WIAA LEVEL 1 FOOTBALL - Raiders earn top playoff seed, host Lakeland in Level 1

WIAA LEVEL 1 FOOTBALL

The Great Northern Conference champion Medford Raiders are back in the WIAA Division 3 playoffs for the 10th straight year and, for the first time in that stretch –– not counting the two-round 2020 playoffs –– they’ve earned a number-one seed in their initial eightteam grouping.

However, now that the brackets are set, the only thing that matters is what is accomplished on the field.

In their Level 1 opener 7 p.m. Friday at Raider Field, Medford will face a familiar foe in Great Northern Conference rival Lakeland. The Thunberbirds beat Tomahawk 7-6 in a do-or-die contest Friday to get into the field at 3-4 in the GNC and 5-4 overall.

Medford has won seven straight games and finished the regular season 7-0 in the GNC and 8-1 overall, capped by a wild 5835 win at previous three-time GNC champion Mosinee.

“It’s great to be a one-seed,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. “Again, that’s a result of the kids taking it one week at a time and finding a way after week two to run off seven straight wins. It’s great. We’re going to get home games out of it. That’s great for the kids and the community that we’ll be playing at home for however many weeks we get to play for, until Level 4 if we find a way to get there.”

Lakeland is visiting Medford in Level 1 for the second time in three years. The Raiders won the 2022 matchup 36-14. Medford has won eight straight games over Lakeland since a 22-21 loss in 2017 and has won 15 of the last 16 matchups starting in 2010. Medford won this year’s conference game 40-8 on Sept. 20.

“I think we just need to take care of the ball and limit their opportunities to get big plays,” Wilson said. “We need to play good, solid football against them. Our kids have to make sure they come to work. You can’t say ‘we running clocked them earlier in the year and we’re going to just beat them again.’ That’s not necessarily the way it works. You have to really buckle in and concentrate on the task at hand because you go home if you don’t. It shouldn’t be that difficult to concentrate on that task.”

Noah Bruckner remains a major focus of Lakeland’s offense. The senior running back has been fighting some injuries down the stretch but still gained close to 800 yards in the regular season. The T-Birds’ offense should have more punch this time around by having quarterback Deklan McQuade back. The junior did not play in the first meeting. He completed 13 of 23 passes for 184 yards in Lakeland’s win last week. Evan Zoch has become a playmaker of late for the T-Birds in the passing game. He caught eight passes for 111 yards last week, four passes for 98 yards in a 24-15 loss to Wausau East on Oct. 11 and caught three passes, all for touchdowns, for 133 yards in a 36-33 win over Antigo on Oct. 4.

Paxton Rothmeier leads Medford’s offense. His 2,001 yards is the secondhighest single-season total in Medford history. However, he was injured on his final carry in Friday’s fourth quarter. His availability was uncertain early in the week. The Raiders were already anticipating going into Level 1 a bit shorthanded and that they were going to need everyone to step up to fill a void or two to survive and get to Level 2.

Friday’s winner will see either fourthseeded Wausau East (5-2 GNC, 6-3 overall) or fifth-seeded Fox Valley Lutheran (3-4 Bay, 5-4 overall) next week.

The other side of the bracket has sixthseeded Waupaca (4-3 Bay, 4-5 overall) visiting third-seeded La Crosse Logan (5-2 Mississippi Valley, 7-2 overall) and seventh-seeded Merrill (3-4 GNC, 5-4 overall) visiting second-seeded Onalaska (5-2 MVC, 6-3 overall). Logan and Onalaska were part of a five-way tie for the MVC championship. Onalaska handed Medford its only loss, 33-18, in week two.

As the one-seed, Medford would host in the first three rounds if it can survive and advance.

“If we can get a little healthier, hopefully we can do some damage,” Wilson said.