Falcons get overpowered in Raiders’ first win

MEDFORD 50, AMHERST 14

After wearing down against the speed of New Richmond in week one, the Medford Raiders imposed their will on their weektwo opponent overpowering the Amherst Falcons Friday with 355 rushing yards in a 50-14 non-conference win.

The Raiders scored touchdowns on four of their first five offensive possessions and added a defensive score in that span to build an insurmountable lead, earn their first win of 2022 and build momentum heading into the start of Great Northern Conference play this week.

‘The kids played quite a bit better than they did last week, so that’s good,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “We took a step forward. We still have some things to fix and go forward with. We’re looking to get better every day and try to improve upon where we were last week.”

Tukker Schreiner averaged 9.1 yards per carry while gaining 164 yards on 18 attempts and Peyton Gilles had 135 yards on 18 carries. Both scored twice. While easily running for their highest single-game totals as varsity players, Schreiner and Gilles were given some room to run by their offensive line and used that momentum to run through several would-be tacklers.

“It’s good when you get a good block and you don’t get your first contact until a couple of yards in,” Wilson said. “It allows you to get some momentum going downfield and running downhill. That’s the kind of team we’re going to be. We have to run downhill. We’re not really capable of running around anybody. Sometimes you have to run through guys.

“I think that’s our identity, running downhill and getting yards and being in the game in the first half or getting a lead in the first half so that we can wear teams down a little bit with our size,” he added. “We have to play good defense on the other side to make sure we have time to wear teams down a little bit.”

The good defense Friday was highlighted by two big interceptions and just 121 rushing yards allowed against a program that is used to overwhelming its opponents in the Central Wisconsin Large Conference. Amherst won last year’s weather-shortened game in Medford 29-14.

This time, the Raiders set the tone quickly by marching 67 yards in seven plays to score the game’s first points. Gilles broke off a 25-yard run in the drive, which he capped with an 8-yard score to make it 6-0. Three offensive snaps later, the score doubled to 12-0 when Charlie Kleist broke quickly on a Matthew Glodowski pass to the right flat and turned it into a 27-yard pick-six.

“That was a great play by Charlie,” Wilson said. “We were just in straight man coverage so it wasn’t like we had him in a zone or anything and sitting on it. He just read it and jumped the ball and made a heck of a catch and finished it off. That was a great, great individual play by Charlie. That’s him being a step faster. He is definitely a step quicker than he was last year. When you get a little more mature and you spend a little time getting a little bit quicker, faster and stronger, those types of things happen and you can close on the ball better.”

The Raiders quickly forced a punt, took over on their 36 and marched 64 yards in 11 plays to go up 20-0. Quarterback Logan Baumgartner completed three passes on the drive, including gains of 18 and 12 yards to Tucker Kraemer. On third and goal from the 10, he scrambled through a hole on the right side and easily got to the end zone for the touchdown with 1:03 left in the quarter. He hit Braxton Weissmiller for the twopoint conversion pass.

Amherst’s first break of the game came when a punt midway through the second quarter pinned Medford at its 2-yard line. The Raiders, though, drove far enough to reverse field position and, after an exchange of punts, got the ball back at the 50 with 2:04 left. A 22-yard screen pass to Schreiner and Schreiner’s 14-yard run got Medford close. Baumgartner lofted a 12-yard scoring strike to Kleist in the back left corner of the end zone with 18 seconds left and hit Landen Viergutz with the two-point pass for a 28-0 halftime lead.

Amherst’s offense came to life in the third quarter, ending its first drive with a 38-yard touchdown pass from Glodowski to Jake Derezinski. But Medford countered with a seven-play, 68-yard drive that included a 24-yard burst by Schreiner and ended with his 6-yard touchdown run that made it 36-6. The Falcons came right back with a quick 58-yard, five-play drive that ended with Glodowski’s 8-yard scoring run and two-point run.

They threatened to score again on their next drive, which was aided by two pass interference call. But that drive eventually fizzled due to a holding penalty deep in the backfield while Glodowski was scrambling. The Raiders iced things from there, getting Schreiner’s 25-yard touchdown run with 8:54 left in the game where he seemingly plowed through at least half of Amherst’s defenders to break free. Defensive end Ty Metz got Medford’s second interception of the game on Amherst’s next snap, batting the ball into the air and quickly reacting to catch it before it hit the ground at the 28-yard line. Schreiner ran for 21 yards and, three plays later, Gilles scored from the one.

“Ty is another kid who just worked his tail off this off-season and wanted to maybe change positions,” Wilson said. “He was more of a defensive back earlier in his career, but he asked to play defensive end and I said, ‘you bet.’ He’s got the right body shape for it and he’s played well.”

Defensively, the Raiders went away from their typical 5-2 look and employed a 4-3 scheme to counter Amherst’s spread. Wilson said the Raiders had used it with some success in last year’s game.

“It was just thinking about trying to get our best athletes on the field and match up with what they’re trying to do,” Wilson said. “That was the game plan we came up with and we went with it. To hold them to 14 points and no points in the first half is pretty good.”

Medford added 104 passing yards to total 459 for the game. Baumgartner was seven of 14 with no interceptions. Glodowski was six of 18 for Amherst for 125 yards and the two interceptions. Amherst finished with 246 yards of total offense while falling to 0-2 for the first time

since 2006. The Raiders now look forward to their home opener Friday. The Merrill Blue Jays come to town for the GNC opener that kicks off at 7 p.m. They went 1-1 in non-conference play, winning 43-0 at Northland Pines and falling 30-12 at home Friday to what is expected to be one of Crandon’s best teams in several years.