HURLEY 18, RIB LAKE 14 - Late score, key mistakes defeat Rib Lake at Hurley in finale

HURLEY 18, RIB LAKE 14

When the Rib Lake football team stayed penalty free, it looked basically unstoppable in Friday’s regular-season finale at Hurley. But the yellow flags and a couple of turnovers did just enough to slow down the Redmen offensively and the Northstars were able to make just enough plays to secure an 18-14 win and a WIAA playoff berth.

Rib Lake came up with two big stops in the red zone in the second half to hold on to a slim 14-12 lead, but the Northstars got it done when they had to, putting together a four-minute, 80-yard, nine-play drive that culminated in a 5-yard touchdown run by Devin Soltis with 1:54 left.

Rib Lake had a last-ditch drive going, quickly reaching Hurley territory. But the last of the team’s penalties, a holding call on a run by Talon Scheithauer that would’ve put the ball at Hurley’s 30 with 1:15 still to play, killed that drive and any hope the Redmen had off making the WIAA’s 16-team eight-player tournament. As it turned out, Rib Lake probably wouldn’t have made the field even with a win as only one two-loss team, Clayton, made it.

“Across the board, a false start here, a false start there, a holding penalty here, a block in the back there,” Rib Lake head coach Jonah Campbell said. “We couldn’t seem to kick that once we did get a penalty. Hurley wasn’t giving us any free yards, but we were able to bust a couple of plays for decent amounts. They played tough, they made you work for every yard. I do think we should’ve won the game, but we did enough to lose it.”

Rib Lake ended the year with a 5-2 record in the Northwoods East Conference and a 5-3 mark overall. Hurley, 6-1 and 71, made the tournament as a four-seed and will visit top-seeded Northwood-Solon Springs Friday in a Level 1 game.

The Redmen jumped ahead 6-0 by scoring on their first offensive possession. They forced Hurley into a quick threeand-out and took over after the punt on their 39-yard line. Scheithauer ran for 16 yards on first down, then the Redmen ground out the rest of the 45 yards before Scheithauer scored from 5 yards out with 4:54 left in the the opening quarter.

Brady Heiser dropped Wyatt Hall for a 5-yard loss on fourth and one to give Rib Lake a short field, starting at the 50, but a holding penalty was costly as the series ultimately ended with Scheithauer coming up a yard short at Hurley’s 41 on a fourthand-seven run. “We talked throughout the season that if had no negative plays, we’re going to keep ourselves in or win a lot of games,” Campbell said. “With no negative plays, we should get every first down. You look and you say, we were right there. We had no negative plays on the first drive. What happens? We score a touchdown. Second drive we start with a holding penalty and just couldn’t overcome that difference.”

The Northstars turned that stop into the tying touchdown. Historically a team that relied heavily on the run, Hurley has attempted more home-run passes in its first year as an eight-man team and it got one in this spot, overcoming a holding penalty with Jack Rowe’s 59-yard heave to 6-1 receiver Ty Hall with 10:05 left in the second quarter.

A penalty forced Rib Lake to punt after it got into Hurley territory. The Redmen also forced a quick punt, but then Scheithauer’s long pass to a wide-open Phillips was knocked down by the wind and intercepted by Ty Hall at Hurley’s 25. The Northstars turned that turnover into a 75-yard scoring drive capped by Ty Hall’s 20-yard touchdown catch over Slade Scheithauer on another jump-ball type pass.

In a game of several what-if type plays, this one stood out to Rib Lake, who felt Scheithauer actually had an interception.

“They called simultaneous possession,” Campbell said. “That goes to the receiver after they fought for it. Not sure we agreed with that, but there were plenty of times in that game where we shot ourselves in the foot.”

Down 12-6 to start the second half, Rib Lake again made the most of a mistakefree drive, going 73 yards in six plays. A 25-yard run by Phillips help set up the 17yard scoring run by Scheithauer. Phillips ran in the two-point try and the Redmen were back up by two with 8:47 left in the third quarter.

Then came another of the game’s big swings. The Northstars mishandled Blake Henderson’s squib kick and Logan Schmittfranz recovered for the Redmen at Hurley’s 27. Looking to extend to possibly a two-score lead, Soltis instead made the defensive play of the game for Hurley on second and nine by punching the ball out of Phillips’ hands. Landon Pusakulich recoverd for the Northstars.

“We’re thinking, ‘hey, we’ve got a short field we’re going to turn this into six more, eight more if we’re lucky and that makes it a two-score game,’” Campbell said. “Tucker, just unfortunate for him, his first fumble of the season happens.”

Rib Lake, though, turned the tables, forcing a big fumble at the end of the ensuing drive. Soltis came close to a 4yard touchdown, but as he approached the left pylon, Slade Scheithauer knocked the ball out and it bounced through the end zone for a touchback.

The Redmen got two first downs and punted. Hurley again got into the red zone, but that drive stalled on downs at the 11 with 9:59 to play. Rib Lake, again, got two first downs before a 5-yard penalty was just enough to kill the momentum and forced the Redmen to punt.

Taking over on their 20 with 5:56 left, the Northstars, this time, finished what they started, keyed by a 14-yard run by Soltis, a 10-yard pass from Soltis to Rowe and a big 21-yard run by Wyatt Hall.

“I think we forced them to beat us through the air,” Campbell said. “We did everything we needed to do on defense for the most part. We got beat through the air here and there. On offense if we eliminate a few mistakes then that game looks different.”

Hurley got 169 yards from Soltis on 21 carries. He also completed two passes for 51 yards. Rowe was two of six for 79 yards with both of his completions being the touchdowns to Ty Hall.

Talon Scheithauer ran 22 times for 133 yards and Phillips had 21 carries for 113 yards to get over the 1,000-yard mark. He finished the year with 1,089 yards. The Redmen had 264 rushing yards and 273 total yards. Hurley had 357 total yards, 130 through the air and 227 on the ground.

While it ended sooner than they would’ve liked, the first season in eightplayer team and as a stand-alone program since the late 1980s, was a successful one for the Redmen, whose only losses were to 7-1 Hurley, 7-1 Northwoods East champion Phillips and 6-2 Gilman, who lost out on the last playoff spot in the tiebreaking process.

“You’re hoping for things to be different when it comes to playoff criteria and the amount of teams that can make it,” Campbell said. “We had a winning record in our first year. We had three tough games. This last one could’ve gone either way. We played well and we played good teams well. It feels like it should be enough to extend your season and get the opportunity to play in the playoffs. You feel good about the fact that we’re 5-3 with a winning record. Everybody that we lost to was a playoff-quality team, so we feel like we can play with anybody.

“That’s disappointing, but we’re not disappointed with how we played,” he continued. “We’re extremely happy with how the season went. It was exciting to be in every game and have the opportunity to win every game. That’s something we haven’t necessarily had in our football culture besides when one group comes through every five to 10 years. The players were extremely bought in, they had a lot of fun. From a coaching standpoint and a community standpoint, everybody thoroughly enjoyed the games. They were pretty well attended and well watched. The community did a great job keeping up with it. It was a good start. Now we just have to build from here.”

Talon Scheithauer