Pigskin Preview Week 10: Rhinelander at Edgewood

The sadness and uncertainty the Rhinelander High School football team faced when it left the field following a 27-13 loss to Merrill in its regular season finale last Friday was replaced with relief and happiness roughly 13 hours later when the Hodags found out that — despite a three-game losing streak to end the regular season — it had done just enough the qualify for the WIAA playoffs.

Given a reprieve, the Hodags (3-6, 2-5 Great Northern) will look to make the most of their opportunity tonight as they travel to Madison to take on the Edgewood Crusaders (8-1, 6-1 Badger Small) in the WIAA tournament. 

Rhinelander got in as the 32nd and final team in Division 3 following a slew of losses along the playoff cutline last Friday. Hodag coach Aaron Kraemer said he had a pretty good inkling that Rhinelander’s name would appear on the bracket prior to the official announcement by the WIAA last Saturday morning, given a few unofficial projections done by some around the state. 

It marked Rhinelander’s seventh postseason appearance overall and fifth during Kraemer’s seven-year tenure as coach. He said it doesn’t matter if you’re the first team in or the last, being one of the 32 teams standing in D3 after the regular season is an accomplishment.

“When you have the opportunity to qualify, whether it’s through wins that happen and accumulate earlier in the season and your strength of schedule, or whether it’s through earning it through victories and the wins that you get the Tier 1 points, it doesn’t really matter. It’s just about getting in and giving yourself the shot,” he said.

Rhinelander’s reward for making it in is a three-plus hour drive, but that was the shortest possible trip the Hodags could have had — given the new playoff formula proposed last winter by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association and adopted by the WIAA. The top four teams in Division 3 rankings received the four No. 1 seeds, regardless of their geographic location. The other No. 1 seeds all reside in the southeast corner of the state — Grafton, New Berlin West and Waukesha Catholic Memorial.

The Crusaders held on to a No. 1 seed despite a 20-7 loss to Sauk Prairie last week that relegated Edgewood to a three-way tie for the Badger Small title with Sauk Prairie and Mount Horeb/Barneveld. 

Rhinelander will have to overcome some history in order to pull off a major upset tonight. Aside from the COVID season in 2020, the Hodags have not won a WIAA tournament game, going 0-5 in seasons that concluded with a true state championship. 

Overall, the numbers suggest Rhinelander’s is a heavy underdog, as No. 1 seeds are a combined 107-5 in the first round since 2021, but there were four 8-seed upset wins in 2023 and one in 2024 as Belleville shutout Cambridge 27-0 in Division 6. Edgewood nearly pulled off the feat as well last year, losing 14-10 at top-seeded La Crosse Aquinas in the first round of the D4 playoffs.

“I think people are going to count us out, but we need to put the work in and show everybody that we belong here,” Kraemer said.

Here are five storylines going into tonight’s contest.

Edgewood’s offense

   Rhinelander’s Leander Sprecksel (63) and Cyrus Leisure (37) look to corral Merrill’s Kanin Jahnke during a GNC football game at Merrill Friday, Oct. 17. Coach Aaron Kraemer said the Hodags will be facing an Edgewood offense this evening that is similar in scheme to what if faced last week against the Bluejays. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

The Crusaders are led by left-handed senior quarterback Gannon Bagstad, who has thrown for 1,333 yards on the season with 19 touchdowns and three interceptions. He’s also ran for 541 yards and eight scores. Senior Carter Soma is Edgewood’s primary tailback and leading rusher on the season with 559 yards on the count and four scores. 

Overall, Edgewood is rushing for 169 yards per game and 5.7 yards per carry. Kraemer said that Edgewood runs a number of similar concepts that Merrill did in the first half against Rhinelander last week and — like the Bluejays — the Crusaders will lean heavily on their tailback and quarterback in the ground game.

“They like to run the football, they can stretch the field deep, but they set up and run formations and they run it with both their quarterback and their tailback,” he said. “They’ve got some wing counters, just like Merrill had. You know, so very similar things to what we saw last week, which is good.”

Edgewood is averaging 148 passing yards per game and nearly 9.9 yards per attempt. Junior Ben Morey is Bagstad’s favorite target in the passing game, averaging a whopping 24.5 yards per catch. He has 31 receptions for 759 yards and 12 touchdowns on the season. Senior Will Kelly is the No. 2 option in the passing game with 14 catches for 186 yards and four scores.

Rhinelander’s secondary will be tested, especially if senior cornerback Sam Zwaard cannot play after sustaining a shoulder injury late in last week’s loss at Merrill. He did not practice on Monday.

Edgewood’s defense

Though Edgewood’s defense comes in averaging 17.7 points allowed per game, it has been susceptible at times both on the ground and through the air. Teams are averaging 280.2 yards per game against the Crusaders. 

Edgewood is allowing 124 yards per game and 4.4 yards per carry on the ground, but allowed 271 yards last week against Sauk Prairie and 274 yards in a Week 6 win over Lakeside Lutheran, which coincidentally beat Stoughton last week to help Rhinelander get into the tournament. 

Teams are passing for nearly 156 yards per game and averaging 6.6 yards per attempt against Edgewood’s 3-3 defense.

“We’re going to have to figure out ways to block that 3-3 stack when we’re balanced. We’re going to have to unbalance them too a little bit in order to be successful. So that’s kind of part of the offensive game plan,” Kraemer noted.  

Senior defensive back Mike Hackworthy leads Edgewood with 65 tackles on the season and is active nearly the line of scrimmage wit 13 tackles for loss (TFLs) and 2 1/2 sacks. Defensive lineman Ashton Fickell has 61 tackles, 19 TFLs and 6 1/5 sacks while linebacker Chris Lee and defensive back Dylan Krantz have 58 and 52 tackles, respectively.

Fickell foes

In addition to Ashton Fickell, the Crusaders also have his twin brother, Aydon, on the roster. They are two of the six children of embattled University of Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell — who received an endorsement from athletic director Chris McIntosh this week, despite back-to-back home shutout losses and a 2-5 start to the Badgers’ season. 

Ashton Fickell has played some both ways for Edgewood this fall. He has three catches for 20 yards and a touchdown on offense. Aydon Fickell, listed as a tight end and linebacker, has caught two passes for 34 yards on offense and is sixth on the team with 26 tackles defensively. 

Both are listed at 6-foot-4 with Ashton Fickell weighing in at 235 pounds and Aydon Fickell at 234.

Respond to adversity

Rhinelander is hoping this year’s trip to the playoffs goes better than 2023 when Onalaska boat raced the Hodags — jumping out to a 27-0 lead after one quarter en route to a 56-6 victory. 

The Hodags plan to breakup today’s roadtrip, which comes during a virtual day of instruction at RHS, with a stop in Stevens Point and a roughly one-hour walkthrough practice on the UW-Stevens Point campus. 

Kraemer said a focused session in Point will be key to avoiding a repeat of its last playoff contest, as will finding a way to respond when adversity comes.

“It’s about responding. I’m getting back to my very first year. That’s what we have to do. You’re not going to be able to control the event that’s in front of you. You have to respond to it in order to get a positive outcome,” he said. “We want our guys to do that this week and if they do that, and they do it more times than not, I think that we’re going to have a game where we can really show the rest of the state what we’re capable of. Win or lose, I think that you’re going to get our best football this week, and my mentality is we’re going to play in Level 2 and we need to win this week in order to do that.” 

Game info

Tonight’s game will be played off campus at Breese Stevens Field — the home of Forward Madison FC soccer team of USL League One — located a few blocks east of the State Capitol. 

“This venue that we’re playing at is one that I think the kids are going to love, and I think the parents are going to love,” Kraemer said. “I’ve driven by this place about a million times, and I’ve always asked the question, like, ‘What is that?’ You know, it looks like an old baseball stadium is what it looks like with this beautiful grandstand and facade on the front of it. So you’re going to a place that’s got a lot of history.”

The field is at 917 East Mifflin St. in Madison. Hodag fans driving to the game should note that will be limited street parking and a parking garage is available on S. Livingston Street, roughly two blocks from the stadium. 

Gates will open at 6 p.m. and admission will be $6 per spectator. Admission and concession sales will be cash only. 

Edgewood plans to have a video livestream of the contest through its EHS Athletics YouTube Channel (https://youtube.com/@ehsathletics8664). The game can also be heard here in Rhinelander on 101.3 FM and 1240 AM, and online at www.thegamenorthwoods.com. Coverage will begin at 6:35 p.m.

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].