WEEK 5 FOOTBALL - Gilman is at McDonell in top-10 8-player matchup

WEEK 5 FOOTBALL

It’s a road trip Friday for Taylor County’s football teams as the regular season already reaches the halfway point for 2024.

What looked to be the marquee matchup of the night lost a little luster with McDonell Central, then the top-ranked eight-player team in the state, losing 58-27 at Owen-Withee this past Friday.

The Gilman Pirates (3-0) remained second in the rankings this week as Owen-Withee is the new number-one in the WisSports.net state coaches poll. They still expect a battle as they take on McDonell, now ranked sixth, Friday at 7 p.m. at Dorais Field in Chippewa Falls.

The Macks got that pre-season numberone ranking based on the wealth of returning talent it had from the 2023 team that reached the state semifinals where it lost 16-13 to Thorp.

Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said it appears injuries have slowed McDonell from reaching full speed in the first three weeks, but the Pirates will have to be ready to play. McDonell held off a late rally by Clayton to win its opener 27-26 and easily beat overmatched Lake Holcombe 65-0 in week two.

“They do have a pretty potent running game,” Rosemeyer said. “All of those kids are back from last year. The quarterback (Grant Smiskey), their two running backs (Dawson Moulton and Daniel Fritz) and their receiver (David Anderson). They just haven’t quite gotten their running game going yet. Obviously we still need to stop the running game and control Anderson.”

Anderson had 208 receiving yards in the win over Clayton, but he got banged up against Lake Holcombe and played sparingly at Owen-Withee.

“He was the reason they beat Clayton, just him making plays,” Rosemeyer said.

Smiskey threw for 1,681 yards and 19 touchdowns last year and is a capable runner as well, but the Macks would prefer if their main backs take most of the carries. Moulton ran for 1,482 yards and 19 touchdowns last season.

The Medford Raiders travel to Minocqua for a 7 p.m. kickoff with the Lakeland Thunderbirds. Both teams are 3-1 overall, but Medford holds a one-game lead in Great Northern Conference play with its 2-0 league record. Lakeland fell 26-7 this past Friday at three-time defending GNC champion Mosinee.

Lakeland’s offense is driven by senior running back Noah Bruckner, a unanimous All-GNC pick last year along with Medford’s Paxton Rothmeier. Bruckner had 236 yards in a 33-16 win at Ashland in week two and 140 yards in a 12-8 win over Rhinelander in week three, but Mosinee held him to 61 yards last week.

“He’s a very tough runner, he’s had a good season so far,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “A lot of highlights and a lot of yards already. They’re running a lot of the same stuff they were running last year, a lot of power football, especially with Bruckner, and a little play action try to get over the top.”

Lakeland has been fairly solid defensively, allowing 13.3 points per game. Medford has owned the rivalry recently, having a 14-1 record since 2010. “I know it’s a good rivalry game for us and it always has been,” Wilson said. “Just like for everybody, the opportunity to knock off one of the conference leaders is always sitting there. If they get us, then maybe they have a chance going forward if they win the rest of them.

“Just like always, it’s one game at a time. We have to go take of what’s in front of us, take care of ourselves and make sure that we’re doing our things correctly.”

The Rib Lake Redmen came out on the short end of a physical, but entertaining 56-38 shootout with Phillips last Friday and will look to rebound Friday at Winter-Birchwood. The Warcats are 1-2 following a 38-32 loss at Mellen Friday. They beat South Shore 42-29 in week two and were smoked 54-14 in week one by the Chequamegon Co-op, who Rib Lake handled in week two 52-16.

Winter-Birchwood will be the most passheavy team Rib Lake has seen to this point. Quarterback Carter Petit throw for 280 yards and four touchdowns against Mellen and 258 yards and three touchdowns against South Shore. Lucas Gindt has been the main receiver with six of the touchdown receptions.

“They’ve gotten better as the season’s gone on,” Rib Lake head coach Jonah Campbell said. “They’ve gotten more comfortable. They might have been down a couple players at the start of the season. They’re a team that likes to take a lot of shots, a lot of deep shots. They’re looking to get that play where they beat the cornerbac or beat the safety with a deep throw. They will run a little bit too. They do their best to keep you honest.”

Rib Lake expects to be able to counter with its physical ground game and the defense aims to rebound after allowing 482 yards to the strong Phillips team.

“(The Warcats) have big-play potential,” Campbell said. “They’ve made a lot of big plays in all of their games. Our job is to limit that and then hopefully keep our offense running smoothly and keep it moving. I think we’ve moved the ball in every game. Now it’s just a matter of scoring, keeping the ball in our possession and we’re looking to improve our two-point success rate.”