Hodags fumble away football opener, fall to Ashland in OT

ASHLAND — The Rhinelander High School football team overcame mistakes on multiple occasions Friday night in the regular season opener at Ashland. However, one final mistake left the Hodags with no more opportunities to respond. 

Rhinelander committed five turnovers and fell to the Oredockers 26-20 in overtime at Weikal Field. The fifth and final turnover was a Cyrus Leisure fumble near the first down marker on a third-down play in the extra session.

The Hodags (0-1, 0-0 Great Northern) needed a score to extend or win the game after Wyatt Lund recorded his fourth touchdown run of the night to put the Oredockers (1-0, 0-0 Heart O’North) ahead earlier in overtime. 

“Fumbles and turnovers and mental mistakes like that, they end up costing you in a tight game. But that’s what high school football is all about,” Hodag football coach Aaron Kraemer said afterward, later adding, “One play at the end. We had the right call, and I think we got a first down on the play, and the ball just slipped out. It’s wet here, and sometimes, fortunate things happen to the brave. And I thought Ashland was really brave, they played really well tonight.”

The Hodags showed resiliency throughout the game, coming back from deficits of 6-0 and 20-12, but were ultimately undone by turnovers on a muggy night. The area received a heavy thunderstorm earlier in the afternoon and fog could be seen rising from the field as early as the second quarter, thanks to the high dewpoint.

Rhinelander lost four fumbles and had an interception. Ashland turned two of those turnovers into points, but had trouble protecting the ball as well, with two fumbles lost and an interception. While admitting the moist conditions likely played a factor in the lack of ball security for both teams, Kraemer said the Hodags must do better protecting the football.

“It sure is something that we have to work on. There’s no excuse. Is the rain before (the game) and the slickness of the field a factor? Yeah, maybe, but we have to take care of the football. That’s just plain and simple. I know coach (Matt) Steingraber and coach (Paul) Ellenbecker are going to have those guys working (ball security) this week to keep it,” he said.

Lund finished with 116 yards on 21 carries for the Oredockers and was the workhorse when Ashland got the ball to begin overtime. He touched the ball five times on the six-play drive, capping it off with a one-yard score. 

A holding penalty had the Hodags backed up and facing third-and-13 in their possession of overtime. Leisure looked like he had picked up enough yardage for the first down, but had the ball stripped by a combination of Carlos Jordan and Cody Brinker for the game-sealing turnover. 

Leisure had a 26-yard score on fourth-and-1 two minutes into the fourth quarter that allowed the Hodags to tie the game at 20 after quarterback Abe Gretzinger hit Rowan Wiczek for a successful two point conversion.

Sam Zwaard intercepted an Aiden Jolma pass on fourth-and-12 from the 13 to keep the Oredockers from taking the lead on the next drive. Rhinelander turned the ball over on downs on the ensuing possession and, following an Ashland punt, ran out of time in regulation on facing a fourth down from midfield.

Lund’s first score of the night came from four yards out in the first quarter, set up after Demarco Harris intercepted a Gretzinger pass and returned it to the Hodag 7. Rhinelander answered with an 11-play drive capped off by a Myles Eagleson 5-yard score on the first play of the second quarter. The Hodags took the lead moments later after forcing a Lund fumble. Rhinelander marched 49 yards on three plays, capped off by a 20-yard score by Ben Olson. 

Ashland answered with a six-play, 72-yard drive. Lund scored from 10 yards out with 7:36 remaining in the first half to tie the game at 12. The officials ruled Lund crossed the goal line on the play prior to a hit from Olson that dislodged the football. End zone footage shows that the ball came out before Lund crossed the plane, however instant replay is not an option for regular season high school games.

“I thought we had a fumble in the end zone that maybe didn’t get called. But that’s not something we can control,” Kraemer said.

Leisure had the ball ripped away by Lund on the Hodags’ first drive of the second half. That turned into a go-ahead 10-play drive for Ashland, capped off by a 1-yard run by Lund with 2:26 remaining in the third quarter.

The Hodags out-gained the Oredockers 305-264 in the contest and finished with a pair of 100-yard rushers. Eagleson had 109 yards on 12 carries and Leisure had 104 yards on 15 carries. Olson added another 55 yards for Rhinelander on seven carries. 

Gretzinger, in his first start at quarterback for Rhinelander, was 4 of 8 passing for 38 yards with an interception and a fumble lost in the second half. Gretzinger also overshot an open Wiczek behind the Ashland defense on a third-down play with roughly 3 minutes to play in regulation. 

“I think as the season goes on, he’s just going to keep getting better and better,” Kraemer said. “You watch him play basketball. He’s been doing that for a really, really long time, and he’s confident in himself on the floor. We got to get him confident on the football field, too. And I think that starts with him. I think when we talk about him, it’s just his own brain, his own self feeling confident in himself and playing. And I’m going to do everything I can to build him up this week because I have full confidence in what he can do.”

Friday marked only the second time in Kraemer’s seven seasons that the Hodags have lost to Ashland. The other occasion was 2022, when the Hodags went 1-8 and missed the WIAA playoffs. Kraemer said changing that narrative this time will boil down to how the Hodags respond from the early setback. 

“It’s a learning experience. Early in the season, to get a loss is not that big of a deal, because you got eight more to come back from. And we got big games to come down the stretch,” he said. “So I’m excited to get back after it this week with these guys. I don’t think it’s shaken their confidence at all. I think that they’re ready to work, and I really like the way that they came together at the end here. Caden Sieker, Leander (Sprecksel), those guys, you know, just kind of said the rallying cry is ‘you just got to respond.’ We come back next week, and we work. And that’s all we have to do.” 

The Hodags will host Hayward this coming Friday at Mike Webster Stadium. The Hurricanes will come in off of a 50-23 loss to Lakeland in Week 1.  

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].