WEEK 6 FOOTBALL - Homecomings throughout the county this week

WEEK 6 FOOTBALL

Two homecoming games in Taylor County on the same night is a fairly common occurrence, but this week, we have the rare trifecta of homecomings at the three county schools.

In Medford, the 4-1 Raiders look to remain unbeaten in the Great Northern Conference in their first meeting with Wausau East as league opponents. After struggling for a lengthy stretch in the Valley Football Association, as an independent and even as an eight-player program, the Lumberjacks come into Raider Field at 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the GNC following what could be viewed as the program’s biggest win in a decade or more, a 23-22 upset of three-time GNC champion Mosinee at Thom Field.

Medford last faced East in 2019 and was a 35-0 winner at Thom Field, though this East team plays much differently than that group with a couple of coaching changes since then.

Wausau East beat the other GNC newcomer, Tomahawk, 27-11 on Sept. 6 and was beaten 28-7 by Rhinelander on Sept. 13. Tomahawk, however, beat Rhinelander this past Friday 21-14 on a 31-yard touchdown pass on a fake field goal with three seconds left.

The Lumberjacks will challenge Medford’s defense with a balanced mix of run and pass. Senior quarterback Winter Davis orchestrates the offense out of pistol shotgun snaps with varying formations that often involve several eligible receivers. Jesse Napgezek, one of the top basketball players in the Wisconsin Valley Conference, leads East with 18 pass receptions for 370 yards. He won battles twice for 50-50 balls while scoring twice against Mosinee Friday. Kayden Meverden had 11 catches, including three touchdowns on the season. Iain Stahel is the leading rusher with 397 yards on 64 carries.

“They have really good athletes in space,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “(Napgezek) who’s a wide receiver is really good. (Meverden) is really good and the running back is really good in space. I think their quarterback is a nice athlete. I’m sure this is going to be the most athletic team we’ve seen since weeks one and two. They’re real good in space, they do a good job of competing and going up for footballs offensively.”

Wausau East’s defense forced seven turnovers in the win over Tomahawk and three more Friday against Mosinee. The Indians nearly came back from a 23-8 second-half deficit Friday but missed what would have been the game-winning twopoint conversion with 1:21 left.

“I think it will be inherent on us to execute and control what we can control, which is running the ball well and taking care of the ball,” Wilson said. “Our offense keeping the ball for drives and scoring on those drives will go a long way toward minimizing the damage that they can do through their big plays.”

The two eight-player games included one long-standing football rivalry and one brand new one that is sure to bring out some emotion Friday night.

That will happen in Rib Lake, where the host Redmen will take on their former coop partner for 35 years, Prentice, at 7 p.m. Rib Lake looks to stay in Northwoods East and WIAA playoff contention, coming in at 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference standings. Prentice has lost three straight games and is 0-3, 1-3. League co-leader Phillips, a week after beating Rb Lake 5638, took care of Prentice last week 60-24.

“It makes the scouting interesting because you have some sort of knowledge of the players,” Rib Lake head coach Jonah Campbell said. “It’s just a week that you hope there’s not distractions. It’s a week for both teams that’s going to be more emotional just because of how well the teams know each other. And then being the first time since the split playing each other, it’s going to be an interesting atmosphere. It should be fun.”

Like Rib Lake, the Buccaneers, under head coach Michael Semon, much prefers to move the football on the ground, led by two players the older Redmen should be very familiar with, seniors Logan Geiger and Jonas Staroba, both of whom were key young players with the Hawks in 11-man football.

Geiger comes into Friday’s game with 337 yards and three rushing touchdowns, while Staroba has 299 yards and five scores. Both are among the team’s leading tacklers too, along with junior Aidan Hause.

“Logan’s kinda quick, he’s thick and hard to bring down,” Rib Lake head coach Jonah Campbell said. “He’s athletic, knows how to run. He’s very north and south. I’m not surprised to see him in the backfield. It’s something I would’ve done with him had he not battled the injuries the last two years. Jonas has a good knowledge of the game offensively and defensively. Very athletic. Slippery on offense and defensively he really hunts the ball.”

Rib Lake’s offense has averaged 49 points and 437 yards the past three weeks, including this past Friday’s 58-8 blowout win over Winter-Birchwood in a Northwoods Conference crossover game.

The Gilman Pirates suffered their first loss of the season last week, a 22-14 defeat at McDonell Central in a matchup of stateranked teams, and they’ll look to regroup against Thorp at 7 p.m.

Both teams come in 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the North Central East Conference standings. Thorp also suffered its first loss last week, a 59-0 drubbing at the hands of top-ranked and league-leading Owen-Withee.

Gilman beat Thorp in the regular season last year, but the Cardinals made it to the WIAA eight-player state championship game, beating Gilman along the way.

Graduation took away some top-notch talents in Logan Hanson and Denzel Sutton, but Gilman still views the Cardinals as a worthy opponent.

“It’s still a rivalry game and they still do have a lot of athletes out there,” Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said. “They’re not the same without Hanson and Sutton and what they brought to the table last year, but they still have some solid kids out there. They did struggle a little bit last week, but they’re not 59 points worse than Owen. Owen just kind of made plays. Thorp threw three interceptions and had some turnovers that hurt them.”

Players to watch include senior receiver Dylan Mattson, who has 12 catches for 176 yards so far, Landon Penk who has 335 rushing yards and averages 7.1 yards per carry and quarterback Lincoln Kopp, who has six touchdown passes through four games.

“We’re going to need to play well to beat them,” Rosemeyer said. “They don’t score as many points as they have in the past and they tend to give up more points than they did last year too, but they’re still a quality team.”