BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

MEDFORD 50, LAKELAND 14

Offense, defense both click in lopsided win

The Medford Raiders drastically reduced their penalty yardage and rediscovered the run blocking that was so successful two weeks prior in Onalaska while rolling to a 50-14 win over Lakeland Friday night at Raider Field.

They also seem to have found their next standout running back.

Paxton Rothmeier had his third straight triple-digit yardage total and second straight game over 200 yards with a monster 252-yard, four-touchdown performance that included scoring runs of 60 and 55 yards in the second half. He did that damage on just 12 carries to average 21 yards per attempt.

As a team, the Raiders piled up 340 rushing yards in just 29 attempts and their offense was stopped only once by Lakeland’s defense, not counting the clock running out on the game’s final possession.

“Coach told us pit bull mentality,” said senior Cameron Bull, who caught touchdown passes from both of Medford’s quarterbacks in the win. “We didn’t block last week, we didn’t talk last week (a 12-0 win at Merrill). This week, we talked, we blocked. Ten seconds we had to block for and we did it this week.”

“I thought we just did a better job of maintaining blocks, blocking to the whistle and not just hitting a guy and letting them slide off,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “Paxton Rothmeier’s vision is getting very good.”

Medford’s 74 passing yards, with two touchdowns on three completions, made it 414 total yards of offense. Medford had just three penalties for 25 yards, way down from more than 100 yards in penalties at Merrill.

“They were great,” Rothmeier said of those blocking in front of him. “It was a big step from last week. We took a big step in practice getting all of our communication right. Some holes were just huge. It was so easy to run behind. I was not touched on the last two (touchdowns). That was nice.”

Defensively, the Raiders bent a bit but only broke once when the game was still competitive. Lakeland’s big target, tight end Maccoy Holmquist, caught two big passes in the first half, one of which led to a 9-yard scoring run by quarterback Kort Meyer that made it 14-6 late in the first quarter. Holmquist’s 29-yard catch got Lakeland close again midway through the second quarter, but the Raiders forced two incompletions and then sacked Meyer on fourth and five from the nine to keep it a 22-6 game. From there, Lakeland didn’t threaten again until scoring late against Medford’s reserves.

“Overall, again, I think we’re taking steps in the right direction,” Wilson said of Medford’s defense. “We do have to work a little bit on not letting the ball get over the top of us. We do at times have little breakdowns with down and distance. On running downs we have to pay attention to how far upfield we are, where our eye discipline is. Our linebackers at times aren’t filling with the proper shoulders. It’s all of those little things that we have to try to get back to doing them all correctly all the time.”

Medford jumped ahead quickly. Bull, at defensive end, nearly got an intercep­tion on the game’s second play. But the defense got a three and out, Holmquist’s punt went sideways, gaining just a yard and the Raiders needed just two plays to capitalize, getting a 30-yard scoring run from Rothmeier. Out of Medford’s puma set, he took the direct snap, got through a hole at the point of attack, bounced outside to his left and stiff-armed past the last defender for a 6-0 lead just 1:57 into the game.

“We got pushed back, it was a good hook by them,” Rothmeier said. “They kind of drove us back a little bit. I went around and I was just trying to break tackles. I think I made one miss, I juked him outside. One guy was coming up to me, trying to catch me and I gave him a stiff arm and just got past him and stayed inside the sideline.”

Rothmeier’s 24-yard run on the next Medford possession set up Bull’s 30-yard touchdown catch. The deep receiver as the Raiders flooded the right side, Bull took a perfect throw from Hank Crass for the score.

“It was a good throw,” Bull said. “The guy who was on me didn’t see me right away and he got turned around so I was wide open and it was perfect.”

Rothmeier’s 15-yard touchdown run capped an 85-yard drive and made it 22-6 with 20 seconds left in the first quarter. Another 85-yard drive after the defensive stop ended with Bull’s 36-yard reception from Parker Lissner as a defensive breakdown by Lakeland left him wide open down the middle of the field.

“They had no idea where I’d come from,” Bull said. “I think they were expecting us to run to the outside and then we did a pass play and it was perfect. It’s fun. It was Parker’s first touchdown pass, which was really neat for me to have, and Hank’s second touchdown. It was great.”

“With our run-heavy offense, we’re not going to throw a lot but we need to try to be effective when we throw it,” Wilson said. “Two touchdowns out of three completions, that’s pretty good. Cameron’s a big kid, a big target and his hands have gotten much better than they were two years ago or even last year. He’s stepped up quite a bit.”

Medford’s line opened a big hole up the middle for Evan Wilkins, who got a chance to show off his speed on a 31-yard touchdown with 1:35 left in the half. He ran in the two-point conversion as well to make it a perfect five-for-five for the offense and 36-6 at halftime.

“Paxton and Evan both have a good skill set,” Wilson said. “Charlie Gierl does too and so does Carson Carbaugh. Unfortunately when you break a bunch of big long runs like that you don’t really get time to get the ball to other guys. We had 29 carries in the whole game. That’s pretty crazy to score 50 points and only have 29 carries and we only threw the ball five times. That’s not a lot of plays.”

Medford’s Jude Stark (l.) and Evan Wilkins put a big hit on Lakeland tight end Maccoy Holmquist, but Holmquist hangs on to the football for a short 5-yard pass reception during the first quarter of the Raiders’ 50-14 win Friday.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS