Hatchet haymaker

TOMAHAWK — If the Rhinelander football team thought Tomahawk was going to lay down, with its leading rusher and tackler Rex Reilly out due to injury, then the Hodags grossly underestimated the Hatchets plan B.

Senior Brayden Larson almost single-handedly willed the Hatchets to victory with three big plays in the final minute Friday night. After intercepting the Hodags inside the red zone, Larson hauled in a 30-yard pass to set up an improbable ending.

As the holder on the Hatchets field goal unit, Larson pulled the ball away as Tomahawk feigned a 48-yard field goal attempt and found Landyn Seymour wide open for a back-breaking 31-yard score with three seconds remaining as Tomahawk stunned Rhinelander 21-14 at Hatchet Field.

Larson rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown in the contest and was the focal point of the Hatchets’ offense with Reilly out. The Hodags, true to their script this year, spotted the Hatchets an early lead and left points on the table in the first half. Though Rhinelander raced back in the third quarter, this time their opponent punched back with a right cross that, suddenly, put a cloud of doubt over the Hodags’ playoff chances entering the 90th Bell Game against arch-rival Antigo this coming Friday.

“Get up off the canvas and swing back. There’s no other choice,” Hodag head coach Aaron Kraemer said when asked how his team needs to respond to the stunning defeat.

After rallying from down 21-0 last year in Tomahawk to win 22-21, the Hodags appeared to be on their way to another dramatic road win over the Hatchets after forcing a punt and getting the ball back with 1:43 remaining. Truman Lamers scrambled out of the pocket and found Rowan Wiczek for a 23-yard completion on third and 7 to get Rhinelander into Tomahawk territory and then, two plays later, the Hodags connected on another 23-yarder from Lamers to Logan Schwinger to get the ball down to the 14 with two timeouts left and under 40 seconds to play. 

After Cyrus Leisure was stopped on a first down run, Lamers looked for Sam Zwaard in the right flat, where Larson undercut a route, intercepted it and returned it to the Hatchet 39 with 20 seconds remaining. 

“We had our chance to score and win and just a really, really good play in the flat. They saw what we were doing, played the flat really, really well and that’s all there is to it,” Kraemer said.

Freshman quarterback Cash Olsen then found Larson for a catch-and-run down to the Rhinelander 31 with 10 seconds left. After a timeout, the Hatchets trotted out kicker Wally Horabik — who missed a game-winning 36-yard attempt at the end of regulation a week earlier in an overtime loss to Antigo —for what appeared to be an improbable 48-yarder. 

It was all a ruse.

With nobody deep for Rhinelander, Larson got up and found Seymour, who stumbled though a desperation tackle attempt at the goal line, sending the partisan Tomahawk crowd into delirium.

“A great call, fake field goal. We went after it and they made a big play,” Kraemer said. “It’s high school football. That’s what you want. You want to be in tight games. We’re getting an experience. These are the tight games you get in playoffs. These are the games you get against great teams in the conference.

“Sometimes there are plays made in a game that turn it against you and they made the plays they needed to make.”

Tomahawk made a statement early as the capitalized on a Hodag turnover and needed just six plays to score. Seymour hauled in a 33-yard jump ball to put Rhinelander in the red zone and, two plays later, Larson scored from 15 yards off left tackle to give the Hatchets a 7-0 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

Rhinelander squandered two chances to answer in the second quarter. The Hodags drove down to the Hatchet 15, but were stopped on third and 2 before Lamers underthrew Dominic Lehmann into the end zone on fourth down. Rhinelander got one more chance, driving down to the Hatchet 5 late in the first half, but Lamers threw a jump ball that junior tight end Evan Shoeder couldn’t come down with in the end zone as time expired. 

“We drove down and got into scoring position and couldn’t punch it in,” Kraemer said. “We get a 50/50 ball. Nine times out of 10 I think Evan Shoeder’s going to come down with that. It’s a confidence play for him. He’s going to get back and we’re going to figure that out for him. He’s a heck of a ball player and I want to put him in those positions to make those plays. I don’t take anything back on that one. That’s the right guy in the right position, just the play wasn’t made.”

The Hodags — who came into the game having outscored their opponents 50-0 in the second half this season — appeared to show more of that second-half magic when Sam Zwaard returned the opening kickoff 59 yards to the Tomahawk 36. Leisure did the rest, scoring on a jet sweep on the first play of the drive. After Lamers found Abe Gretzinger on a two-point pass, the Hodags had an 8-7 lead just 20 seconds into the third quarter. 

After a Tomahawk fumble, the Hodags added to the advantage on a seven-play drive that resulted in another jet sweep for a score — this time from six yards out by Schwinger as Rhinelander led 14-7 with 3:13 left in the third.

“In the second half we figured something out offensively, started moving the ball. We felt really good about what we were going to do and we were going to take it home,” Kraemer said. 

Tomahawk answered with a 10-play march that ended with an Olsen touchdown run on third and goal with 10:39 remaining. Both teams were then stopped near midfield, followed by a pair of punts that set up the wild finish.

The Hodags had one last desperation gasp after the fake field goal, but Lamers was stripped and sacked before he could get off a Hail Mary attempt from his own 45 as time expired.

Statbook

    Rhinelander’s Mathias Fugle and Logan Schwinger attempt to tackle Tomahawk’s Brayden Larson during the third quarter of a GNC football game at Tomahawk Friday, Sept. 19. Larson rushed for 127 yards and a touchdown in Tomahawk’s 21-14 win. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Larson accounted for 188 of Tomahawk’s 322 yards of total offense. Olsen finished 6 of 16 passing for 94 yards and added another 41 yards on the ground and Seymour caught three passes for 70 yards.

Lamers was 10 of 23 passing for 144 yards and completed passes to seven different receivers. Myles Eagleson lead the Hodags with 56 yards on six carries while Leisure had 49 yards on six carries. Rhinelander was out-gained by Tomahawk 322-283 in the contest. 

No Reilly Factor

Afterward, Kraemer downplayed any psychological letdown the Hodags may have had preparing to face Reilly all week, only to see him on the sidelines after injuring his shoulder in the overtime loss to the Robins.

“Our guys had to dig in. It doesn’t matter who was playing. I said all week it’s about us. It wasn’t about them. It didn’t matter which player played. I don’t think, psychologically, it mattered that much,” he said. “It was just about them making the plays when they had to. They did a good job. They should be proud and should be happy about that win.”

Trainer’s room

The injury bug bit Rhinelander again as offensive and defensive lineman Caden Sieker left the game in the second quarter with an apparent right shoulder injury and did not return to the contest. In addition to being the Hodags’ starting left tackle, he leads the team with six tackles for loss on the defensive side of the ball. 

Leander Sprecksel moved to left tackle and Gage Anderson came in at right guard after Sieker left the game. Anderson, Dominic Hakala and Marshal Durkee platooned at nose guard while Reid Schultz moved to end on the defensive side of the ball.

“I was really proud of the fact that Gage came in at guard, Leander moved to tackle,” Kraemer said. “They did a really good job working together tonight. I feel pretty good if Sieker is out — which I’m hoping he’s not — those guys have been doing a good job.”

Playoff implications

The loss for Rhinelander makes the path to the postseason much more difficult. The Hodags must now win three of their final four games — at Antigo, home to Mosinee, at GNC-leading Medford and home to Merrill — to guarantee a playoff spot. Rhinelander will need to win two of those games to get to 3-4 in the conference and hope to be one of the final qualifiers into the field of 224 teams. 

Antigo dropped also dropped to 1-2 in the GNC with a 31-0 loss to Merrill on Friday, Mosinee was stunned by Wausau East 23-22 in Wausau and Medford moved to 3-0 in the GNC with a 40-8 rout over Lakeland.

Kraemer said he’s more focused on this coming week, and winning Eugene Shepard’s Bell back for the first time since 2021, than he is about the Hodags’ postseason chances.

“We’ve just go to beat Antigo,” Kraemer said. “If our thought process right now is the playoffs, then we’re short-changing ourselves. We’re playing against a team that’s beat us twice in a row. We’re going down there and we get an opportunity to get some revenge. That’s what’s got to be on our mind.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].