Raiders wear down T-Birds and advance to Level 2

MEDFORD 36, LAKELAND 14

The yards were tougher to get at times, and it took until the fourth quarter to break it open Friday, but the Medfords Raiders’ second meeting of the season with Lakeland ultimately ended much like the first in a 36-14 WIAA Division 3 Level 1 rematch at Raider Field.

The fourth-seeded Raiders got a key first-drive stop, countered with a firstdrive score and scored two big secondquarter touchdowns to open up a 16-point halftime lead that never got any smaller as they improved to 8-2 and kept their season going for at least another week.

The fifth-seeded Thunderbirds had their five-game winning streak snapped and finished 5-5.

“I thought Lakeland came out with a distinct purpose and I thought our kids rose to the occasion and played very well,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said.

“They had nothing to lose they really didn’t,” senior Tukker Schreiner said after leading Medford’s offense with 137 hard-earned rushing yards and two short touchdown runs. “They came out hot. We beat them last time, so they were coming out with fight. That’s what I was telling the guys in the locker room. They’re going to come out hot.”

“We couldn’t just take them lightly,” senior defensive tackle Will Haavisto said. “They were going to be ready.”

After giving up more than 900 rushing yards to Medford in the past two regularseason meetings, Wilson and some of the players said Lakeland didn’t change much scheme-wise in their efforts to slow the Raiders down in this matchup. They may have done things better.

But the guys up front said they still felt Lakeland wear down as the game progressed.

“You could tell after that first drive they were really breaking down,” senior tackle Bryce Sperl said. “Pound it down teams’ throats. That’s what we do.”

“That’s been our identity the whole year and it probably won’t change that much going forward,” Wilson said. “It was nice to get a couple of big plays out of our passing game. I thought Logan (Baumgartner) threw the ball well and efficiently again. That’s just like we want to be. We want to run the ball and throw it efficiently for big third downs and big gains when we can get them.”

The game started with lengthy drives from both teams. Lakeland got the ball first and picked up three first downs to nudge into the red zone. But from the 23yard line, the Raiders held Lakeland’s top back, Rocky Wagoner to a 3-yard gain, stuffed fullback Leonard Chosa for one and forced two incompletions from quarterback Brayden Wiczek to end the nearly five-minute drive at the 19.

Medford then ground out a 13-play, 81-yard drive that chewed up almost seven minutes and reached the end zone. Peyton Gilles had a 23-yard run on the drive, otherwise it was a grinding drive that ended with a little finesse when Baumgartner floated a pass to the left pylon that was caught by Charlie Kleist for a 9-yard touchdown with 35 seconds left in the quarter. A pass to the right side to Tucker Kraemer completed the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead.

Both teams got defensive stops to start the second quarter, but Medford’s punt was muffed off a T-Bird’s fingertips and Gilles recovered at Lakeland’s 47. The Raiders went for the big play and got it with Baumgartner hitting Kraemer deep down the left seam for 46 yards. Schreiner’s 1-yard score on the next play extended the lead to 16-0 with 6:09 left in the half.

Lakeland responded with its best possession of the night. Wagoner’s 37-yard run on the second snap was the key play. Lakeland’s next 25 yards didn’t come easy, but the T-Birds did punch the ball into the end zone on Wagoner’s 3-yard run at the two-minute mark. Defensive end Landen Viergutz stopped Wiczek’s two-point run to keep the lead at 10.

Wagoner, the GNC’s second-leading rusher this season, was limited to a relatively-quiet 82 yards on 18 carries. “We gave up some big plays, but we always came back,” Haavisto said. “It was a little bend but don’t break. We got some negative plays. It was 11 guys to the ball (against Wagoner). I felt like we did a good job of doing that. He really didn’t break many tackles against us. We kind of contained him the best we could.”

A big part of the run defense was the play of the defensive ends, whose contain on the edges was vital to keeping Wagoner from bouncing out on big runs. Viergutz has been stout there all season and junior Cameron Bull made several tackles from the other side from the second quarter on.

“I think Cameron played very well in the second half and late in the first half when we ended up putting him in there,” Wilson said. “He did a nice job. He’s come a long ways this year. Landen is just one of the most solid defensive ends we’ve ever had in Medford. He just does a lot of things right and rarely makes a mistake.

“(Holding the edge) is the most simple job on our team, but it’s the hardest to do,” Wilson added. “We ask a lot of our defensive ends and we expect a lot out of them. I thought for the most part they all played very well.”

The Raiders stopped that momentum from building by responding with a crucial two-minute drive. It started with a 40-yard kickoff return by Gilles that again put the ball at Lakeland’s 47. A first down, a pass interference call on Lakealnd and then two more runs set up Baumgartner’s 10-yard quarterback draw up the middle for the score with 30 seconds left that opened up a 22-6 lead.

Neither team scored on its first two possessions of the second half, but Medford’s offensive line and running backs broke Lakeland down for good on an 81yard drive that spanned the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters. Schreiner started it with a big 39-yard gain down the right hashmarks. Three snaps later, Baumgartner flipped a pass to the right flat that Max Dietzman snagged for a 19-yard catch and run to the 13. Two carries by Gilles gained 9 yards, then Schreiner bulled in from the four to open up a 30-6 lead with 11:23 left.

Alex Kraegenbrink recovered Lakeland’s second lost fumble of the quarter at the T-Birds’ 27 with 4:29 left Gilles paid it off with a 21-yard touchdown run three plays later. Gilles added 58 rushing yards on 18 carries.

“We wore them down a lot,” Schreiner said. “Honestly, we feel like you could tell they got a lot slower.” “I thought both running backs ran very well, especially Tukker,” Wilson said. “His vision was good. He bounced a couple when he should have. That’s an important part of that whole thing. We don’t want kids trying to bounce it out the whole time because that usually doesn’t work until it’s there. Vision wise, Tukker had a great game.”

Baumgartner was seven of 10 through the air for 126 yards. Overall, Medford held a 366-228 edge in total yardage.

The win sends Medford to top-seeded and undefeated Onalaska this Friday as a heavy underdog, but the Raiders were confident they could make a game of it after their performance Friday.

“I definitely feel like we have a chance,” Schreiner said. “If we play hard football, we definitely do.”

“It’s the playoffs,” Haavisto said. “Everyone’s got a chance. We’re here for a reason.”

Medford’s Tukker Schreiner is ready for contact from Lakeland’s Enrique Velasquez as he crosses the goal line for a 4-yard fourth quarter touchdown.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS