MEDFORD 42, FOX VALLEY LUTHERAN 22 - Offense rolls, defense does its job in Level 2 win over Foxes

MEDFORD 42, FOX VALLEY LUTHERAN 22

The Medford Raiders didn't let a nearly seven-minute touchdown drive by Fox Valley Lutheran become a tone-setter to start Friday's WIAA Division 3 Level 2 football game, instead quickly responding with a touchdown drive and then another after a defensive stop to establish their own momentum that carried the rest of the way in a 42-22 win at Raider Field.

The Raiders did exactly what they felt they could do against the Foxes' defense, rolling up 420 yards of total offense, including 305 more rushing yards by Paxton Rothmeier. Medford was never stopped, scoring touchdowns on all six possessions until they took knees on the last two plays of the game.

Stopping Fox Valley Lutheran's passing game was a concern coming in but, after the first drive, the Raiders adjusted and contained the Foxes, ending the visitors' season at 6-5.

Medford, now 10-1, advanced to the third round of the WIAA playoffs for the first time since 2019 and will host La Crosse Logan (9-2) Friday at 7 p.m. in the round of eight, now called the WIAA's sectional round.

“The kids played very well from beginning to finish,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said. 'There didn’t seem to be much lull in our effort. That’s a pretty good football team we played. They have a very dangerous passing attack. I thought our defensive backs played very well.'

With his 305 yards on 42 carries and five touchdowns, Rothmeier established a new school record for single-season yardage at 2,440. He broke Ean Wilson's 2019 record of 2,183.

“I couldn’t have done it without all of my guys up front,” Rothmeier said. “They did a great job blocking all season. It was just a lot of fun (Friday). We have to keep adding on to it and hopefully play longer.”

One of those blockers up front, senior Erich Moretz, said the offensive line took pride in leading the way on that side of the ball.

“Oh yeah. It was a great game up front,” he said. “Our line was doing great. Just a huge push. We improved a lot from last week. We had a lot to work on, a lot to do in practice and we accomplished that. The job’s not finished. We have more to do, more to work on.”

The first drive by the Foxes took 17 plays, combining short passes from senior quarterback Lucas Papendorf, who was third in the state in passing yards entering the game with 2,601, and 10 runs, the last of which was a 1-yard touchdown run on fourth and goal where the Raiders nearly had Blessings Kapande stopped for a loss, but he broke the tackle to score the touchdown for a 7-0 lead with 5:07 left in the quarter.

Medford came right back with an eightplay, 58-yard drive, all on the ground and with seven of those carries being handled by Rothmeier. His 25-yard run to the one set up his score on the next play. The twopoint run failed, keeping the Foxes in front at 7-6. But it was an important drive early in the game.

“It’s much better to, I don’t want to say play from ahead, but to be in the game,” Wilson said. “When a team goes down and drives on you, you have to find a way to respond, whether that’s with your own offensive drive or a big play. Even if you don’t do well on that first offensive series, that next defensive series if you get a stop you can get going that way. Something has to happen for you to get your own momentum.”

The Raiders then got the best of both worlds, getting a stop and great field position after a shanked 3-yard punt on their 40-yard line. Rothmeier sneaked through the middle of the defense and got free for a 50-yard gain that set up his 1yard score two plays later, pushing Medford into the lead at 12-7 with 10:02 left in the first half. Another Fox Valley Lutheran punt after one first down gave Medford the ball at its own 17 with 7:17 left in the half. The Raiders went 83 yards in 14 plays, highlighted by a 22-yard catch and run from tight end Alex Faude. Rothmeier's 5-yard run with 1:55 left extended Medford's lead to 20-7.

Fox Valley Lutheran passed its way to Medford's 20 in the final seconds of the half, but that threat ended with four straight incompletions.

“They were good,” said Rothmeier, one of several members of Medford’s defensive backfield who kept the big plays to a minimum on Papendorf’s 45 pass attempts. Papendorf completed 26 of them for 260 yards. “They had good receivers. They were fast. They knew what they were doing. They could obviously throw the ball. But I think we did a pretty good job containing them. I don’t know if we gave up any really big plays.”

Wilson said the key adjustment was adding pass defenders on the back end, rather than overdoing it with pass rush, though Medford's rushers did create just enough pressure at times.

“We had a nickel set and a dime set in for them this week,” Wilson said. “We didn’t know exactly which one we were going to have to use predominantly. We were just trying to figure out what we can do and how we can do it. We had the nickel and they seemed to be able to drive the ball with no problem, so we tried the dime and that seemed to work better at that point. I thought for the most part there weren’t a ton of super big plays over the top of us.

“They’re pretty good pass blockers,” he added. “You have to try to send pressure at times, but sometimes also dropping eight into coverage isn’t a terrible idea. I think overall the kids did a good job of rallying and making tackles. That’s the important part about teams like that. You have to rally and maketackles so they’re not getting big plays out of it.”

Receiving the second half kickoff, Medford continued to widen the lead with a 77-yard scoring drive, keyed by a 21-yard Rothmeier run and another big passing connection from Lissner to Faude, this one for 31 yards that put the ball at the three. Rothmeier's 2-yard run two snaps later made it 28-7.

Faude made a big play on the defensive end, forcing a Kapande fumble on a fourth-and-two run on Medford's 15. Rothmeier recovered at the 20. The worn-out Fox Valley Lutheran defense continued to have no answers on the ensuing 13-play drive that ended with Lissner lofting a 6-yard touchdown pass to the left side of the end zone to Charlie Gierl with 33 seconds left in the third quarter.

“Very efficient by Parker going three for three,” Wilson said.

“About halfway through the second quarter I noticed they were getting tired,” Moretz said of Fox Valley Lutheran's defense.

Papendorf threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Graham Feidt to make it 36-15 with 9:36. An onside kick that appeared to bounce off multiple players' legs was ruled to be Medford's ball at the Foxes' 49 and the Raiders closed it out with another scoring drive. Rothmeier finished that one with a 5-yard run with 2:51 to go.

“It was pretty much just get what my guys got me,” Rothmeier said of his big night. “I really didn’t do too much extra. It was great blocking all up front. I got what was there, which was all we needed today. It was a great job, good all-around team game.”

“I didn’t feel like we were in jeopardy of them slowing down our offense,' Wilson said. 'I thought the kids blocked really well and Paxton obviously ran well with yards. That’s a pretty good night for him. We were very efficient on third down. We were 10 for 11. That’s pretty good. It was a team effort. Running the ball and blocking well is a massive team effort. I thought the kids did very well on that.”

Medford’s Evan Paul quickly gets to Fox Valley Lutheran receiver Nicholas Martin and holds him to a short 9-yard reception late in the first quarter of Friday’s 42-22 win over the Foxes in WIAA Division 3 Level 2 playoff action at Raider Field. MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS