RIB LAKE 46, PRENTICE 32 - Redmen hand their former teammates a 46-32 defeat

RIB LAKE 46, PRENTICE 32

The Rib Lake football team had to be patient through a first half where it felt like it never had possession of the football, but once it flipped that script in the second half, there was no turning back in a 46-32 homecoming win over Prentice.

In the first matchup between the schools since the end of their 35-year football co-op, the Redmen scored four second-half touchdowns to turn around a 20-16 halftime deficit and stayed among the leaders in the Northwoods East Conference with a 3-1 league record. The Redmen are 3-2 overall heading into a key game this Friday at 3-2 Flambeau.

As expected, the Buccaneers gave a valiant effort in an emotionally-charged contest, but they fell to 0-4 in league play and 1-4 overall.

“You’re never really sure what you’re going to get when you’re playing a rival,” Rib Lake head coach Jonah Campbell said. “You’re expecting it to be tough, like it was. They caught us early with a fake punt, got us to jump on a fourth-and-three, which gave them a first down and they recovered an onside kick. They had a really good game plan offensively just burning clock.”

Facing a Rib Lake offense that has been humming since its 38-6 opening-night loss to Gilman, Prentice’s game plan was to shorten the game and limit possessions and, in the first half, it worked to near perfection.

The Buccaneers got the ball first and, while taking the play clock down to the final seconds on each snap, burned off eight minutes while scoring on their opening drive on a Jonas Staroba touchdown.

Rib Lake quickly responded, needing just five plays to get into the end zone on a 14-yard touchdown run by quarterback Talon Scheithauer, who had a big night with 119 rushing yards on just 12 carries. He also completed two of four passes for 61 yards. That first score, with a two-point conversion run by Tucker Phillips, tied the game at 8-8 with 2:24 left in the first quarter.

Prentice went right back to work, eating almost another six minutes of clock while methodically moving down the field. The Buccaneers took a 14-8 lead on a touchdown pass from Adam Raab to Logan Geiger.

“In the first half they played a fourminute offense,” Campbell said. “They did a really good job in the first half controlling the game like that, really slowing us down. We only had two offensive possessions in the half. I think they had four. They had a pretty good game plan offensively, slowed the game down. A couple of things went their way.”

Prentice recovered an onside kick, but Rib Lake got a stop and turned that into a quick six-play scoring drive capped by a 24-yard touchdown run by Logan Schmittfranz. Another two-point run by Phillips gave the Redmen a 16-14 lead with 5:14 left in the half.

The Buccaneers were able to run out the rest of the clock and scored on a deflected pass on the final play of the half to take the lead into the locker room.

Getting the ball to start the second half, Rib Lake knew that was its chance to grab momentum and the Redmen didn’t waste it.

“In the second half we felt pretty good about starting on offense,” Campbell said. “We only had two possessions on offense and only 11 offensive plays in the first half. It was not a lot to go off of, but we felt confident. We barely dipped in to any of the playbook and we felt good with those. We got a touchdown, we recovered an onside kick and then we forced them to punt and that led to three quick scores in that third quarter which really opened up the game for us.”

The first touchdown came quickly on a 45-yard run by Phillips, who got free along the right sidelines just 2:07 into the third quarter. He also ran in his third two-point conversion of the night for a 24-20 lead. The Redmen then evened the score with Prentice on onside kicks by recovering one of their own and turning that into Scheithauer’s 58-yard run at the 8:26 mark. The two-point pass from Phillips to Lucas Cook made it 32-20.

After a Prentice punt, Scheithauer and Schmittfranz connected for a 44-yard touchdown that opened up a 38-20 lead with 4:44 still to play in the third.

“We have an explosive offense, a lot of big-play capability,” Campbell said. “When we play without mistakes, without getting penalties and things like that and we’re able to play well and move the ball and give ourselves the opportunities for big plays.”

The mistakes did show up in the fourth quarter when it became Rib Lake’s turn to try to run out the clock. One holding penalty wiped out a big touchdown run by Scheithauer. But the junior got those points back on defense. With 2:50 left, in between Prentice’s two fourth-quarter touchdowns, Scheithauer intercepted a Raab pass and brought it back for a 30yard pick-six for a 46-26 lead.

“Talon made a great play,” Campbell said. “They were in a play-from-behind type deal. He makes a great play intercepting it, had a good return, made a few guys miss and got into the end zone. That kind of sealed it for us.”

Offensively, Rib Lake finished with a slight 313-310 edge in total yards. Phillips had 82 yards in just six carries and Schmittfranz had 51 yards on seven attempts.

Defensively, Schmittfranz was all over the place from his linebacker position, recording six solo tackles and 15 assists. Ethan Cook was involved in 13 total tackles and Scheithauer had seven solo stops and nine assists for 16 total tackles.

“(Schmittfranz and Cook) were in on almost every tackle which we kind of needed them to be in order to bring those guys down, whether they were the first one there or the second one there,” Campbell said. “They were huge in controlling the middle and Talon had to play downhill a lot. He’s kind of a safety/linebacker hybrid. If he’s making a lot of tackles, it’s not necessarily a good thing, but he’s keeping them out of the end zone for one more play.”

Former Hawks Geiger and Staroba led Prentice with 78 and 58 rushing yards respectively. Staroba caught six passes for 54 yards and Raab, another former Hawk, was 12 of 26 in passing for 141 yards and two scores.

“We forced them into passing situations and, kudos to them, they hit on them,” Campbell said. “That’s what led to their two touchdowns. They were able to throw. Geiger is a hard guy to bring down. Jonas is shifty and slippery through the middle. He was able to make some great cutbacks. Once Geiger is at full speed, he’s hard for anybody to bring down.”

BRIAN WILSON/THE STAR NEWS Rib Lake’s Ethan Cook (l.) and Seth Borchardt drive Prentice running back Jonas Staroba out of bounds during the first quarter of Friday’s 46-32 homecoming win.