Mosinee picks off Medford’s hopes of a conference title

MOSINEE 14, MEDFORD 0

Few probably expected the Medford Raiders to pick up more yards through the air than Mosinee did in their Great Northern Conference championship showdown Friday at Raider Field.

But having to use the passing game has its risks, which were exposed heavily by six interceptions –– four by standout athlete Keagan Jirschele –– in the Indians’ 14-0 win that spoiled Medford’s homecoming festivities.

Mosinee’s seventh straight win all but assures the Indians (6-0, 7-1) will win the program’s third straight outright championship in the GNC. Mosinee hosts winless Merrill in this Friday’s regular-season finale.

With their GNC title aspirations likely dashed, the Raiders (5-1, 6-2) look to regroup with a solid performance this Friday at Antigo before heading into a WIAA post-season where, depending on how the Division 3 bracket shakes out, anything can happen.

“Once we get into that second season, there is a distinct possibility that we could see the team that we just lost to again,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “It’s important to just learn from it, move forward and put our best foot forward against Antigo.”

Both defenses played well in Friday’s cold-weather battle, but Mosinee’s was just a bit better, winning the field position battle in the first half and then, amazingly, ending Medford’s final six possessions, starting with the last drive of the first half, with interceptions.

“We just didn’t do enough to get it done fully as a team,” Wilson said. “The defense played pretty well. We had two big mistakes and that’s the issue with those guys with their ability over there is mistakes turn into touchdowns instead of just big gains. We made more mistakes than they did and they came away with the win.”

Mosinee’s first score came early in the second quarter. Though neither team did much offensively in the first quarter, a heads up 22-yard punt return by Jirschele where he quickly scooped up the ball and took off when the Raiders were expecting the ball to just roll dead flipped the field position midway through the period.

After the teams traded two punts apiece, Mosinee started its first possession of the second quarter on Medford’s 43. Jirschele went in motion right to left, took a handoff from quarterback Gavin Obremski, cut up the middle and then bounced to his right, where overpursuit by the Raiders and one good block on the outside left a wide open lane for him to score and give the Indians a 7-0 lead with 9:51 left in the half.

Another exchange of punts had Medford pinned deep again, on its own 11 with 4:24 left in the half. But on this drive, the offense finally found a groove, picking up four first downs to get to Mosinee’s 36. However, time was ticking away and the Raiders had to start forcing the issue. Three snaps later Hank Crass hit Charlie Gierl on a slant for a 17-yard gain that put the ball on the 15, but an incompletion and then an interception in the end zone by Indian Aidan Shaughnessy ended the threat with 4.8 seconds left.

Wilson said, like most opponents Medford has seen this year, Mosinee threw some defensive wrinkles at the Raiders that took some time to make the adjustments against.

“We found a little bit of where we could run the ball better, give the kids a little bit of film and show them how they needed to block it,” Wilson said. “They hadn’t run that particular defense against anybody all year. They didn’t run that particular defense against us last year. I thought as we started to figure it out and figure where their bodies were and our kids started to figure out how to block it, then things did get much better for us moving the ball. We just couldn’t find a way to finish drives.”

The offensive momentum, however, felt like it was building for Medford when it started the second half by moving the ball yet again. Three first downs got Medford from its 30 to Mosinee’s 28 but, on second and 10, a rollout went the opposite way of a wide open receiver and Jirschele got his first pick when the ball was thrown into a crowd.

Four plays later, on third and 10, a fallen defender led to Mosinee tight end Brady Lokken being wide open for 71yard catch and run that put the Indians up 14-0 with 5:31 left in the third quarter.

Medford got to Mosinee’s 14 on its next possession, but Jirschele intercepted a pass in the back corner of the end zone. He made a mistake bringing the ball out and getting tackled at the two. But he made up for it after Mosinee’s three and out by intercepting his third pass of the night. This one came at the goal line on a long heave by Crass that had a chance at connecting with tight end Cameron Bull, but Jirschele made a better play on the ball from behind and won the jump ball.

Interceptions by Jirchele with 3:50 left and by Corde Wright with 9.9 seconds left ended the Raiders’ last two possessions.

“Passing’s not necessarily our forte but, after watching the film, we had some things where we didn’t do a great job,” Wilson said. “We talk a lot about when we run routes, there’s certain spacing that each route needs to have. If you get too close together, that allows a defensive back like Keagan Jirschele that can cover a lot of ground to almost cover two guys. We did not do a great job with our route spacing on quite a few of those passes so it turned into an issue for us.”

Medford finished with 240 total yards with 120 coming on the ground and 120 coming through the air. Crass and Parker Lissner combined to complete 10 of 23 passes. Rothmeier had 61 rushing yards on 21 carries, while Carbaugh added 40 yards on 15 totes.

Mosinee’s Obremski completed just two passes, the 71-yard touchdown and another to Shaughnessy for a 1-yard loss. In the passing game, the Raiders shut out Jirschele, the league’s most feared wide receiver. But Jirschele had the big rushing touchdown and 68 rushing yards total, while Wyatt Harris slugged his way to 44 yards on 13 attempts. Mosinee had 233 yards of total offense.

“We just didn’t make enough plays to get over the hump,” Wilson said. “I think going forward our kids can take what we learned from this and go forward and make a difference in how we play.”

Ending at Antigo

In closing the regular season at Antigo Friday, Medford faces a team that is in the playoff discussion after improving to 3-3 in league play this past week with a 15-0 win at Ashland. The Red Robins are 4-4 overall. Antigo gave Medford some trouble early in last year’s finale at Raider Field, but the Raiders eventually settled in and won 53-21. Colton Thomae, who threw for 199 yards in last year’s game, is taking snaps again for Antigo, along with Jake Verhasselt. Alec Knapkavage and Alex Schlieve are Antigo’s top running backs.

The Red Robins have been solid defensively in the second half of the season, shutting out Rhinelander and Ashland and keeping the Red Robins in the game in a 19-7 home loss to Lakeland on Sept. 22.

Early in the week, a cold, rainy night was in the forecast.

“They’re a nice team,” Wilson said. “They’re better than they were last year. They have a couple of decent backs. They’ve tried to spread people out a little bit more this year than they have in the past. I think they’re going to come out and be very physical. We’re going to play there. It’s not the easiest place in the world to play at with the turf and the environment.

“We’re going to have to bring our lunchpail and be ready to go,” Wilson added. “They’re kind of playing for their playoff lives. If they win, they’re in for sure. If they don’t, they’re still probably in. But they’ll have all kinds of motivation so we have to shuttle this one and move on and win this game so we can hopefully get a home playoff game and move from there.”

The WIAA will release the post-season brackets on Saturday.

Medford’s Carson Carbaugh and Jack Wojcik wrap up Mosinee ball carrier Elliot Yirkovsky, limiting him to a 4-yard gain late in Friday’s first quarter.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS