As expected, Pirates have no trouble with Lake Holcombe

The mismatch most observers expected Friday didn’t take long to materialize as the Gilman Pirates scored five firstquarter touchdowns and cruised to a 75-0 home win over Lake Holcombe.

The win pushed Gilman to 5-1 in the North Central East Conference and 6-1 overall. The Pirates now head to Owen-Withee (6-0, 7-0) this Friday, looking to earn a conference title share and to clinch a berth in the WIAA’s 16-team eightplayer post-season bracket.

Lake Holcombe, who officially have a forfeit win to their credit but have not actually won a game on the field this fall, were held to just 33 yards of total offense Friday and turned the football over six times to give themselves no chance of hanging with the Pirates. The entire first half was played on Lake Holcombe’s side of the 50-yard line as Gilman built a 53-0 halftime lead.

“Defensively our gap control was good,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “Everyone did their job. It was nice to get the two defensive touchdowns on interceptions. We gave them just a couple of plays where they had 7-yards or 6-yard gains. Other than that, for the most part I thought the first-string defense did a good job and the second-team defense did a good job.

“Offensively we were able to spread the ball around a little bit,” he added. “The defense really put us in a good position every time.”

The first turnover produced the game’s first points when Max Ustianowski snagged an overthrown ball from Chieftain quarterback Emmit Johnson and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown on the game’s third offensive play. Lake Holcombe got a first down on its next series but then fumbled a snap. Taydyn Angell recovered for the Pirates at the 30 and four plays later, senior Brayden Olynick, Gilman’s starting center, lined up at the left tight end spot and got wide open in the right side of the end zone for a 16yard touchdown reception from quarterback Dawson Krizan.

Chad Konsella nearly broke out for a 69-yard touchdown on a punt return but stepped out of bounds at Lake Holcombe’s 49. That didn’t matter because he scored easily on a 48-yard run a couple snaps later. Cooper Krug recovered a fumbled handoff by the Chieftains and returned it 12 yards to the four where Krizan scored from on the next play for a 26-0 lead.

Olynick’s ensuing kickoff took a high bounce over Lake Holcombe’s Kadyn Jones, forcing Connor Kane to pick it up as it died at the 1-yard line. He was tackled at the four. A short punt gave Gilman the ball at the 26 and the Pirates got a 10-yard scoring run from Konsella for a 33-0 lead with seven seconds left in the first quarter.

The second quarter started with Tony Syryczuk’s 37-yard interception return for a touchdown. He cut in front of intended receiver Chase Burgess in front of the left sideline, cut back to his right and spun out of an attempted tackle at the 20. Konsella’s 30-yard punt return put the ball at Lake Holcombe’s 32-yard line for the Pirates’ next possession. They ended that series by rewarding senior Mitch Moran with his first career touchdown run. The 4-yard score made it 46-0 with 5:03 still left in the half. Senior Brady McAlpine closed the half with an 11-yard scoring run with 36 seconds left.

Sophomores carried the offensive load in the second half. A 58-yard scoring drive to start the half ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Beau Pockat. McAlpine recovered another Chieftain fumble, leading to a 30-yard touchdown run by quarterback Logan Halida with 1:12 left in the third quarter. Pockat swept right for an 81-yard touchdown run with 8:58 left to close the scoring.

That run pushed Pockat to a team-high 120 rushing yards on just four carries. Konsella added 75 yards on five carries and McAlpine had 55 yards on six attempts. Lucas Halida had 41 yards on six carries in the second half as well.

Krug led Gilman’s defense with eight tackles. Tony and Joey Syryczuk had six tackles each.

“Our leading rusher was our thirdstring tailback,” Rosemeyer said. “It was a good team effort that way.”

The Pirates know they face a formidable opponent this week as Owen-Withee is the state’s top-ranked eightplayer team. They also know playoff qualification would be dicey with a loss.

But Rosemeyer said he likes how the team has grown since its 22-14 Sept. 20 loss at McDonell Central.

“The kids have been practicing hard, and they’ve been asking good questions in practice,” he said. “It’s been very good the last few weeks coming off that loss. I thought we were a good team before McDonell. They know the sense of urgency and what we need to do Friday night.”