the season. 

It’s a dinged up Hodag team that travels to Minocqua tonight for the 10th playing of the Northwoods Axe Game against the Lakeland Thunderbirds. It’s also an undefeated team that heads to IncredibleBank Field trying to win back the Axe for the first time since 2021. Rhinelander has won its first two contests despite sustaining injuries at a number of key positions over the first two weeks of the season. 

That adversity was ratcheted up even further at the end of the first quarter last Friday night when quarterback Truman Lamers left the game with an eye injury and did not return. However, the Hodags buckled down defensive and held off Hayward, 21-7.

“That’s what ‘find a way’ is all about,” Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said. “It’s about finding a way to get the job done when maybe the odds are stacked against you or your back’s against the wall. We were able to do that.

“There was a response from the entire team that is what I wanted to see. You could tell by the way the defense responded in the second half, taking the football way and keeping them out of the end zone. You could tell by the way we were able to convert on third downs and move the chains.”

There is a good chance the Hodags will be without their starting quarterback/strong safety again tonight. 

Lamers left the field and underwent further evaluation Friday night and Saturday after getting poked in the eye by Hayward’s Alex Depew on the last play of the first quarter. All indications are that Lamers avoided any long-term damage but, as of early this week, he was doubtful to play tonight.

While Kraemer wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Lamers could play, if he continues to heal quickly, he indicated Tuesday that the team would likely err on the side of caution.

“The tough thing about assessing Truman is that Truman’s always going to want to play. It doesn’t matter if it’s an eye issue or an appendage or whatever, Truman’s a battler and he wants to play,” Kraemer said. “The most important thing to me is his health and his well-being. We have to make sure that he is ready to play before he plays. I know that, if given any shred of hope, he’s going to try to get onto the field and play but, right now, it’s about his long-term health.”

The Hodags will need all the able bodies on deck that they can for tonight against a Lakeland team that’s off to its first 2-0 start since 2019. After beating Hayward 24-3 in the opener, the T-Birds used 20 unanswered points to rally past Ashland 33-16 on the road last Friday. 

“It’s about executing against this team,” Kraemer said. “They kind of have the same story right now. We’re both 2-0. We’ve played the same teams. They have a lot to be proud of coming out of last year — a five-game winning streak to end the season and a playoff berth. 

“We’re excited to see where we stack up and it’s one of those things, if we can win this game, I think we can start to roll.”

Here are five storylines going into tonight’s game. 

A Servent leader

Junior Chandler Servent took all the No. 1 reps at quarterback this week, preparing for Lamers’s possible absence. The Hodag offense had just one touchdown and two turnovers in seven drives after Servent came in last week. 

Servent finished the game with three net rushing yards on seven carries, despite getting sacked four times for a loss of 18 yards. He was also 1 of 7 passing with an interception. The completion was a key third down throw to Rowan Wiczek to pick up a first down with the Hodags deep in their own territory in the fourth quarter. 

Despite those numbers, Kraemer said he’s more than confident in Servent’s ability to run the offense given a full week of practice with the starters and insisted nothing will change in terms of the team’s play calling.

“Truman’s a great player and a playmaker, but Chandler’s been running this offense two straight years, just like him,” he said. “He got all the reps on the JV team last year. He knows how to run the plays that we run. He knows how to command the huddle. He knows the audibles. He’s a smart guy and he’s an efficient player. I think with a week behind him where he gets the blocking of the starting offensive line, he gets to settle his feet in, we build plays around him that he can be successful with, I don’t think it changes at all.”

Trainer’s room

If Lamers is in fact unable to go, it also leaves Rhinelander thin at safety and in the kicking game. Zach Germain had two interceptions in last week’s game. He and Wiczek will likely play the majority of the snaps at the safety spots, with the potential of Cyrus Leisure moving in from corner to safety this week to give the team more depth. 

Myles Eagleson (shoulder) is questionable to return after missing last week’s game, while it is unlikely that running back/linebacker Tyler Chariton (ankle) or lineman Travis Trickey (hand) will be able to go. If Eagleson returns, that gives the Hodags a little added depth at inside linebacker as well as the player who was the team’s No. 1 kicker and No. 2 punter to start the year. 

Lamers was the Hodags’ third option at kicker and punter behind Eagleson and Chariton, and successfully made a 25-yard extra point following a procedure penalty in last week’s game. Servent took over at punter after Lamers left the game, and hit a key 50-yarder inside the Hayward 10 that was not returned late in the contest. Logan Schwinger took over on kickoffs. Those two would likely be called upon in those roles again this week if Eagleson, Chariton and Lamers are all unable to play. 

Stop the Bruck’

    Lakeland’s Noah Bruckner carries the football during a non-conference football game against Hayward in Minocqua Friday, Aug. 23. Bruckner, coming in off a 236-yard, two-touchdown performance at Ashland, is the focal point of Lakeland’s offense. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

Lakeland’s pro-style offense is centered around senior tailback Noah Bruckner, who was a first-team All-GNC selection at the position last year, rushing for 1,059 yards and 10 touchdowns. That included 105 yards and three scores in last October’s 32-6 win for Lakeland in Rhinelander. 

Bruckner is already off to a hot start this year. He rushed for 236 yards and two scores last week at Ashland and sits and 291 yards and three touchdowns overall through two games.

“The goal’s going to have to be to slow down Noah Bruckner,” Kraemer said. “Coming in as an all-conference player, I told the guys this week you have to respect him as an all-conference player. You have to play in your gaps, play sound defense. You need to know he’s going to bounce the ball outside when we give up the edge and he’s going to run the ball hard though if we don’t squeeze down as defensive linemen. If we don’t play at the line of scrimmage, he’s going to find a way to squeeze through and he’s going to hurt us. We have to play solid and strong defense at the line of scrimmage to be able to stop him.”

Kraemer added that the Hodag defense won’t be able to rest on its laurels if it contains Bruckner, because Lakeland has other ways to move the ball. Junior quarterback Deklan McQuade has been impressive in his first two starts, going a combined 17 of 27 for 353 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Evan Zoch (6 catches, 123 yards, 2 TDs) and Merick Trotter (4 catches, 104 yards, 2 TDs) have been his favorite targets to car in the passing game.

Expect the heat

Lakeland has been solid defensively so far this season, holding Hayward to a field goal in the opener. After a couple of early Ashland touchdowns, the T-Birds buckled down last week, limiting the Oredockers to 212 yards of offense.

Inside linebacker Greyson Allen is the only returning all-conference player on the defensive side of the ball for Lakeland. While he and fellow inside backer Michael Schettino are among the team leaders in tackles through two weeks, Kraemer said much of the disruption in Lakeland’s 3-4 scheme is caused by the edge players. He said the team will also need to be ready if Lakeland decides to bring pressure, much like Hayward did after Lamers left last week’s contest. 

“If they plan on bringing a lot of pressure to pressure Chandler, then we feel like we can pick it up,” he said. “But, also, the offense is the way that it is. If they’re pressuring up the middle, we have outside plays. If they’re pressuring on the outside, we have inside plays to beat them. Our question is how do their outside backers, I think they’re the best players on their D, how are they going to play us? That’s a question we have to answer early. From there, it’s about running the offense and being efficient, making sure out guys are making the blocks they need to make, making sure they understand where they’re supposed to go, communicating up front and finishing runs.” 

Winning ugly

Given the adversity facing the team this week, Kraemer said the key will be to try to gain momentum against the T-Birds early and hold on in what the team hopes will be a defensive struggle.

“Offensively, we have to win a slobberknocker,” he said after last Friday’s win at Hayward. “It might be ugly, 7-6, 14-6, I don’t know, but it’s going to have to be a game where we’re going to have to play ugly and win. That’s just how rivalry games have to be.”

Injuries or not, Kraemer said Friday’s game is also very important as the Hodags begin to build their playoff resume — which is primarily based on their record in Great Northern Conference games. Rhinelander will have to win at least four of its next seven contests to guarantee a playoff berth and three of the next seven to earn playoff eligibility. 

“This is one of those pivotal games where you start the conference season with a win … we feel like if we can win this game here, we can start to roll down that positivity,” he said. “We can start to see some of our guys that are injured coming back and really start to pick up steam as we get into the later half of the season.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].