Conference play starts for Raiders and Hawks; Pirates home again

WEEK 3 FOOTBALL

Conference play begins for most 11man football teams around the state this week, and that includes the Medford Raiders and Rib Lake-Prentice Hawks, who will host their league openers Friday night.

_ In Medford, the 0-2 Raiders will look to get on track when they host 0-2 Ashland at 7 p.m. at Raider Field.

Medford has won eight of 10 GNC meetings with the Oredockers since 2011. Last year’s game in Ashland wasn’t an easy one for the Raiders, who scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull away for a 26-11 win.

Medford’s losses have been to solid squads from Rice Lake and Amherst. Ashland has been handled by Northwestern 42-7 and Hurley 38-12. Northwestern beat Rice Lake Friday 28-20.

“(Head coach) Travis Larson is doing a great job up there,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “I think they’ll be a good test for us and I think they’re going to be a decent team. Northwestern beat Rice Lake so Northwestern is no slouch. Scott Erickson up at Hurley has got a really good program. They’re always very good and execute very well. I expect a hard-nosed tough squad that’s going to come down and be raring to go.”

Offensively, the Oredockers operate from a lot of spread sets and have had some success with a short passing game. But they will try to establish a power run game out of those formations as well.

Senior Parker Goodreau has been the workhorse in the backfield with 145 yards on 25 carries thus far and two scores, including a long first-half run in Friday’s loss to Hurley. Quarterback Kade Jolma completed 12 of 24 passes against Hurley for 122 yards to five different receivers.

According to WisSports.net stats, Hurley ran for 384 yards in its win over Ashland and Northwestern had 260 rushing yards against the Oredockers.

Wilson said Monday Medford was anticipating having to make some lineup adjustments as it appeared an injury was going to sideline quarterback/defensive back Logan Baumgartner.

“We’re both 0-2,” he said. “May the best team win.”

_ In Prentice, the Rib Lake-Prentice Hawks are coming off an unexpected bye and will host the Webster Tigers in their Lakeland Conference opener at 7 p.m.

The Hawks’ week-two game against Northland Pines was canceled Friday afternoon. Pines canceled its varsity season on Monday due to low player numbers and injuries.

Hawks head coach Jonah Campbell said losing the game obviously wasn’t ideal as the team felt during the week of practice it had fixed some of the mistakes it made in its season-opening 12-0 loss to Kingdom Prep Lutheran and was ready for a competitive game with the Eagles.

Webster comes in 1-1 after handling Clear Lake Friday 28-6. The Tigers were beaten 30-0 by Turtle Lake in their opener. The Tigers edged the Hawks 20-14 in overtime last Oct. 23.

“We’re excited now for the Webster game,” Campbell said. “It looks like a game that could be similar to last year. We feel like it should be pretty evenly matched.”

Sophomore running back Gavin Rossow ran for 98 yards and three touchdowns for Webster in its win Friday and senior quarterback Kayden Rossow threw for 151 yards while completing nine of 16 passes. Campbell said the Tigers don’t use traditional Wing-T formations, but the offensive concepts are similar. He said their defensive style is similar to the Hawks’ too, which helped during this week’s preparation.

Webster held Clear Lake to just 2.7 yards per carry Friday and 137 yards of total offense. Webster turned the ball over seven times against Turtle Lake.

_ Gilman looks to go to 2-0 in eight-player football when it hosts Port Edwards at 7 p.m. on Friday.

The Pirates opened the new season Thursday with an easy 41-0 win over Tri-County. Port Edwards gave Phillips a good fight before falling 20-14 in a weather- shortened game on Friday afternoon.

Quarterback Brynden Beck threw to Timmy Tranel for 78 yards and two scores and Beck ran for 60 yards to account for most of the Blackhawks’ offense. Phillips did all of its damage on the ground in the first half.

Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said Port Edwards has tried to spread defenses out in the past, but showed a mix of spread and double-tight I-formation sets against the Loggers.

“It looks like they’re trying to incorporate more double-tight stuff to get a Week 3

running game going, so we kind of have to be ready for both,” Rosemeyer said. “They’re going to be a faster team than what we saw with Tri-County. Their quarterback is a freshman. He’s not real big but he’s fast. He throws good enough, but it’s his scrambling that is maybe the biggest concern.”

after Tlusty drove toward the net from the right side and then passed the ball back to his teammate for the open shot. Neubauer attacked the net on the final goal and Tlusty parked on the opposite post for the tap-in.

Defensively, the Raiders allowed only a handful of shots on goal before a late breakdown allowed the Hawks to get on the board.

“We need to be a little more composed and consistent in the back and we’ll be set,” Bilodeau said. “Obviously shutouts are what we desire and what we aim for and they look a lot better than having a goal on the sheet. But a win is a win and we’ll take it. It was a great matchup. They’re a great team, great program. I was pumped that the boys won.”

There was a downside to the game as junior midfielder Aaron Schield suffered an arm injury that will sideline him for some time.

Xavier played two GNC teams Saturday in Mosinee, beating the host Indians 3-2 and Northland Pines 6-0.