Cross country: Hodag girls win Mosinee Invite
RHS boys take third
The Hodag girls bested most of the GNC on Tuesday and placed four runners in the top 20 as they won the Mosinee Invite at Nine Mile Forest in Wausau.
Rhinelander tennis falls at Pacelli 4-3
Loss follows 1-4 trip to Wausau
A stacked singles lineup was too much for the Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team to overcome Tuesday. Pacelli swept all four singles matches, which proved to be the difference in a 4-3 win for the Cardinals in Great Northern Conference play in Stevens Point.
RHS volleyball 16th in Friendship Tourney
The Rhinelander High School volleyball team won only one match last weekend but that was good enough for the Hodags to finish 16th in the 24-team Friendship Tournament in Wisconsin Dells.
Shoutouts & Callouts
NFL picks: Is this really the Packers’ year?
Am I ready to get hurt again? Am I ready to go all-in on the Packers and believe they have what it takes to make a deep run in the NFL playoffs and perhaps bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy back home this season? I don’t want to be, but I just might have to be.
Pigskin Preview Week 3: Rhinelander at Lakeland
Resilient Hodags look to find a way against T-Birds in Axe Game
It’s a dinged up Hodag team that travels to Minocqua tonight for the 10th playing of the Northwoods Axe Game against the Lakeland Thunderbirds. It’s also an undefeated team that heads to IncredibleBank Field trying to win back the Axe for the first time since 2021.
Hodag volleyball goes 1-3 in Wyss’s debut
Jayme Wyss scored a victory in her first match as Rhinelander High School volleyball head coach on Tuesday. The Hodags opened with a straight-set win over Berlin before dropping their final three matches of the day to finish sixth in the nine-team SPASH Invite at Stevens Point.
Hodag tennis battles the elements in Wausau
Rhinelander wound up going 1-2 in an abbreviated Wausau West Invite. The Hodags defeated Wausau East 6-1, were edged by Wausau West 4-3 and were swept by Eau Claire North 7-0.
Pigskin Preview Week 2: Rhinelander at Hayward
Hodags look to build on Week 1 success vs. Hurricanes
The Rhinelander High School football team is eager to build on its 20-0 shutout victory over Ashland as it hits the road tonight to face the Hayward Hurricanes in its final non-conference tune-up of the year.
Team Preview: RHS volleyball
Wyss hopes Hodags ‘surprise a lot of people’ by season’s end
It may take some time, but new head coach Jayme Wyss said she’s hopeful the Rhinelander High School volleyball team can turn things around.
Team Preview: RHS boys’ soccer
New-look Hodags to be a work in progress
Coach Nathan Bates said he is confident that his Rhinelander High School boys’ soccer team will be a pretty strong squad by season’s end, but it may take a few learning moments along the way to get there.
Rhinelander swimmers strong in opening meets
Rhinelander captured the lion’s share of the top 10 spots Wednesday in the Colby/Abbotsford Pentathlon and then won eight of nine events to take first place Saturday in the Menomonie Relays.
Hodag netters break out brooms to end week
Four 7-0 wins get RHS back to .500
The Hodags got back to .500 with a quartet of 7-0 sweeps late last week. Rhinelander knocked off Antigo on the road Thursday and then came home Friday to dispatch Merrill, Ashland and Ironwood. Mich. in the Hodag Quadrangular.
Season opening shutout
Hodags dominant in 20-0 victory over Ashland
If one play on Friday defined the Rhinelander High School football team’s sentiment following a disappointing end to the 2023 season, it was a pinball-style run by junior Cyrus Leisure facing third and 21.
Medford football tabbed by media to win GNC
In a GNC that’s experienced a lot turnover and new teams, the Raiders are the constant in the eyes of the media, which picked Medford as this year’s champions in the GNC Football Media Poll — a joint effort of the Northwoods River News and The Lakeland Times that canvasses those who follow the conference on a regular basis.
Notebook: Wyss feels energy on Hodag volleyball first day
Jayme Wyss’s first in-season day as head coach of the RHS volleyball team on Monday was a bit of a whirlwind between the typical first day paperwork, roughly two hours of practice, the first day of varsity tryouts and a parents’ meeting after practice.
Pigskin Preview Week 1: Ashland at Rhinelander
Rhinelander to face Ashland tonight to kick off 2024 season
It’s a bit of a new-look Great Northern Conference in 2024, with Tomahawk and Wausau East joining the league as football members. As the Rhinelander Hodags prepare to go after their fifth postseason appearance in six years, they will gear up for GNC play by taking on two former members of the conference.
Team Preview: RHS girls’ swimming
State champion Hodags still have plenty to prove in 2024
The Hodags have a run of five straight sectional titles and five straight top-five finishes at the WIAA Division 2 state meet. They will look to extend those streaks to six years come November, but observers around the state will be curious to see what Rhinelander will do for an encore after the team scored a dominating victory in the Division 2 state meet by winning six of the 12 events.
Team Preview: RHS girls’ tennis
Hodags want to recapture GNC dominance
Whether it was a matter of the Rhinelander High School girls’ tennis team fading back to the pack, the rest of the Great Northern Conference getting better or a combination of the two, 2023 was an uncharacteristic season for the Hodags.
Football: Hodags’ scrimmage cut short by weather
Passing offense shines, run defense struggles in abbreviated event
A pair of pop-up storm cells suspended and, eventually, canceled a five-team scrimmage at Crandon. The Hodag varsity unit was able to get roughly 30 offensive snaps and 40 defensive plays in before heavy rain and thunderstorms ended things for good a little more than two hours after the scrimmage began.
Fall Practice Notebook
State-champion Hodag swimmers carry momentum into 2024
The Rhinelander High School girls’ swim team has been in this position before, entering a season as defending WIAA state champions.
Team Preview: RHS football
Hodag gridders seek small wins to accomplish big things
Rhinelander went 5-5 and qualified for the WIAA postseason for the fourth time in five years — and just the sixth time in school history. But the Hodags faded down the stretch with only one win in their last six games. As kickoff for 2024 nears, Kraemer said the team needs to continue to make small steps toward greatness.
Bates to return to sidelines for RHS boys’ soccer
Following a one-year hiatus, Nathan Bates will be patrolling the sideline for the Hodag boys again this fall. Bates’s return to the program was confirmed to the River News last week by both Bates and RHS activities director Brian Paulson.
Monsters swept out of WBA regionals
Reliever Quinn Lamers allowed 10 runs in the seventh inning as the Monsters fell to Spring Valley 12-6 in the opening game of their WBA playoff pool in River Falls. Ryan Jamison was touched up in the nightcap while Tilden’s Easton Bobb tossed a seven-inning no hitter as the Tigers won 12-0.
Passing game steals spotlight at Green & White practice
The passing game stole the show as quarterbacks Truman Lamers and Chandler Servent combined to throw four touchdown passes with no interceptions during Saturday’s Green and White intrasquad practice at Mike Webster Stadium.
River Monsters face long road in WBA regionals
Rhinelander draws Spring Valley, defending state champ Tilden in River Falls
The regional seeding meeting, conducted last week, did the Monsters no favors as they wound up the18th seed in the 24-team playoffs and have been shipped to River Falls for regional play tomorrow and, possibly Sunday.
Tempo key as Hodag football practice commences
From the typical first-day clerical items to an emphasis on sprinting in and out of drills, tempo and efficiency were the buzzwords Tuesday as the Rhinelander High School football team held its first official practice of the fall.
Legion season provided uptick for Rhinelander baseball
While the 2024 campaign did not live up to the last few seasons for the Rhinelander Post 7 American Legion baseball team, there were some bright spots along the way.
Hodag Hoops Camp sees record turnout
Bolstered by a strong local turnout, the annual camp posted record numbers this week. Rhinelander High School boys’ basketball coach Derek Lemmens estimated roughly 150 players turned out for the four-day event, which was split into sections for players in grades 7-9, grades 4-6 and grades 1-3.
Rebels’ season ends at regionals
The Rebels bowed out of the four-team double-elimination tournament in third place on Saturday following a 12-1 loss to Medford and an 8-1 defeat to Merrill at Athletic Park.
Monsters hold off Whittlesey, near WBA playoff berth
Josh Randolph collected four hits and five RBIs Saturday night as the River Monsters held off the Whittlesey Reds 9-6 at Stafford Field in Dairyland League play.
Hodag football enters dead period, readies for fall camp
For the next week, Rhinelander High School football coach Aaron Kraemer isn’t permitted to have any instructional contact with his players. The hope for the Hodags is that all of the work put in during the summer will help the team improve following a bounce-back 2023 season.
Camp key time for RHS volleyball
The four days of summer camp is always a key time for the Rhinelander High School volleyball team as it enters the dead period without coaching contact prior to the start practice for the season. For first-year head coach Jayme Wyss, the time spent this week was extra important.
Rebels to compete in ‘up for grabs’ regional
Tourney begins today in Merrill
By Sunday afternoon, one of four Northwoods area teams will have punched its ticket to the Wisconsin American Legion Class AA state tournament.
Monsters miss clutch hits in Marshfield loss
The Rhinelander River Monsters outhit the Marshfield Chaparrals on Saturday. They just didn’t get the timely hits they needed to pick up a key insurance win for the WBA tournament resume.
Tourney run ends for Hodag 10U All-Stars
The Hodags bowed out in fourth place in the District 5 tournament after falling to Appleton National 8-0 on Monday and Wausau National 8-3 on Tuesday at Doepke Park.
Babe Ruth Roundup
Rhinelander edged by Tomahawk in Prep League tilt
The Hodags ran out of time after rallying to score four runs in the fourth inning as they fell 9-8 to Tomahawk at Stafford Field in what was likely a de facto championship game in the Northwoods Babe Ruth Prep League.
Rebels begin busy final week with Marathon loss
Marathon jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, defeating the Rebels 9-1 Monday at Stafford Field.
Team review: RHS girls’ soccer
Hodag soccer optimistic following solid season
The Hodags had a solid 2024 season, going 12-3-4 overall, but an inability to win a number of close games cost the team a chance at many more accolades.
Rebels split with Tomahawk, snap 3-game skid
Everyone in the Rebels’ starting nine recorded a hit as they outslugged Tomahawk 15-4 in five innings in a nightcap of a doubleheader at Kahle Field in Tomahawk. It was a needed bounce back for Rhinelander (8-9) after dropping the first game to the Cubs, 10-2, coming off the heels of a 16-0 shellacking at home against D.C. Everest on Wednesday.
Crandon edges mistake-prone Rebels 6-5
The Rebels stranded the bases loaded in the seventh inning and fell to Crandon Post 94 6-5 Monday night at Stafford Field. The loss came three days after Rhinelander beat Minocqua 6-5 at home on a walk-off single by Tyler Chariton in the seventh.
Team review: RHS baseball
2024 a down year for Hodag hardball
The Hodags won only one game and finished last in the Great Northern Conference. The losses were a mix of lopsided defeats and games like the one in Ashland that appeared to be within reach, had the team come up with a clutch hit, a key defensive play, or simply had some good, old-fashioned luck.
Rebels rally to split with Minocqua
Tyler Chariton smacked a single to left with one out in the seventh to cap a four-run rally as the Rebels stunned the 89ers in dramatic fashion 6-5 at Stafford Field. The win allowed Rhinelander to salvage a split of their home-and-home series with the 89ers after losing the opener 3-2 on Wednesday in Minocqua.
Monsters silenced by Rapids’ pitching
The Rhinelander River Monsters were unable to figure out Wisconsin Rapids’ Blaine Wahlen on Sunday. The Rapids right-hander fanned 13 batters over eight innings and scattered three hits as the Red Hawks took down Rhinelander 7-1 in Dairyland League play in Wisconsin Rapids.
Rebels fend off Altoona in Merrill Invite
MERRILL — The Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels got off to a hot start Sunday and held on down the stretch to get back to .500 on the season.
Babe Ruth Roundup
Hodag Preppers take down undefeated Tomahawk
Rhinelander avenged its only loss of the season — and handed Tomahawk its first defeat of the year — using big innings in the fourth and the sixth to take down the Hatchets 15-5 in Northwoods Babe Ruth Prep League play Wednesday night in Tomahawk.
Team Review: RHS Track & Field
In size and results, Hodag track continues to grow
2024 will likely be remember as the year that the Hodag girls' track team took a step forward and rivaled the success of their boys’ counterparts.
Rebels split Saturday games in Merrill
Rhinelander salvaged a split of its first two games of the Art Perkins Memorial in Merrill, defeating Chippewa Falls’ 17U squad 10-3 after falling to Wittenberg-Birnamwood 6-3 earlier in the day.
Rebels drop back to back games
The Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels were unable to keep the momentum going early this week as they began a seven-game road trip that coincides with some of the toughest competition on its schedule.
Shoutouts & Callouts
In regard to high school sports, what are we doing here?!
Over the past several months a question has been percolating in the back of my mind. It pertains to the primary focus of my job — interscholastic sports. Some of the pondering has been based on personal observations, some of it has been based on news stories but the constant whisper has been this: “What are we doing here and are we losing the plot as to the purpose of high school sports?”
Saturday blowouts, Sunday rain give Rebels title in home invite
The Rhinelander Post 7 Rebels took advantage of a couple of teams managing their pitching staffs on Saturday as they rolled to a pair of blowout wins. That ended up being good enough to give Rhinelander the title in its home invite, as heavy rains Sunday morning washed away a potential championship game.
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