WEEK 4 FOOTBALL - Raiders, Pirates aim to keep rolling at home; Redmen get a road test

WEEK 4 FOOTBALL

Week four of the high school football season in Taylor County has the Medford Raiders finishing up a three-game homestand, the Gilman Pirates playing at home for the first time and the Rib Lake Redmen hitting the road for the first time.

In Medford, the Raiders will face their eastern neighbors Merrill in week two of Great Northern Conference play.

Both teams enter the contest 2-1 overall, but Medford is 1-0 in league play after a 46-12 rout of Antigo while Merrill is 0-1 after losing 28-13 to three-time defending champion Mosinee.

The Blue Jays went winless with a young squad last year. This was expected to be a nowhere-to-go-but-up type of season and, so far, that’s what it’s been.

“They gave Mosinee everything they could handle and was in that game the entire time,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “It was 28-13, but it was 21-13 well into the fourth quarter. So they had opportunities to tie that game. They’re much improved, athletic.”

Merrill’s two non-conference wins were against Osceola and Crandon, two teams it lost to last year. Last week, Mosinee hit Merrill with big plays on its first two drives to build a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter. It was an even game after that. The Blue Jays have some size and strength on the defensive line and in their linebacking crew. Jax Hanson is a big, physical presence in the offensive backfield and EJ Weix is a player the Jays will likely try to get involved both running and receiving. Weix broke several tackles on an impressive 37-yard touchdown run that got Merrill back into the game against Mosinee late in the first half.

Merrill aims to break the program’s ninegame losing streak to Medford, which started in the 2015 WIAA playoffs when the Raiders won 29-27 on a walk-off field goal.

The Rib Lake Redmen expect to get a good test Friday when they visit Phillips in Northwoods East Conference play. A 52-16 romp over Chequamegon Saturday gave Rib Lake its first varsity win as an eight-player program.

Phillips (1-1) has been a solid eight-player program for several season. The Loggers try to play a physical brand of football on both sides of the ball. Offensively, they rely heavily on the ground game, which so far this year has been led by Shay Denzine. He ran for 201 yards and four touchdowns in the Loggers’ 50-6 win over Luck Saturday. If the Loggers throw, he’ll most likely be the one doing that as well.

Phillips lost 34-12 at Newman Catholic in its Aug. 31 opener.

“They’ve been running the same offense and defense for years and they’re pretty sound in how they do it,” Rib Lake head coach Jonah Campbell said. “A very well-coached team. Offensively they’re going to try to trick you a little bit. We just have to make sure we key the guards and know what’s going on in the backfield. They’ll try to misdirect you with the backfield action and we just can’t get caught on that. You know it’s going to be a physical game.

“Defensively they’re going to play physical too,” he added. “They have a sound concept that’s worked for years now. It’s going to be a good test coming off Chequamegon to see if we can keep our confidence up and make improvements. We’re looking at it as another tough opponent kind of like how Gilman was.”

Speaking of Gilman, the Pirates are off to a solid 2-0 start and they’ll be heavy favorites to go to 3-0 when they host Cornell for Parents’ Night at 7 p.m. on Friday.

The Chiefs are off to a rough start, falling 52-12 to Mellen and 78-0 to Owen-Withee in their first two games, both at home, and Gilman has had no trouble with the Chiefs the past two years, winning 77-0 and 61-0.

The game does fall in one of those proverbial “trap” spots with Gilman facing a huge mid-season game at top-ranked McDonell Central next week. Cornell has just 13 players on its roster, including one senior and two freshmen.

“They’ll do some double-tight stuff, they may spread you out, so they’ll show you different things that you’ll have to prepare for,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “We need to get our run game going offensively and shore up our defensive responsibilities so we don’t give up some plays. Worry about ourselves this week and get better.”