to the pylon. The two-point ….

to the pylon. The two-point run by Parker Crass gave Medford a 16-14 lead that held to halftime.

Two plays into the second half, the Raiders struck again on the same play with Gardner busting one for 78 yards. He added the two-point conversion to open up a 24-14 lead.

“It’s awesome looking down, you’re 50 yards behind him, you just got done blocking and you look up and there’s Aiden in the end zone,” Seifert said.

“It makes you feel good,” Sperl said. “You know you did your job and you helped make that happen.”

“On the goal line we actually ran the same play three times in a row because it was so close to being busted the first two times,” Wilson said. “It’s just a matter of us making sure we got it right, and we did. And Aiden broke both of them. It was a good job on Aiden’s part to cut back a little bit and real good to get him up to the second level where he wasn’t even touched.”

“The lead blockers, Tukker (Schreiner) and Parker, they did great,” Gardner said. “Tukker on I think the 78-yard run, there were two guys coming in and he blew both of them up and Parker was right there to get a cornerback so that always helps. The line always made it work, so that was fun.”

Lakeland answered, taking advantage of a roughing-the-punter penalty and turning the next snap into a 42-yard touchdown pass up the right sideline from Brayden Wiczek to Mikel Allen that pulled the T-Birds within 24-20.

But Medford answered with a Medford- like drive, grinding out an 11-play, 67-yard drive that ended with Gardner’s 12-yard run to the right. He scored the two-pointer to open up a 32-20 lead with 3:25 left in the quarter.

The Raiders forced a three-and-out and drove 57 yards in six plays, stunning the T-Birds with a 23-yard touchdown pass from Crass to Caleb Guden on the first play of the fourth quarter. Schreiner’s kick boosted the lead to 39-20.

Three incomplete passes and a punt later, Medford had the ball again at midfi eld. Gardner ran for 15, Schreiner, who also had a solid night rushing with 84 yards on 15 carries, plowed ahead for 9 and, with the defense sucked in, Brigham Kelley got behind everyone and caught an easy 26-yard touchdown pass from Ty Metz to seal it with 10:36 to go.

Crass, in the lineup for the first time this season, made a difference with his blocking out of the backfield and he was two for two through the air for 46 yards.

“We knew we were going to use him in a specific way this year,” Wilson said. “I didn’t think we were going to end up having to use him at quarterback. He helped quite a bit. Made a couple nice throws. We’re going to use that a little more because he does have a good arm. He played quarterback in the younger levels for us.”

Lakeland turned a 73-yard return on the opening kickoff into a 6-yard touchdown pass in the right flat from Wiczek to Jerry Goselin and a 6-0 lead. Medford countered with a 65-yard drive that end- ed with an 11-yard score for Gardner and his two-point run that put the Raiders up 8-6 with 5:20 left in the first quarter.

The T-Birds then frustrated the Raiders with a lengthy 92-yard drive that included six pass completions, including three on fourth downs, to regain the lead on a 13-yard pass from Wiczek to Allen on third and goal.

Wiczek was impressive, completing 13 of 25 passes for 157 yards. He was 10 of 14 in the first half for 90 yards. Lakeland, however, ran for just 26 yards on 21 carries and had minus-8 rushing yards after the first quarter. Rocky Wagoner had a 21-yard carry early and that was about it for the T-Birds’ running game.

“We made some adjustments, we started trying to put some heat on (Wiczek) a little bit,” Wilson said. “I think it helped that we also got up, by scoring right out of the third quarter. They scored again, but then we scored again. We were just kind of keeping the pressure on them that they’re going to have to keep up with us that way I think probably helped.”

Having ground down two opponents in a row in the second half, the Raiders feel they have gained valuable momentum heading into the Rhinelander game.

“It’s been paying off for us,” Gardner said. “We’ve been working harder and harder and we’ve been seeing results. It’s been fun to watch and play.”