the extra point after those ….

the extra point after those touchdowns for a 46-0 halftime lead.

“It was a formation where they were a little bit predictable,” Rosemeyer said of the defensive scores. “They put one guy out and they run an out with him. (Keepers) was the outside linebacker and he was just able to undercut it. We kinda knew it was coming, but he made a good read on it and was able to step underneath it. He was able to make a play while being where he was supposed to be. They were identical touchdowns basically.”

The kick return unit made a play to start the second half while springing Kroeplin for another quick score.

“The way they do their kickoffs, we did have a special return set up,” Rosemeyer said. “They kick it to a side and then all eight guys just kind of flood the side. We tried to make a wall to go around them. We got around seven and Troy Duellman got a good kickout block on the eighth guy on the outside. Grady had to cut inside one guy and outraced everybody to the end zone. We executed that new kick return pretty well. We were actually expecting it to go to Kade Kroeplin, but their kid didn’t kick it far enough.”

From there, younger players took over where possible. Freshman Troy Duellman got his third touchdown of the season, scoring from a yard out on Gilman’s first true possession of the half and Grady Kroeplin scored from 17 yards out with 9:40 left in the game.

Gilman had a 292-81 advantage in total yardage. The 173 rushing yards were evenly distributed, led by Grady Kroeplin’s 53 yards on two carries, Kade Kroeplin’s 39 yards on six carries and Krizan’s 37 yards on four attempts.

Nolan Kvidera led the Bears with 33 yards on 10 attempts.

Gilman’s end-of-season schedule has changed. The much-anticipated trip to Newman Catholic Friday was scrapped after Newman announced Sunday it was forced to cancel the remainder of its season. The Pirates picked up a replacement game for tonight, Thursday, in Chippewa Falls against McDonell Central, a team it beat 44-8 on Oct. 16. The Macks come in at 4-2 after losing 48-6 last Thursday to another former CloverWood and Small Cloverbelt rival, Greenwood.

Rosemeyer said Gilman’s tentative plan for next week is to play Belmont, the state’s second-ranked eight-man team, Friday at the Woodside Sports Complex in Mauston. Belmont is playing fourthranked Luck there this Friday. Gilman remained third in this week’s state rankings.