Hodags to have hands full with Hatchets

There was a time a few years back when taking on a team like Tomahawk — with an enrollment half the size of Rhinelander — would have been considered a breather on the Hodag football team’s schedule.

That’s been anything but the case the last three years. The Hatchets have taken two of three from the Hodags —with Rhinelander’s win coming on a last-second field goal two years ago. Off to a 4-0 start this season, not only are the Hatchets one of the top teams in Division 5 — ranked No. 5 in the latest coaches poll — they are legitimate Great Northern Conference title contenders.

The Hatchets got there after a topsy turvy Week 4 that saw perennial conference powers Mosinee and Medford both lose. Tomahawk and Lakeland are the lone remaining undefeated teams in the GNC. 

That may be a surprise to some people but, as Hodag head coach Aaron Kraemer prepares his team to face the Hatchets tonight at Mike Webster Stadium, he said it’s not one to him.

“I said it before the season started, I thought they were my dark horse to win the GNC and so far, throughout the season, they’ve made that a reality,” he said.

Rhinelander comes into tonight’s contest at 2-2 following a bounce-back 28-14 victory at Wausau East that served as a gut check for the team. Down 14-0 early after what Kraemer described as “probably four of the toughest minutes of football we’ve ever played,” Rhinelander came storming back and dominated the Lumberjacks on the ground in the second half last Friday night in Wausau. 

“There isn’t really much you can do when you’re down 14. You got to fight back,” Kraemer said. “And to me, that was a big program win, because it gives us the ability to say to guys is we are struggling in the first half, look at what we’ve done. We’ve come back from 14 points to win.”

Rhinelander faces a tough Hatchet squad that picked up a signature win in Week 2, edging Wittenberg-Birnamwood in overtime 28-22. The Hatchets followed that with an 11-10 win over Wausau East before blowing out Antigo 49-0 on the road last Friday night. 

Kraemer said there isn’t much flash or gimmick behind Tomahawk’s game plan. The secret to their success has been a combination physicality, hustle and discipline.

“They want to play a physical brand of football, and they’ve chosen that with the I formation they play on the offensive side ball. And then the way they play defense, they hustle to the football and they hit hard,” he said. “I mean, they’re assignment sound, they know where they’re supposed to line up against certain formations. They’re very, very disciplined. And that hustle and heart, and then discipline with it, makes it a difficult combination for any team to play them.”

Here are five storylines going into tonight’s contest.

X-factors

Game planning for the Hatchets begins by looking at two dynamic, play-making seniors on both sides of the ball — Rex Reilly and Jonah Dickens. Both have played a major role in the Hatchets success so far this season. 

Reilly was Tomahawk’s starting quarterback prior to a season-ending shoulder injury last year, but has become a key cog in the Hatchets ground game this season — rushing for 202 yards and three touchdowns. Tomahawk doesn’t throw often, but Dickens is a major threat when it does. Four of his six receptions on the season have gone for touchdowns. 

Defensively, Rex Reilly is the team’s leading tackler with 39 1/2 tackles including four tackles for loss. While Dickens has been a playmaker on the back half of the defense with a sack, a fumble recovery and two interceptions so far on the year. 

Kraemer said his team has to be aware of where Rex Reilly and Dickens are on the field, on both sides of the ball, at all times.

“I think that’s the big thing. Understanding, you’re going to get hit by No. 6 (Rex Reilly). He is going to come through the hole. He’s going to iso you. He’s going to hit you hard. Same thing when he runs the ball. He’s going to finish. He’s going to finish hard with his feet running,” he said. “Then obviously in the passing game, Dickens is a guy that really has a lot of athletic talent. He can beat you in the passing game. If you’re lulled asleep by their heavy run percentage, they’re going to beat you with a chunk play on the edge because they do have athletes there. 

“Defensively, they’re both hitters and they’re both physical and they both hustle to the football. Rex reads really, really well, and so does Jonah. And from a safety position, Jonah makes a lot of plays, and obviously in the middle in the middle, Rex does.” 

Cash or credit? 

Tomahawk could be starting a backup quarterback against the Hodags for a second straight year. Rex Reilly was injured right before the Rhinelander game last year, handing the reins of the offense over to then freshman Cash Olsen. Olsen’s a sophomore now — who has accounted for 88 passing yards, 61 rushing yards on five total touchdowns on the year — but he missed last week’s game at Antigo due to injury and it is uncertain if he’ll be able to play tonight. 

Not that Olsen’s absence hindered the Hatchets last week as they turned to another sophomore, Jett Reilly — Rex’s younger brother. Jett Reilly passed for 77 yards, rushed for 28 and accounted for four total touchdowns in the contest. 

“We’ll prepare for him as if he’s going to play, but, the other quarterback in Reilly, he played really well against Antigo,” Kraemer said. ”So are they any different? No, he’s going to run the football too. He’s going to be physical. He’s a Reilly. So he’s going to do that. That’s what we expect. They can throw the football still with whoever’s playing quarterback. So our biggest thing is just planning game planning for what they do, not necessarily who does it.”

Whoever is under center, expect a steady diet of the run game. The Hatchets come into the night averaging 197.3 yards per game and 5.6 yards per carry on the ground. Sophomore Max Larson entering the night as the team’s leading rusher, with 408 yards (7.3 yards per carry) and five touchdowns on the year.  

Aggressive defense

On the other side of the ball, the Hodags will have their hands full against a strong Tomahawk defense. The Hatchets, so far, have allowed 9.5 points and 182.5 yards per game and appear equally adept at stopping the run and the pass.

They’ve held run-heavy teams Crandon and Antigo to 120 and 110 yards rushing, respectively, and limited pass-happy teams Wittenberg-Birnamwood and Wausau East both under 140 yards through the air. 

“They hustle to the football. They do a really nice job in their motor game, in their pursuit game, and they’re coached to do that,” Kraemer said. “They do a really, really great job getting down the line scrimmage and making plays. So if a guy misses a play or misses a tackle, they know that they got somebody there to clean it up with their defensive line. They hustle the football, they pursue really well.”

In addition to Rex Reilly and Dickens, Tiegan Sarazin (25 1/2 tackles), Ethan Gibeault (20 tackles, 1 sack) and Hudson Evans (15 tackles, 2 1/2 sacks) have been active for the Hatchets on defense this season. 

The three rush-keteers 

The Hodags hope to use balance and misdirection to slow down Tomahawk’s defense this week and, through four games, the Hodags have shown they can pick up yardage either on the ground or through the air. 

It proved to be the former last week with East making an effort to take away receivers Rowan Wiczek and Evan Shoeder on the outside. Cyrus Leisure, Ben Olson and Sam Zwaard all rushed for more than 90 yards and combined for all four of the Hodags’ touchdowns. 

With tailback Myles Eagleson (wrist) still out of the lineup, the Hodags moved Leisure there at times last week, creating a personnel grouping that had Leisure, Olson and Zwaard all in the backfield at the same time. Kraemer said their all-for-one, one-for-all mentality makes for a dangerous trio.

“The big thing is that they do it all together. That’s the heart thing,” he said. “They fake for each other, they block for each other, they do the dirty work for each other, and then when they get the football, they run really, really hard. So as a defensive coordinator, it makes it difficult because you don’t know which guy’s going to get the ball.” 

Down to the wire

    In this Sept. 20, 2024 file photo, Rhinelander’s Rowan Wiczek attempts to tackle Tomahawk’s Landyn Seymour on a fake field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter of a GNC football game at Tomahawk. The last two meetings between the Hodags and the Hatchets have seen the game-winning score take place with three seconds remaining. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

If recent history is any indication, expect tonight’s game to come down to the wire. All four of Rhinelander’s games this season have been within a single possession in the fourth quarter, while Tomahawk earned back-to-back one score wins over Wittenberg-Birnamwood and Wausau East in Weeks 2 and 3.

And then there’s the matter of the last two meetings between these squads. In 2023, Rhinelander erased a 21-0 first-half deficit to defeat the Hatchets 22-21 on a late field goal. Last year, the Hodags were driving for a go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter when Truman Lamers was intercepted with under two minutes to play. Tomahawk then executed a fake field goal in the final seconds to win 21-14 and stun the Hodags. 

Coincidentally, both game-winning plays occurred with 3 seconds remaining in regulation.

There is no trophy on the line, like when Rhinelander plays Lakeland or Antigo. However, Kraemer said Tomahawk is definitely considered a rival — given the close proximity between the communities and the competitiveness on the field. 

“It is a rivalry game for the most part. It’s really close, the kids know each other. And so setting the tone early, getting the first hits out of the way and being the aggressors early on is really, really important for a matchup like this one,” he said. “It is about setting the tone early, and it’s about not making mistakes — not being the first one to blink. So that’s what we have to prepare our guys for this week and what we’re trying to prepare them for as they go into the game tonight.” 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].