Pigskin preview Week 7: Rhinelander at Mosinee

Coming off its biggest win of the season, the Rhinelander High School football team enters a key three-week stretch to close out the regular season where each and every game may carry postseason significance.

That stretch begins tonight with a trip to Mosinee to take on the GNC co-leading Indians on their homecoming night. 

Rhinelander comes in 3-3 overall and 2-2 in the GNC following last week’s 54-8 drubbing of Antigo in the 91st Bell Game. Though the Hodags handled a depleted Antigo squad, coach Aaron Kraemer said he was proud of the way his team executed in all three phases of the game and credited the team for its composure.

“I was really proud of our guys and how they handled that moment. Last week, we talked about just being where our feet are and understanding, we need to take this game for what it’s worth, a game that we absolutely have to win,” he said. “We have to start making a run now. So the most important thing is we focus on this week, this opportunity and, even smaller than that, we focus on getting better every single rep and every single play a practice so that we’re prepared.”

Rhinelander faces a Mosinee squad (4-2, 3-1) that jumped back into a three-way tie for the conference lead after knocking off previously unbeaten Tomahawk on the road 21-14 last week. Mosinee is a team that has had Rhinelander’s number, winning all but two meetings against the Hodags since Rhinelander joined the GNC in 2011 —and both of Rhinelander’s wins came during the COVID season in 2020. 

Led by GNC player of the year candidate Treve Stoffel, Mosinee came into last week ranked second in the conference in total offense and No. 3 in total defense.  

“I think that we have to have to execute as well as we did (against Antigo) in order to be a team that’s very, very disciplined defensively,” Kraemer said. “They’re coached well, and they play a really physical brand of football, so we’re gonna have to execute to the best of our ability this week to beat them.”

Here are five storylines entering the contest.

Playoff picture

Last week’s win over Antigo unofficially vaulted Rhinelander back into the Division 3 playoff field —ranked 28th in D3 according to computer rankings put out by Madison Edgewood coach Andy Levoy, who helped design the ranking system the WIAA is using this year to determine the playoff field. The top 32 teams in D3 at the end of the season will make the postseason.

Not only did Rhinelander’s win over Antigo help, but Wausau East’s 31-8 home victory over Medford gave a boost to the Hodags’ strength of victory metric thanks to Rhinelander’s win over the Lumberjacks in Week 4.

However, there it a good chance that three wins will not be good enough to make the postseason this year. Thirty eight teams already have at least two wins on the year and Rhinelander is sixth best among the 13 teams in D3 at 3-3 — of which nine are currently seeded among the top 32.

On the other side of the coin, with Rhinelander playing two of the three conference co-leaders in the final three weeks, there’s a chance the Hodags could earn a share of the GNC title if they manage to run the table. 

Kraemer said the team would be getting ahead of itself if it looked at either the conference title or the WIAA playoff picture. So, much like last week, he said his need to focus on winning tonight’s game rather than the potential rewards or ramifications that could come with the outcome.

“If you start worrying about the things that are bigger, the playoffs, the conference, you know, whatever it may be — last week was the Bell — you start worrying about the byproduct, then you stop worrying about what actually matters, and it’s being where your feet are living in this moment and winning against this team,” he said.

Golden re-Treve-er

    In this Oct. 2, 2024 file photo, Mosinee’s Treve Stoffel attempts a pass during a GNC football game at Rhinelander. Stoffel leads the GNC in passing yards and touchdowns and is third in rushing yards entering tonight’s game against Rhinelander in Mosinee. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodags figure to have their hands full on both sides of the ball against Mosinee senior Treve Stoffel. 

As Mosinee’s quarterback, he ranks No. 1 in the GNC in both passing yards and touchdowns, and is the No. 3 rusher in the conference. Overall, Stoffel has completed 64% of his passes for 956 yards with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions on the year. He’s also the team’s top rusher, with 456 yards and seven scores on the ground. He accounted for all three scores in last week’s 21-14 win over Tomahawk — throwing for two touchdowns and running for another.  

Kraemer said Stoffel is, “definitely one of the best players, if not the best player, that we’ve seen on film for the entire year.” 

“We’ve got to free up guys to be able to put bodies on him when runs quarterback counter and things like that. When he runs the football, we have to stop that first,” he said. “And then when he throws it and he’s very good at throwing it. We have to make sure that we have guys in spaces to be able to make plays and take the football away, and stop and mitigate the big play.”

Stoffel is also making a case for conference defensive player of the year honors. He leads Mosinee with 49 1/2 tackles from the safety position and has intercepted four passes on the year. 

“We have to understand where he is, not only when we’re throwing the ball, but in the run game, we have to get bodies on him because he will make tackles. And he will make him close to the line of scrimmage,” Kraemer said.

Dynamic threats

A Hodag pass defense that has allowed nearly 142 yards per game through the air will be tested against a Mosinee team that’s averaging 159 yards per game and 7.7 yards per completion.

The Indians have four receivers who have caught at least 10 passes on the year. Mitchell Michlig is Mosinee’s big-play threat. He has 18 catches for 387 yards and six touchdowns on the year. Jerrick Seeger leads the team with 22 receptions and Mosinee has a tall target in 6-4 junior Brayden Reinke, who has hauled in 10 passes for 158 yards. His 65-yarder last week accounted for the winning score at Tomahawk. 

“They are dynamic in the passing game,” Kraemer said. “Some stuff that’s similar to what we do and some stuff that we’re going to have to prepare for heavily, but if they’re able to throw the ball down the field and they’re able to get behind you, they’re going to make plays. They’re fast and they catch the ball and they have the opportunity to do that.”

Carter Fandrey is Mosinee’s No. 2 rushing option behind Stoffel, averaging 4.1 yards per carry. He has also caught nine passes for 102 yards out of the backfield.

Strong defense

Mosinee has played solid defensively in its base 4-3 look and, other than the 41 points it gave up in a Week 2 loss at Menasha, has held teams to 24 points or fewer in each contest to far. 

Mosinee comes in allowing just under 170 yards per game and 4.7 yards per carry on the ground, while allowing just 62.5 yards per game through the air on a stingy 4.2 yards per attempt.

Stoffel has five of Mosinee’s 11 takeaways on the year — adding a fumble recovery to his four interceptions. 

Though sophomore Braeden Mocadlo was not listed as a starter last week against Tomahawk, the 6-4, 225-pound defensive end has wreaked havoc up front with a team-high 9 1/2 tackles for loss (TFL), including 6 1/2 sacks. Senior linebackers Carter Fandrey (25 1/2 tackles) and Zander Deininger (24 1/2 tackles, 4 TFL) have also been active in the run game. 

Kraemer said Mosinee is solid in all three levels of the defense, which limits the Hodags’ margin for error this evening.

“For us, it’s just about simply, honestly, executing what we do the best and making sure that we can match them physically, run the ball hard in the spaces we can,” he said. “And then we know where the spots are that we can attack them in the passing game. We have to execute. The ball’s got to be thrown in a certain way. It’s got to be put on our receivers, and then we got to make those plays in the passing game too.” 

Trainer’s room

Rhinelander dodged a bullet with senior running back Cyrus Leisure, who left last Friday’s game with a knee injury on the first play of the second half, but was a full participant in practice Monday and is expected to play tonight. 

The news was not as good in the linebacking corps where junior Kaleb Zwaard was shut down last week due to a progressively worsening shoulder injury that will cost him the remainder of the season. Juniors Gage Anderson and Marshal Durkee saw more reps in his absence last week with Durkee recording a sack in the contest. 

“It really has to be the mentality of the next player up, has to play, and they have to play well,” Kraemer noted. “And we feel like we put ourselves in a position to do that. Our guys have gotten reps. We’ve had some guys switch positions that have helped us out a lot.” 

Travis Trickey (shoulder) missed last week’s game and is questionable to play tonight. Logan Leonard, Sam Caselton and Jaxton Tatrow split reps in his stead at defensive end last week. Linebacker Myles Eagleson (wrist) was scheduled to be evaluated on Wednesday as he hopes to play for the first time since Week 2.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].