Pirates host Panthers with spot in semifinals on the line

For a while Friday night, it looked like a second matchup in three weeks between McDonell Central and Gilman was in the works for Level 2 of the WIAA eight-player football tournament.

But that’s not how it ended up as second- seeded Prairie Farm got its offense going in the second half and rallied from a 32-14 halftime deficit to beat the Macks 46-40. That result means the unfamiliar 8-1 Panthers are the team top-seeded and unbeaten Gilman will host in Friday’s second-round matchup.

The winner earns a spot in the state semifinals Nov. 5 against either Belmont or Newman Catholic, who will square off at 4 p.m. Saturday in Merrill.

While the Pirates went 5-0 to win the Central Wisconsin West Conference this fall, Prairie Farm shared the Lakeland West championship with Luck, who is a one-seed on the other side of the eightplayer bracket. The Panthers handed Luck its only loss of the regular season, 38-24 on Sept. 24. But with a chance to win the outright league title, Prairie Farm got upset 28-14 by visiting Shell Lake on Oct. 15.

On film, Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer sees a team that has some size and physicality to deal with and a few standout athletes the Pirates will have to be aware of in Friday’s matchup.

WIAA 8-player football quarterfinals

#2 Shell Lake (7-2) at #1 Luck (8-1), Friday at 7 p.m.

#2 Wabeno-Laona (9-0) at #1 Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas (9-0), Friday at 7 p.m.

#2 Prairie Farm (8-1) at #1 Gilman (9-0), Friday at 7 p.m.

#3 Belmont (7-2) at #1 Newman Catholic (9-0), Saturday at 4 p.m. at Merrill Defensively, Rosemeyer said Prairie Farm’s tackling ability jumps out at him, led by senior middle linebacker Quade Larson, junior cornerback Tyler Rassbach, sophomore safety Tucker Clementson and senior lineman Jacob Rassbach, who leads the team in total tackles.

“They’re really pretty good defensively,” Rosemeyer said. “They have some good players. Even though they’ve given up some points, especially last week, they do have some good players there.”

Prairie Farm opened the year by allowing a total of 13 points in its three non-conference games, including a 14-7 win over Wausau East on Sept. 3. The Panthers allowed an average of 21 points per game in league play before McDonell put up 40 on them Friday in a losing effort.

The Pirates, who average a shade over 50 points per game, will present Prairie Farm’s defense with its toughest challenge so far.

Offensively, many of those same players are the ones that concern Gilman’s coaching staff.

It starts with Tyler Rassbach, who takes the snaps mainly out of pistol formations and is a running and passing threat.

“He makes guys miss a lot of the time,” Rosemeyer said. “He’s just a playmaker for them. He’ll get the snap and it looks like he improvises a lot. It’s like he sees something over here and once I get the snap I’m going to run that way. That’s probably not how it really is, but it looks that way at times. That’s scary. We’ll have to be able to cover the whole field with him. Their passing game is go- ing to be a lot of long passes. They’ll send two guys down the field, throw it up and let one of them go get it.”

Larson is a tall, physical running back, who has gained well over 1,200 yards running behind a line that features Jacob Rassbach at right guard. Clementson is the fastest of Prairie Farm’s receivers. The Panthers lit up Winter-Birchwood in a 68-6 non-conference win on Sept. 9 and, overall, average 36 points per game.

“It’s almost like playing on option offense,” Rosemeyer said. “You have to be really disciplined in keeping inside leverage and outside leverage. The inside game and outside game both have to be very disciplined to keep (Tyler Rassbach) contained. I’m hoping we can handle the physical presence of (Larson). He’s more of a between-the-tackles type guy.”

Gilman’s defense has been up to most any challenge it’s faced so far this fall. McDonell did rack up 313 yards on Oct. 15 and Clayton got 231 yards this past Friday, with both teams doing some damage in the passing game.

But the bottom line was McDonell scored just 16 points when the game was competitive and Clayton scored just seven on a fourth-down trick play.

Overall, Gilman has allowed 10.1 points per game and has held teams to one score or less in six of its nine victories.