Team review: RHS football

The Rhinelander High School football team had three wins for the second year in a row but, what this year’s squad had that last year’s didn’t, was a trip back to the WIAA playoffs.

The Hodags were the final team to make the field of 32 in Division 3, and though the Hodags lost 35-7 in a Level 1 game at Madison Edgewood, coach Aaron Kraemer said the team had plenty of reason to be proud of what it accomplished as just the seventh team in school history — and fifth during his tenure — to reach the WIAA tournament. 

“As a coach, I could not be more proud of these guys,” he said following the loss. “And I’m really happy the way they stood up to the trip, stood up to this team. Obviously I’m disappointed that it’s all over, but at the same time, when you play some of your best football at the end of the year, you got nothing to be ashamed of.”

Here are five storylines from the recently completed season.

Highlights

Symbolically, the biggest win the Hodags had this year was their last — a 54-8 shellacking of Antigo in the 91st Bell Game Sept. 26 at Mike Webster Stadium.

The Hodags dominated the game from the outset, and scored 28 points in the second quarter to build a 35-0 lead at halftime. Rhinelander made history when junior Rowan Wiczek intercepted a pass by Antigo’s Max Kneeland and returned it 99 yards for a score midway through the fourth quarter, marking the most points a single team had ever scored in Bell Game history. If not for a late Antigo touchdown against the Hodags reserves, Rhinelander would have also had the largest margin of victory in series history. 

As it stood, it was an important win for the Hodag senior class, which had been 0-7 in trophy trade games between Antigo and Lakeland. They finally got a trophy back to RHS in their last opportunity to do so.

“When you have a trophy to win and one that’s so historic, it means a lot to the boys,” Kraemer said afterward. “It means a lot to our community. And that’s what it means to me. You know, I love Hodag football, and these types of moments are everything for us. The guys earned it, and they deserved it this year.”

While the Antigo win was the team’s most symbolic, a victory over Wausau East Sept. 12 proved to be its most important. Down 14-0 in the first quarter of that contest, the rushed for 295 yards, scored 28 unanswered points and downed the Lumberjacks 28-14.

With a new playoff-qualifying formula this season, that wins continued to pay dividends as Wausau East won three of its final five games, in turn helping the Hodags’ strength of victory metric. 

Lowlights

The Hodags began the season turbulently, committing five turnovers in a 26-20 overtime loss to Ashland in the season opener. After rebounding for a 34-22 win over Hayward the following week, the Hodags couldn’t reclaim the Northwoods Axe from Lakeland, giving up two late touchdowns in a 43-32 loss. 

However, the Hodags’ biggest stumbles came during the midpoint of the season. Rhinelander’s offense went silent in a 49-7 loss in Week 5 against Tomahawk. The Hodags’ lone score in that game was a 42-yard fumble return by Ryley Hull.

“I don’t know that we were prepared for as physical a team as they were,” Kraemer said of an upstart Hatchet team that won a share of the GNC title and advanced to the third round of the WIAA playoffs. “I think there were some self-inflicted wounds this week on our side, and that hurt us. But the first person that’s going to take the blame is me.” 

After the Antigo win, the Hodags faded late in a 41-14 loss at Mosinee in which one of the team’s top defensive players, Caden Sieker, went down with what proved to be a season-ending shoulder injury for the second year in a row. His absence in the run game was noticed the following week when Medford rushed for 311 yards in a 42-12 win over Rhinelander. 

That game was also marked by the Hodags’ inability to cash in on scoring opportunities. Rhinelander failed to score on its first six possessions in that game, despite crossing midfield each time.

“I’m really, really, really upset about just some of the things that happened early on in the game, especially offensively, I thought we put ourselves in a difficult position and we’re going to have to learn from those things this week, and we’re going to have to get better,” he said.

Go down fighting

    In this Oct. 17, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Cyrus Leisure attempts to jump over Merrill’s Noah Klug during a GNC football game in Merrill. Leisure led the Hodags this season with 849 yards of total offense and seven touchdowns. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The late losing streak put the Hodags in a precarious, but familiar, position. Rhinelander entered the final week of the regular season needing a win to clinch a spot in the WIAA playoffs. The playoff metric had the Hodags firmly on the bubble —holding the 32nd and final spot in the rankings going into a matchup at Merrill.

Things did not start well for the Hodags, who spotted Merrill a 14-0 lead in the first quarter. Rhinelander fought back to get within 19-13 in the fourth quarter, thanks in part to an improbably catch by Cyrus Leisure on fourth and 33 that set up a touchdown a couple of plays later. Merrill would tack on a late touchdown to win 27-13, but Kraemer said the Hodags went down swinging in a game that could have been their last of the year.

“Obviously, we came up short, but that is the best game of Hodag football we’ve played for three weeks,” he said. “I told them straight up at halftime, that’s Hodag football. That’s the way you play. They believed that we could do it, and they played as if they believed that we could do it.”

As it turned out, that game was not its last. Wausau East beat Antigo in Week 9 while virtually every team near the playoff cutline lost. Though 35th-ranked McFarland won to leapfrog Rhinelander in the standings, that Wausau East win was just enough for the Hodags to bypass Portage for the final spot in the D3 tournament. 

Statbook

    In this Oct. 3, 2025 file photo, Rhinelander’s Rowan Wiczek catches a pass against Mosinee’s Alex Steppke during the third quarter of a GNC football game in Mosinee. Wiczek was the top receiver for the Hodags this season, catching 43 passes for 518 yards and four touchdowns. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodags offense, especially early in the season, featuring a balanced attack of run and pass and a number of playmakers. 

On the ground, senior Cyrus Leisure reprised his role as an all-conference running back. He logged a team-high 771 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns and added seven catches for 78 yards. While Leisure started as a wingback, he featured at tailback a number of times during season, especially after senior Myles Eagleson injured his wrist in the Week 2 win over Hayward and did not play another offensive snap the remainder of the season. He had 200 yards rushing and three touchdowns at the time of his injury. 

Ben Olson added 592 yards of total offense (416 rushing, 176 receiving) and six touchdowns as a wing while Sam Zwaard, despite missing multiple games, had 226 yards rushing and three scores. 

Junior quarterback Abe Gretzinger fared well in his first year as starter, passing for 1,088 yards with 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He was the first Rhinelander quarterback since Jacksen Smith in 2021 to have double-digit touchdowns passes in a season. 

Wiczek was Rhinelander’s leading receiver, in terms of receptions, for a second season in a row. This year he also led the team in yards and touchdowns as he caught 43 passes for 518 yards and four scores. Evan Shoeder moved from tight end to receiver this year and was Gretzinger’s second-favorite target, with 26 catches for 274 yards and four scores. 

One thing that hindered the passing game was protection. Gretzinger finished the year with minus-236 yards rushing on 48 carries — the vast majority of those coming on quarterback sacks. 

As a team, the Hodags averaged 278.4 yards and 22.1 points per game.

The Hodags struggled a bit defensively this season. In addition to injuries to Eagleson and Sieker which cost the team two key players at times, Rhinelander lost junior Kaleb Zwaard to a shoulder injury midway through the season. Despite missing multiple games, Zwaard still finished tied for eighth on the team with 26 tackles from his inside linebacker position. 

Rhinelander’s depleted run defense was evident down the stretch as the Hodags allowed 250 yards or more on the ground in each of their last four games. Overall, the Hodags allowed 188.5 yards per game on the ground and 5.1 yards per carry. 

The Hodags also allowed 131.7 yards per game through the air and 30.7 points per game — the latter ranking sixth in the GNC. 

Wiczek, from his safety position, was the Hodags’ top tackler with 83 stops on the year, including five tackles for loss. Sam Zwaard was second on the team with 43 stops and four of the team’s top six tacklers were defensive backs. 

Sieker, despite missing the final three games, tied for fifth on the team with 29 tackles, had a team-best 10 tackles for loss and 3 1/2 sacks as he earned first-team honors in the GNC.

What’s next

Sieker and Leisure headline a list of 14 graduating seniors — nine of whom were starters in the final game of the season. Olson and center Landon Webster also graduate after receiving all-conference honors this year. 

Offensively, the Hodags will bring back Gretzinger and Wiczek, but will have a basically brand now backfield. Junior Josh Willoughby will be the only player returning out of that rotation who had at least 30 carries this year. In addition to Webster, the Hodags will graduate left tackle Leander Sprecksel, but will bring back left guard Tommy Eades and their right side of their line with guard Gage Anderson and tackle Parker McCone. 

Much of the Hodags’ linebacking corps will return with Anderson, Willoughby, Judson O’Malley, Kaleb Zwaard and Marshal Durkee. Wiczek and Hull will be back as safeties, but he Hodags will be young at corner — replacing Leisure and Olson —and on the defensive line. 

“We have pieces coming back next year and pieces that are going to fill in to put us in a spot where we can have these moments again next year,” Kraemer said. “Obviously, the conference turns over next year with a different schedule. We get Medford  and Mosinee right away. So that’ll be nice to kind of get those games out of the way early and test ourselves early and then push through the rest of our schedule.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].