Pigskin Preview Week 4: Wausau East at Rhinelander

Despite being far less than 100% from a health standpoint, the Rhinelander High School football team almost pulled off a key road victory last Friday night to kick off Great Northern Conference play. 

Unfortunately — in the context of the GNC standings, qualifying for the playoffs and winning back the Northwoods Axe Trophy — almost doesn’t count. 

Following a 12-8 loss to the Lakeland last Friday night, the Hodags look to get back on track this evening as they host Wausau East at Mike Webster Stadium. The Hodags were down four starters last week, including quarterback Truman Lamers. Rather than dwelling on what might have been with a fully healthy lineup, coach Aaron Kraemer said he and the Hodags are taking the approach of recognizing what they accomplished in less than ideal circumstances and applying that toward what it hopes will be a healthier future.  

“We feel like we played a better second half and the kids felt like they deserved to win, and we just didn’t get it done,” he said. “That’s good, because now we can play with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder moving forward. We can get healthy and grow together as a team and take this loss as a lesson and move forward.”

Rhinelander expects to have at least one starter back in the lineup tonight as Lamers is on track to return from an eye injury he sustained in the Week 2 win at Hayward. Though Lamers saw limited reps this week in practice, Kraemer said Monday the expectation is that the senior will be able to play in at least some capacity tonight. 

“He’s the type of kid that, even though he’s going to get limited reps, those reps are going to be high quality and he’ll be prepared to play on Friday,” Kraemer said.

The Hodags will face a Wausau East squad that comes in off a 27-11 win over Tomahawk in their GNC debut last Friday night in Wausau. Wausau East and Tomahawk are the two newcomers to the league this year, replacing Hayward and Ashland in the latest round of statewide football realignment by the WIAA.

Of course, the Hodags are no strangers to the Lumberjacks, going back to their rivalry in the Wisconsin Valley Conference prior to 2009. Rhinelander has also seen East twice in non-conference play during Kraemer’s tenure as head coach, winning both matchups. That includes a 34-15 win over the Lumberjacks during Week 2 last season.

“We’re excited for the opportunity to play Wausau East at home this week, a little bit of home cooking,” Kraemer said. “We’re excited to get a little bit healthier and show everybody what we’re made of at home this week.”

Here are five storylines going into tonight’s contest.

Lamers returns

What was uncertain as of early this week is if Lamers will be on any sort of pitch count, or perhaps limited on the defensive side of the ball. Some of that may not be determined until tonight as Lamers was not slated to participate in full-contact drills this week. 

“We’re going to have to see how things go for him. I think early on the in the game, we’re going to get him comfortable and once we feel he’s more comfortable and everything’s good to go, then maybe you’ll see the governor come off,” Kraemer said. “For him, defensively is the big thing, the pressure on his eye. Hitting might be difficult but, we’ll see as the week goes on.”

With Lamers limited in practice, backup Chandler Servent still received the majority of the reps with the No. 1 offense and will be on standby if Lamers suffers any sort of setback. Whether he is called upon or not, Kraemer said the last two weeks have been invaluable for Servent’s development as he’ll be the most tenured quarterback on the roster entering 2025.  

“You’re getting your quarterback for the future ready to go and your current quarterback, the guy you need to be ready, he’s going to take mental reps and he’s going to be ready to play,” Kraemer said. “We’re excited to have Truman back for sure, but we’re also excited for Chandler for the future.” 

The Hodags are trying to get their offense back on track this week. Rhinelander scored four offensive touchdowns in five quarters with Lamers taking the snaps but have only scored two offensive touchdowns in the last seven quarters with Servent pressed into duty. 

“It’s been a slog a little bit the last two weeks, scoring points,” Kraemer said. “Our defense has helped us out with that, but we’ve got to put the ball in the end zone when we get there. That was kind of the deciding factor of the game on Friday. We got there, we just didn’t put it in the end zone. We’ve got to focus on those plays from the 30 in and having positive plays in those areas.” 

Trainer’s room

While Lamers is expected to return tonight, the Hodags are still dealing with a number of injuries. Senior Tyler Chariton is doubtful again tonight with a lingering ankle/leg injury. As of early this week, it was still unclear if juniors Myles Eagleson (shoulder) or Travis Trickey (hand) would return. The same was true for junior wingback Ben Olson, who left last week’s loss against Lakeland with an elbow injury. 

Kraemer quipped that injuries are something he’s become accustomed to dealing with over the past several seasons, as Rhinelander has had some particularly tough luck on that front. So far, however, Kraemer said those who have been called on to fill the void have stepped up and played well.

“We need to get our Nos. 1, 2, and 3 confident in each other so when they come in the game and our backups come in the game, it truly is next man up and the level of trust between our starting players and the backups that come in is there,” he said. “That’s the major thing. That comes with reps too and comes with accepting responsibility and accepting that every single person has a role on this team.” 

East’s explosiveness

The Hodags will face a Wausau East offense that has feasted on the big play so far this season. Of the eight touchdowns the Lumberjacks have scored through three games, only one has come from inside the red zone. East has recorded a score of 60 yards or greater in each of its first three contests.

Their spread-based attack is led by senior quarterback Davis Winter, who has completed over 57% of his passes for 512 yards with eight touchdowns and two interceptions so far this year. 

He has a pair of big-play receivers in junior Kayden Meverden and senior Jesse Napgezek, who have both caught three touchdowns passes so far this year. Meverden is averaging 25.1 yards per catch while Napgezek is averaging 19.5 yards per reception. The two have also combined for 11 carries on the year, as East looks to get its receivers involved in the jet sweep game.

The Lumberjacks also have a solid feature back in junior Iain Stahel, who is averaging 6.1 yards per carry as he has 226 yards and a rushing touchdown so far this season.

“Wausau East is athletic and we’re going to have to play together, all 11 getting to the football in space and tackling some physical runners, too,” Kraemer said. “It’s going to be great to see and we’re hoping that the week of practice has prepared us for that moment.” 

Aligning for the future

The Hodags are used to some of the formations Wausau East runs, particularly when it goes to a four-receiver spread look. Rhinelander predominantly faced spread against Hayward in Week 2 and Lakeland sprinkled in some three- and four-receiver sets in passing situations last week. 

Wausau East also likes to run multiple pistol looks with a wingback and a tight end to the strong side of the formation. Kraemer said that’s something the Hodags will need to get used to seeing, based on what the team’s following two opponents — Tomahawk and Antigo — have shown on film so far this year. 

“We have to be able to align properly. Wausau East’s base formation, their tight end wing formation, is a formation we’re going to see with twins against Tomahawk and against Antigo,” he said. “They run their Wing-T from that formation. We’re going to see it for the next couple of weeks. But it’s also good, when you look back at Lakeland and you look back at Hayward, they were the other said of things. They spread it out, so we know how to play against their spread trips, their spread doubles. We have experience playing against that.” 

Stack the Jack back

    In this Aug. 25, 2023 file photo, Rhinelander’s Logan Schwinger carries the ball in space during a non-conference football game against Wausau East at Mike Webster Stadium. Schwinger racked up 90 yards on seven touches in last year’s game and the Hodags will look to take advantage of a Wausau East defense that has given up 290 yards per game on the ground so far this season. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The explosiveness for East has carried over to the defensive side of the ball, where they generated a whopping seven takeaways (three interceptions, four fumble recoveries) in last week’s win over Tomahawk. Overall, East is plus-9 in the turnover department through three games.

The Lumberjacks have shown both 5-2 and 5-3 looks at times this season and are employing a hybrid safety/linebacker that the Hodags are referring to as a “Jack Backer.” On film, that’s been Christian Simmons, who has lined up at safety, strong side linebacker and weak side linebacker at times during the season. He predominantly played at linebacker last week as Wausau East put an extra defender in the box to slow Tomahawk’s ground attack.

“I think the most important thing is to know where that player is, identify him and then do our thing,” Kraemer said. “We know what we can do when he is a certain place. We understand what the coverage is when he’s in a certain place. It’s about figuring out where that player is.”

East’s other outside linebacker, senior Jaydan Garrett, has recorded a team-high 26 tackled through three games, to go along with four tackles for loss and three interceptions. Senior defensive lineman Elmer Heard — one of three returning all-conference players for the Lumberjacks — has recorded 25 tackles including a team-best six tackles for loss.

Despite all of the splash plays, East has been susceptible, especially in the run game. Opponents have racked up 290 yards per game on the ground, while averaging 7.7 yards per carry.

“It’s playing disciplined, cleaning up the mistakes and making explosive plays when they’re leaning,” Kraemer said. “I think we did a good job of that last week against Lakeland, the inside-outside game with our counters, jets and tosses. It kept them honest. This week, I think we’re probably going to have to air it out a little more too to lighten the box, because they like to play a packed in box on defense. That’s going to be an important part of the game plan.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].