Pigskin Preview Week 9: Rhinelander at Merrill

Entering tonight’s regular season finale at Merrill the Rhinelander High School football team clings to the 32nd and final playoff spot in the WIAA Division 3 rankings. 

Despite last week’s 42-12 loss to Medford, the Hodags (3-5, 2-4) actually moved up one spot in the D3 rankings as wins by Wausau East (No. 25) and Hayward (No. 36) bolstered Rhinelander’s strength of victory metric. 

However, given that six 3-5 teams are sitting directly behind the Hodags, and two other 2-6 teams are waiting in the wings, the math becomes really simple for Rhinelander.

Winning tonight at Merrill does not automatically guarantee the Hodags a spot in the tournament, nor does losing automatically eliminate the Hodags from the playoffs, but the odds point to those statements almost certainly being true. As such, RHS coach Aaron Kraemer said his team is essentially treating this game as a playoff contest.

“We can’t really control if we’re in or out. We can control what we do this week, and what we talked to the boys about is, this is a playoff game for us,” Kraemer said. “If we want to earn the opportunity to be in the playoffs, we have to win this week, and that’s all there is to it.”

It will not be easy against a Merrill squad that has exceeded preseason expectations and comes into tonight with a mathematic, albeit unlikely, chance to still earn a share of the Great Northern Conference title. The Bluejays (5-3, 4-2) would need a win plus upset losses by Mosinee (at Medford) and Tomahawk (at Lakeland) to secure a three-way share of the crown. Merrill is also trying to secure a first-round home playoff game as it comes in as a No. 4 seed, 13th in the current D3 rankings.

Merrill had won four straight contests prior to a 24-3 loss at Tomahawk last Friday. The Bluejays have had success this season with a power running game, and stout defense that sits third in both points and yards allowed in the GNC.

“I’m sure coach (Jason) Wadzinski’s really proud of his guys and what they’ve been able to accomplish, considering what they were projected to do this year,” Kraemer said. “I’m sure he would say that that wasn’t his projection and he had planned to do a lot better than everybody else said they had, but they do have a really solid team. They got a good group of seniors. And they’re big.” 

Here are five things to know going into tonight’s contest.

Shore up the defense 

The primary concern for the Hodags tonight will be to shore up a leaky run defense that has allowed 275-plus yards on the ground in back-to-back contests. There is a good chance the Hodags will have to do that again without defensive linemen Caden Sieker and Travis Trickey, who missed last week due to shoulder injuries and did not practice on Monday.

Kraemer said fixing those issues boils down to one simple mantra legendary coach Bill Belichick preaches — do your job.

“It doesn’t really matter the 11 guys that are out there. They all are talented enough. Every single player that suits up on a Friday night is talented enough to get a job done,” he said. “They have to do their job and they have to do it with reckless abandon. I mean, that’s what it has to be, to the whistle every single time with hustle, with heart, hitting the ball, getting it down. But it’s about doing their job and not doing anything more than that.”

That will be easier said than done against a Merrill team that came into Week 8 as the top-ranked rushing offense in the GNC. Junior Kanin Jahnke has been the bell cow for the Bluejays, rushing for 809 yards and three touchdowns on the year, but Merrill also has a talented dual-threat quarterback in Cole Rudie. He has thrown for 728 yards and seven touchdowns, and rushed for 513 yards and eight scores. Keylin Allen is Rudie’s favorite target. He’s caught 18 passes for 346 yards and four touchdowns.

“Merrill is a physical team. They’re big up front. They have some good athletes on the edges,” Kraemer said. 

More of the same?

As of late, Merrill’s offense has more closely resembled that of its western neighbor on State Highway 64 — Medford. The Bluejays have employed some of the same exotic formations and overload concepts that the Raiders have run with great success over the last several years. 

“They can beat you in a lot of ways, but it seems like to me that they have decided,  ‘When we pack things in, we have the athletes to take our time, be patient, read, let a gap open up, and we’re going to beat you that way,’” he said. “And they’ve beaten teams that way since the Antigo game this year.”

While Kraemer said there are some different nuances between the two teams — Merrill is more apt to throw the ball and runs a zone blocking scheme as opposed to Medford’s gap scheme —preparing for similar styles on back-to-back weeks will help the Hodags.  

“They’re trying to put bodies in position. We’re going to have to match those bodies and make plays,” Kraemer said. “So, yeah, it’s very similar. And which makes it good because it’s two weeks of practicing against a similar style.” 

Get a Klug

Kraemer said a secret to Merrill’s success on both sides of the ball has been the play of tight end/middle linebacker Noah Klug. The 210-pound senior has been used in a bit of an H-back role for the Merrill offense, lining up as either and inline tight end or a fullback in the backfield. He had 13 carries for 60 yards and a touchdown and nine receptions for 27 yards and another score, but primarily, he serves as a key blocker in the Merrill ground game.

Klug’s numbers are much more eye-popping on defense where he leads the team with 86 tackles — nearly double that of the No. 2 player on the team in that category (Mason Bloch, 45). Klug also has seven tackles for loss, two sacks, three forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and an interception.

“He’s a an impact player on both sides of the ball,” Kraemer said. “He’s an impact blocker. They give him the ball in spread situations, and it’s hard for teams to stop that, because if they’ve move their players out to cover the pass, then they’ll just gut people inside with Noah. And he’s a really nice kid and a really good player on the offensive side. On defensive side, he’s an impact player because he makes lots of tackles. And so we got to understand where he is this week.” 

Convert on offense

    Rhinelander’s Rowan Wiczek is tackled by Medford’s Colton Soczka during the third quarter of a GNC football game at Mike Webster Stadium Friday, Oct. 10. The Hodag offense is looking to make more of its offensive chances this week after scoring on twice on eight drives that crossed midfield against the Raiders. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Hodag offense hopes to be back at full song with Sam Zwaard slated to be back in the lineup. The senior wing has been limited or out of the last two contests, due in part to a combination of a groin injury and concussion protocol. Zwaard had a breakout contest last year against the Bluejays, catching six passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. 

Otherwise, Kraemer said its a matter of execution for his offense. Rhinelander failed to score on its first six possessions last week against Medford despite crossing midfield each time it had the ball. 

“We have to run our offense and we have to do it efficiently. I mean, that’s all there is to it. We have to finish drives, we have to run our offense the way that we best know how,” Kraemer said. 

Leave a legacy

This is not the first time Rhinelander and Merrill have met late in the season with the playoffs on the line for the Hodags. In 2006, the Hodags lost 32-0 to the Bluejays in the final week of the season, needing a win to become playoff eligible. 

In 2012 the Hodags scored a 14-13 win over Merrill on homecoming night to earn their third GNC win and secure a spot in the WIAA tournament. Luke Linsmeyer, now the top defensive assistant on the Hodag coaching staff, scored the game-winning touchdown in that contest. 

Then there was 2023, when a 7-0 win at Merrill in Week 8 was the victory the Hodags needed to become playoff eligible. That year marked the last of Rhinelander’s six trips to the postseason. A win tonight would likely give the Hodags a seventh playoff appearance, and cement a legacy for this year’s senior class.

“Football’s different. Football is the only sport that you do not automatically qualify for the playoffs,” Kraemer said. “And so this is special. You add your name in history and you become a part of the legacy of our program by making it to the playoffs. There are a handful, a couple of handfuls, of teams that have done that. And if you put your name on that wall, that means that you have accomplished something in this program that a lot of others haven’t.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].