October 9, 2008
Rough second half drops Medford from GNC lead
The looks on the faces in the post-game team huddle said it all. The Medford Raiders knew this was a homecoming game that was there for the taking.
Instead, the Merrill Blue Jays were the ones taking home a 31-22 win that knocked the Raiders out of first place in the Great Northern Conference. The Raiders can get back into the top spot, but it will take an outstanding effort this Friday at Antigo, the new GNC leader with a 3-0 conference mark and a 5-1 overall record.
Medford fell to 3-3 overall with Friday’s loss.
“We just didn’t play very well in the second half,” head coach Ted Wilson said. “Merrill is a good football team. We can’t play poorly, miss blocks, throw interceptions and things like that and expect to win against them.”
After running at will in the first half to the tune of 188 yards, the Raiders were held to just 18 rushing yards in the second half. Merrill (2-1, 4-2) twice pinned the Raiders near their own goal line with fabulous punts by Matt Hanson and turned that field position into the 11 points they needed to ice the victory.
Another big special teams play turned the game around in the first quarter for Merrill when Dalton Malzahn answered Medford’s first touchdown with a 76-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Medford did not force a turnover in the game while Merrill picked off four Raider passes, although two of those were in desperation times at the end of each half. Brad Anderson had three of those interceptions.
“That kickoff return was a big momentum changer,” Wilson said. “Not only that, but we gave them a couple of short fields with some interceptions and short punts. Field position was big.”
Medford twice held the lead in Friday’s first half.
The Raiders were eager to set the tone and they did that by holding the Blue Jays to a three-and-out following the opening kickoff and then marching 63 yards in 10 rushing plays. Jimmy Rindt had a 10-yard run during the drive and Trevor Laher ripped off a 20-yard run to the right. The Raiders overcame a penalty on the drive and finished it with Rindt’s 1-yard scoring plunge at the 6:33 mark. Rindt’s kick made it 7-0.
But Malzahn took away all that momentum when he burst through the middle of Medford’s kick coverage and took it to the house. Zach Wendorf’s kick went right wide, but Merrill was back within 7-6 and had the momentum.
Anderson’s first interception set the Blue Jays up on their 42. A 36-yard pass over the middle from Pascal Paul to wide-open tight end Zach Kubichek put Merrill on Medford’s 18. Wilson said the coverage on that play got mixed up when not everyone on the defense received a last-minute call from the sideline. On the next play, Medford couldn’t bring down Jeff Haffemann on a short pass to the right side and he took it to end zone. Haffemann also caught the two-point pass to put the Blue Jays up 14-7 with 2:52 left in the first quarter.
The teams traded punts early in the second quarter, but Medford’s Ethan Hemer made a big play on Merrill’s punt when he broke through the line and blocked it, allowing the Raiders to take possession at the Blue Jays’ 24. Medford took advantage but again had to overcome a false start penalty to punch it into the end zone. Laher took care of the scoring, running it in on a sweep to the right from 7 yards out. Quarterback Grant Bub turned a bad snap on the kick into two points when he rolled to his left and connected with Josh Judnic, giving the Raiders a 15-14 lead with 5:39 left in the half.
“We ran the ball very well in the first half,” Wilson said.
Merrill responded again with a 63-yard drive that featured a 33-yard pass to Haffemann and a 25-yard run by Malzahn. Fullback Zach Deering went the final 6 yards to put Merrill back in front 20-15 with 3:20 to go.
Medford’s next possession started at its 27 and died on Merrill’s 19 on downs after a pair of incompletions, one of which was nearly caught at the five.
Hanson’s first key punt for Merrill came with 3:05 left in the third quarter. It pinned Medford on its 2-yard line. Medford did get a first down on that possession thanks to a taunting penalty, but the Raiders failed to convert a third-and-two. Terrin Meyer’s 46-yard punt plus a penalty pushed Merrill back to its 18, but it didn’t take long for the Blue Jays to cover 82 yards and take a two-score lead.
Malzahn broke out of a sure tackle for a loss and scampered 23 yards on the first play. Passes to Deering and Kubichek put Merrill in Medford territory. A 13-yard touchdown pass to Deering put Merrill in the end zone with 9:43 left in the game. Paul’s two-point pass to Sam Arneson made it a 28-15 game.
The Raiders’ passing attack made a huge play in a third-and-16 situation when Bub hit Rindt deep over the middle. Rindt’s catch and run covered 68 yards and put Medford on Merrill’s 12. On third down, Bub found homecoming king Brock Brandner in the back of the end for a 7-yard score, pulling Medford back within six with 7:43 to play.
“Other than a couple of drops and a couple of interceptions that hurt us, our passing game was pretty good,” Wilson said. “We got a nice play from Jimmy and a nice play on the touchdown. We did some good things, just not quite enough of them to win the football game.”
Medford forced Merrill to punt with 5:26 to go, but Hanson’s perfect punt was downed at the 1-yard line. On fourth and one at the 10, Medford gambled and lost when Merrill stopped Nick Meyer for no gain. The Blue Jays lost 3 yards in their next three plays, but Wendorf put the final nail in Medford’s coffin by drilling a 30-yard field goal with 2:06 left.
Medford had 16 first downs compared to Merrill’s 11 and outgained the Blue Jays 332-258. Laher rushed for 121 yards, while Rindt had 74. Bub threw for 126 yards with Rindt accounting for 81 of those yards on four receptions.
Paul threw for 151 yards for Merrill while completing nine of 18 passes.
“Merrill made a couple of spectacular plays,” Wilson said. “There were a couple of times where we were right with their guys, but they made nice catches.”
In Antigo Friday, Medford will meet a Red Robin team that is all about running the football. The Robins’ Wing-T attack features a handful of backs, including quarterback Michael Wolter, who can all be effective. The Robins drew statewide attention two weeks ago when they knocked off the third-ranked team in Division 1, the Stevens Point Panthers, 29-28.
“They’ll run sweeps, traps and power. They come right at you,” Wilson said. “They have four good backs. They don’t feed any one of them too much. An offense like that is not easy to stop. They run a lot of misdirection and will criss-cross a lot in the backfield. Even the quarterback is a good runner.
“We’ll find out what we’re made of,” Wilson added. “The conference race is far from over. If we can get this one, we still control our destiny so to speak.”
