MEDFORD 58, MOSINEE 35 - Big plays push Raiders to outright GNC title

MEDFORD 58, MOSINEE 35

Big play after big play gave the Medford Raiders a 30-7 first-quarter lead Friday, but from there, they had had to grind for three long quarters before finally being able to claim the outright Great Northern Conference championship and the Cheese Grater traveling trophy with a 58-35 win at Mosinee.

The Raiders already had a piece of the title clinched coming in, but there was no desire on their sideline to share with their fierce rivals, who had won the last three GNC titles and had held possession of the Cheese Grater since 2021.

Piling up 414 yards of offense, creating three turnovers and getting three big plays on special teams, Medford made sure there would be no sharing while finishing the regular season at 7-0 in the conference and 8-1 overall. Mosinee finished 5-2 in league play and 6-3 overall.

“That was a lot of fun,” senior lineman Erich Moretz said.

“That was a great game,” another senior lineman, Tripp Reamer, said. “Putting 58 on Mosinee feels good.”

“That’s always a goal to be able to compete for a conference championship,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. The 2024 GNC championship is the seventh Medford has won under Wilson’s direction, the most of any program since the conference was established in 2008. “These gentlemen took it one week at at time and found a way to win all of them.

Kudos to the kids for playing well this year and accomplishing that feat. That’s a trophy that goes in the case that will never come out, so that’s great.”

Medford’s seventh straight win shot the team into a number-one seed in the upcoming WIAA Division 3 playoffs. The Raiders will host eighth-seeded GNC rival Lakeland (3-4, 5-4) Friday in Level 1 at 7 p.m.

“It’s amazing getting the Cheese Grater and the conference trophy,” Reamer said. “Now we’re just looking forward to playoffs. Enjoy the win for the weekend, come back Sunday night and work our butts off.”

The fast start

A fast start is something every team hopes for each week, but the Raiders couldn’t have predicted they’d start out this quickly Friday night.

It started right off the bat. Mosinee’s opening kickoff went out of bounds, and the Raiders opted to force the Indians to kick it again after a 5-yard penalty. The kick went to Evan Wilkins near the right sideline. He angled left, perfectly hit the seam his blockers had set for him and got through one futile ankle tackle attempt for an 84-yard score. Paxton Rothmeier ran in the two-point conversion and Medford lead 8-0 just 12 seconds into the game.

“We’ve been trying to run a certain return and, this week, I just thought maybe it would benefit us to put in a slightly different blocking scheme on a return, see if we could get them to kick one to Evan and try to set him up and it worked,” Wilson said. “No one has really kicked it to Paxton all year for obvious reasons, and that’s fine. We thought maybe that’d be what they’d try to do, kick it to Evan. We thought if we can get him going up the sideline, that would be good. It was blocked well. The kids did a good job.”

Mosinee answered with a seven-play scoring drive. Quarterback Treve Stoffel hit his favorite target, Brady Lokken, for a 30-yard touchdown and Gus Miller kicked the extra point to make it 8-7. Lokken, however, who had 35 catches and eight touchdowns coming into the game, was held to two catches for 37 yards, all on Mosinee’s first drive.

Medford was forced to punt on its first offensive possession, but Charlie Gierl’s kick was muffed and Evan Paul’s hustle got him to the loose ball just before Mosinee’s Cordé Wright could recover it at Mosinee’s 41. That, and a 29-yard run by Wilkins, led to Rothmeier’s 2-yard touchdown run. Paul came up with a second turnover moments later, picking off a Stoffel slant pass at Medford’s 39. Two plays later, quarterback Parker Lissner completed his slant pass to Gierl, who ran with it for a 52-yard score to put Medford up 22-7.

“(The turnovers) kept us ahead in the game. They were huge,” Paul said. “I just saw (the fumble) on the ground and got on it quick. The guy almost got it from me, but I took it out of his hands. (The interception) was an easy slant and he underthrew it, I slid down for it and got it.”

The third big special teams play of the quarter came next. The snap on a Mosinee punt went well over Mitchell Michlig’s head. Michlig got to the ball and just kicked it off the ground and it went directly to Reamer, who caught it at the 15yard line and barreled his way to the one, where Rothmeier scored on the next play for a 30-7 lead with 21 seconds left in the quarter.

“I was just going for the ball and all of a sudden it got kicked into my chest,” Reamer said. “I just grabbed it and I was looking for any way to the end zone. Sad to come up short, but it still put us in good field position.”

“That would’ve been awesome if he would’ve gotten in there,” Paul said.

While the fast start and big lead was great, Wilson said he wasn’t feeling comfortable.

“It’s really stressful to be honest,” Wilson said. “You’d think it’s not, but you also know at some point in time that they thrive on big plays and they’re going to get a couple themselves and they obviously did. When you’re playing against a team that has such an explosive offense and Treve Stoffel is a really, really good player, it’s never comfortable until there’s either running clock or the game is over.”

Mosinee got the big play with 7:37 left in the second quarter on a well-designed counter fake that got Zander Deininger open for a 58-yard touchdown reception. Medford answered with a five-play, 56yard drive that ended with a 9-yard touchdown run from Wilkins that made it 38-13. Mosinee again marched down the field, scoring on Stoffel’s 10-yard touchdown run.

But Medford got a good return by Sawyer Elsner on the squib kickoff to start its next drive at its 48. The Raiders overcame a penalty and then, on second and one, went to its bag of tricks with a halfback option pass. Rothmeier rolled right and lofted a perfect pass to Gierl for a 29-yard touchdown pass that pushed the lead up to 44-21 with 57 seconds left in the half.

The back and forth continued to start the third quarter. Mosinee drove 63 yards in eight plays, scoring on Stoffel’s 3-yard run. Medford drove 53 yards, overcoming a penalty. Wilkins bulldozed 10 yards to the end zone for a 50-27 lead with 5:33 left in the quarter.

Wilkins surpassed 100 yards for the second straight game, gaining 106 yards on 15 carries. Medford ran for 333 yards overall with Rothmeier adding his typical 216 yards on 23 attempts.

“It definitely took some work,” Moretz said of the job the offensive line did for its backs. “(The Indians) are tough guys. We just communicated as a team and we were able to get it done. Our line definitely improved a lot from the start of the year. That’s a big part our game. Our line up front, both sides of the ball, just got a lot better throughout the season.”

Mosinee made it a two-possession game at 50-35 on Stoffel’s 3-yard run with 10:07 left. The Raiders were driving for another score when Rothmeier left the game with an injury, a sack created fourth and a long and a penalty wiped out a would-be touchdown pass from Lissner to Sam Hierlmeier. The Indians forced their only turnover of the game with 5:23 left and had a chance to make it a one-score game. But the Raiders got a stop on downs on Mosinee’s 27 and turned it into a 13--yard touchdown run by Gierl that finally put it away with 2:53 left.

“We had a couple stops, but we also did not play super well defensively,” Wilson said. “We did not tackle very well and we did not play super well on fourth down. But we got enough stops to where we could keep that distance after that first quarter. We did just enough and the offense played really well. Combine those two things together and it’s a win and that’s the most important part.”

“It was very challenging,” Moretz said. “They have a lot of different plays that they run and their quarterback is a very good player.”

Two of Medford’s very good players, Wilkins and Gierl, had big nights, scoring three touchdowns each.

“Charlie obviously maximized his opportunities,” Wilson said. “He touched the ball on three runs and two passes and scored three touchdowns. That’s pretty impressive maximizing those touches. I thought Evan Wilkins, outside of a fumble, ran very well.”

Stoffel finished 21 of 42 through the air for 320 yards. The Indians actually outgained Medford, piling up 465 yards of total offense. For the first time since week two, the Raiders were challenged to a four-quarter game, and Wilson said that wasn’t a bad thing heading into the postseason.

“There’s always advantages to having good games,” Wilson said. “Any time you have to play a full game and get through it, to be able to win the game is an advantage going forward. I thought Mosinee played super hard and I figured they would. They don’t win three conference championships in a row without having a lot of pride in their program and without playing hard.”

Paxton Rothmeier (l.) and Charlie Gierl celebrate their 29-yard passing touchdown which gives Medford a 44-21 halftime lead over Mosinee Friday night. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS