THE GOALS DON’T CHANGE

MEDFORD FOOTBALL PREVIEW

Many Raiders to step into bigger roles this fall

The Medford Raiders enter the 2023 football season with athletic talent they believe they can win with.

They also start the fall with little varsity experience following the graduation of 22 seniors, meaning there will be a learning curve to overcome to get where they want to be at season’s end.

As always, the Raiders aren’t easing into the season as another tough scrimmage session last Friday with annually- strong programs from Menomonie, Edgar and Eau Claire Regis leads into Friday’s season opener at Raider Field against New Richmond and next week’s game at Onalaska, a WIAA Division 3 state semifinalist that ended Medford’s 2022 season in Level 2 of the playoffs.

But that has been the Medford way under 18th-year head coach Ted Wilson and his staff, who hold steadfast in their belief the quickest way toward improvement is immediately seeing what needs to be fixed through good competition.

“It’s good to start the year off tough,” said senior Carson Carbaugh, one of the many upperclassmen who will fill a much bigger role this fall. “You’re battle-tested and then you’re ready for conference play.”

“It’s an eye opener is what it is,” senior linebacker/guard Logan Kawa said. “It shows you what you’re going to have to work with and what levels you can hit going into the playoffs.”

Kickoff for Friday’s non-conference game with the Tigers is set for 7 p.m. New Richmond won last year’s matchup 32-8 to start a 7-4 season that ended in Level 2 of the Division 2 playoffs.

Improvement in the first two weeks of practice has been evident, Wilson said on Monday.

“I mean that’s really the only way forward,” he said. “There’s no other choice than to try to get better every day. We push that mantra and have pushed it for a long time. Kids are pretty genuinely accepting of saying, hey, we have to be better tomorrow than we are today.

“I don’t want to call it go back a few steps but you do have to slow down just a little bit,” Wilson added about the inexperience. “That doesn’t mean play slow, but it just means installation wise, with things that you can run, you have to dial back the playbook a little bit to more basics so you can make sure you have those mastered before you try to go to some other things.”

If anything can be gleaned from Friday’s scrimmages at Raider Field it was a solid showing by Medford’s defense, particularly against the run. The Raiders hope that is a trait that defines them this fall.

“We’re doing very well run-wise,” said Kawa, who has two years of experience under his belt at linebacker. “It’s just learning all of the coverages and stuff for the ends and line, learning all of the new plays, trying to get everybody foiled into how it runs. I like it. It’s going to be a good year for us.”

“I thought we played very well against the run,” Wilson said. “We kinda figured we’d be a little stouter there. We have Max (Dietzman) and Braxton (Weissmiller) back and behind them we have Logan Kawa. Those three make a good triangle to start with.”

Kawa earned honorable mention for the All-GNC team last fall after leading the team in tackles, while Dietzman and Weissmiller got plenty of reps as part of the defensive tackle rotation. Senior Colton Dassow and junior Tripp Reamer will be part of that rotation in the opener and Isaac Schaefer will eventually get there as well.

Seniors Cameron Bull and Cory Lindahl have locked down the starting spots at defensive end. Bull showed flashes in a reserve role there last year, but Wilson said he’s gaining more consistency and Lindahl is quickly learning and executing his technique on the other side.

The second inside linebacker next to Kawa figures to be either senior Jude Stark or junior Charlie Gierl. The secondary is the area of the defense that has the least experience. The six candidates to fill the four starting spots are seniors Carbaugh, Jack Wojcik and Jace Curran and juniors Paxton Rothmeier, Evan Paul and Evan Wilkins.

“Our linebackers are really starting to figure it out,” Wilson said. “Logan has taken things a step further from where he was last year, which is good to see. If we can get the other linebacker spot figured out and our defensive linemen play like they can, play low and play in our two-gap scheme within the rules, I don’t think teams will easily be able to run the ball on us. Then, hopefully our defensive backs can come around.”

Last year’s 8-3 team allowed just under 16 points and about 225 yards per game, with most of that damage coming in the three losses to New Richmond, Mosinee and Onalaska.

Offensively, as usual, the Raiders will lean heavily on the run game.

Up front, Dietzman moves from the backfield to one tackle spot while Erich Moretz, a junior, fills the other one.

“Moretz is fresh but he’s got the proper body size. He’s a big kid,” Wilson said. “He’ll come along. He has good feet. He’ll make real big strides the next two weeks.”

Bull gives Medford a big, athletic tight end, while junior Alex Faude looks to be the second tight end. Dassow is the starting center, after getting a lot of reps last year while filling in for the injured Will Haavisto. Reamer and Kawa will start the season at guard, while Schaefer and junior Joe Jascor could be in the mix later on as well.

Medford will have a backfield by committee to start the year, but the coaching staff is eager to see if someone emerges as a go-to guy.

“There’s a lot of guys that can get the ball,” Carbaugh said. “We’re just trying to figure out what plays work and what plays don’t and seeing which guys can play where.”

Carbaugh is one of those ball-carrying candidates. He got 21 carries last year and averaged almost 5 yards a pop. Rothmeier showed the most burst during Friday’s scrimmages, while Gierl, Wilkins and Stark will get carries too, along with Weissmiller, though blocking is likely to be his main focus out of the backfield.

“They’ll all see time and carries,” Wilson said. “At wide receiver, you’ll see a lot of those guys that play running back also out there. Jack Wojcik is a wide receiver that’ll probably play some there too. A lot of our running backs are dualthreat type guys and will be in situations where they are our slot receivers. They are guys that we can split out.

“We shouldn’t have to rely (on one running back),” he added. “But sometimes you get a guy that takes a step faster than the rest of them and he’s the guy that has the better vision and runs the ball better and you kind of lean of him.”

The departure of Logan Baumgartner, the school’s all-time leader in touchdown passes with 33, including a school-record 19 last year, leaves senior Parker Crass and junior Parker Lissner splitting snaps at quarterback to start this season.

“For right now, we’re definitely going to rotate Hank and Parker,” Wilson said. “We’ll probably run plays in with them. It’ll be pretty much as true of a quarterback rotation as you can get until one of them starts to pull away from the other. At this point, that really hasn’t happened yet. They’re both very green.”

After the two non-conference challenges, Medford begins GNC play at Merrill on Sept. 1. The Raiders went 6-1 in the conference last fall, losing a 42-28 shootout at Mosinee. The Raiders weren’t seriously challenged by the rest of the league. They beat Lakeland twice, including a 3614 win in Level 1 of the playoffs. They did get a challenge for a half from Antigo before winning 53-21 in week nine and Antigo is the team Wilson predicted could make the biggest jump in 2023.

“I would think Antigo should be quite a bit better,” he said. “They had almost no seniors last year. When you play a bunch of young kids on varsity, typically that next year, you’re better. They just have more experience, they’ve been through the fire a little bit.

“Of course Mosinee has the most coming back out of anybody, so I’m sure they’re still going to be very, very good,” Wilson said. “They probably have the most explosive couple weapons in the conference. Merrill is losing a big running back but I think their program is headed in the right direction. The rest of them it’s hard to know because we haven’t seen anything.”

The senior leaders said the team’s focus simply has to be on the opponent that’s in front of them each week.

“Anybody can be beaten on any given day,” Kawa said. “That’s the right mentality to have.”

“The team goals haven’t changed here in a long time,” Wilson said. “It’s always to qualify for the playoffs, contend for the conference championship. Once you get there, do the best you can and make a run. Win as many games as you can.”

Medford’s Carson Carbaugh eyes up his tackling target near the sideline in Friday’s opening scrimmage session with Menomonie at Raider Field.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS