RIB LAKE 52, CHEQUAMEGON 16 - First 8-player win is in the books with Saturday rout of Eagles

RIB LAKE 52, CHEQUAMEGON 16

A respectable showing against highlyranked Gilman in its eight-player debut gave the Rib Lake football team some confidence and the Redmen built on that in week two during a lopsided 52-16 victory over the Chequamegon Co-op Saturday in the Northwoods East Conference opener.

The Redmen ran and threw their way through the visiting Screaming Eagles for 495 yards of total offense while building a 52-0 third-quarter lead before Chequamegon scored twice in the last five minutes against Rib Lake’s reserves.

Tucker Phillips had a monster outing, rushing for 179 yards on just 10 carries and catching five passes for 107 yards. He had four total touchdowns and was responsible for a third-quarter safety defensively. Quarterback Talon Scheithauer was seven for eight for 164 yards and three scores and ran for an additional 102 yards on 19 carries.

“Everybody stepped up,” senior captain Brady Heiser said. “We knew after last week that (Chequamegon) was a good team. Definitely give credit to them, but we knew what we had and knew we couldn’t take them lightly. That’s pretty much what we did. We came out and played our football.”

“There were some leaps and bounds there at certain spots,” head coach Jonah Campbell said of the team’s improvement from week one to week two. “The big thing we cleaned up was the pre-snap penalties of leaning or not being completely set in a stance. It did arise a little bit with alignment, but eliminating those really helps the offense run. First and 15 with a 5-yard run isn’t as good as first and 10 with a 5-yard run. Now you have options for your next three plays.

“Our defense was just a little more sound on reading keys and reacting to what the key was doing,“ he added. “In the first game we looked like we were kind of nervous and didn’t trust our reads. There were definitely times where it bit us against Gilman. We played a little bit more sound all over the field.”

The Redmen scored on five of their six first-half possessions to create a 36-0 halftime lead.

The first touchdown came on the game’s second play from scrimmage. The interior of the offensive line pushed the Eagles inside, pulling guard Ethan Cook got a kickout block and Phillips basically ran untouched 68 yards to the end zone for a 6-0 lead just 55 seconds into the game.

“I don’t really know what happened,” Phillips said. “All I knew is I was gone. Without those blocks and without those reads I don’t think I could’ve gotten that done. All credit goes to the line.”

Phillips recovered a fumble on the Screaming Eagles’ first play from scrimmage at Chequamegon’s 44, but the drive stalled on downs at the 11. The defense quickly forced a punt and the Redmen started with great field position at Chequamegon’s 35. Scheithauer’s touchdown run on the first play was wiped out by a penalty, but the Redmen quickly overcame that and scored on Scheithauer’s 1yard sneak to make it 14-0 with 3:36 left in the quarter.

Logan Schmittfranz’s 24-yard run was the key play in a 62-yard scoring drive that ended with Scheithauer’s 20-yard touchdown run that made it 22-0 just 51 seconds into the second quarter. Rib Lake’s next drive was a quick one. After dropping a deep first-down pass that might have gone for big yardage, Phillips caught a short crosser on third and nine, picked up a block and was gone down the right sideline on a 64-yard score.

Rib Lake’s fifth scoring drive was a little more of a grinder, taking 11 plays and chewing well over five minutes off the clock. One fourth and 13, Phillips again caught a Scheithauer pass while crossing the middle of the field and got to the right pylon on an 18yard score with 1:02 left. “Credit to coach (Kevin) Grundy,” Campbell said. “He put in four different pass plays this week and we repped them out. Really, we didn’t have much of a passing game going into Gilman. We had a few passing routes, but we were trying to establish and iron out all the details on the running game and making the sure the first few pass concepts we put in were smooth. This week we had a few more that were introduced on Monday that worked out pretty smoothly. Talon seemed a little bit more comfortable in the pocket this week and just relaxed making his throws without overthinking anything or trying to squeeze it into a tight window.”

“It definitely helps with the connections on our team,” Phillips said. “I knew last week we didn’t have that many because it was a new team, fresh year with eight-man. But as the week progressed, we got some connections and we just had a good flow.”

Heiser said the team took the week-one loss to Gilman in a positive manner.

“We found a lot of things that we could work on,” Heiser said. “Definitely give credit to Gilman. They were a very good team and they capitalized on our mistakes. A lot of this week was about ironing those out and making sure that we were ready to go.”

Chequamegon’s offensive struggles continued on its opening drive of the second half. On first and 15 from the 30, Phillips came charging into the backfield from his left end position and spun quarterback Hudson Hilgart around. As he did, Hilgart tried to throw the ball away, but it went backwards for a lateral and through the end zone for a safety that pushed the lead to 38-0.

Scheithauer hit a wide-open Lucas Cook for a 42-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing possession and Phillips put the exclamation point on his big day with an 88-yard with 5:17 left in the third, reversing his field on a run to the right and finding nothing but green grass on the other side of the field.

“We ran a lot of wingback leads,” Campbell said. “The blockers kind of hesitated in week one. When a play didn’t work out perfectly and the guy they were supposed to kick out wasn’t there they kind of freeze instead of turning up and looking for somebody. This week, all around everybody who blocked kept their head on a swivel. If they had a kickout guy they’d get him. If not they’d turn up and find a linebacker. That was something that was kind of missing week one that we reestablished here in week two.”

Defensively Rib Lake allowed 221 total yards, with a chunk of that coming in the fourth quarter. The Redmen also forced four turnovers, one interception by Slade Scheithauer and three fumbles. A noticeable lineup change had freshman Lawson Carlson filling the nose tackle spot and he held up well, getting three tackles.

“It worked out for him to take defensive reps,” Campbell said. “Brady then could have a break and we could have two fresh guys playing rather than one guy who’s tired going back and forth. For the most part, he played physical and with his hands and did a nice job in the middle. He had a couple of tackles on inside runs.”

The Redmen expect a test this Friday when they head to Phillips, but they also feel they’ve found their footing quickly in the eight-man style of football.

“Hopefully we can keep this momentum rolling and get another W up there,” Heiser said.

Brady Heiser