WIAA LEVEL 2 FOOTBALL - Medford braces for Fox Valley Lutheran’s passing attack in second round

WIAA LEVEL 2 FOOTBALL

A 28-7 win over Lakeland has put Medford in Level 2 of the WIAA’s Division 3 football playoffs for the third straight season and fourth time in the past six years.

While this is familiar playoff territory for Medford, the opponent for Friday’s matchup at Raider Field is, one could argue, its most unfamiliar playoff opponent since the 2019 team played and beat River Falls.

Fifth-seeded Fox Valley Lutheran brings a 6-4 record into Raider Field to face the top-seeded and 9-1 record. The Foxes won a 44-41 shootout at Wausau East in their Level 1 contest and tied Appleton Xavier for fourth place this season in the Bay Conference at 3-4.

The first-ever meeting between the schools on the gridiron figures to feature contrasting offensive styles with Medford’s punishing ground game, paced by the state’s leading rusher Paxton Rothmeier (2,135 yards) and Fox Valley Lutheran’s passing attack, directed by senior Lucas Papendorf, who ranks third in the state with 2,601 passing yards.

Medford averages 38 points per game, while the Foxes average 34. This game could come down to which defense gets stops or the turnover or two that gives its offense extra possessions.

“Obviously they have a very stout passing attack,” Medford head coach Ted Wilson said Monday. “I think their quarterback is in the top five for passing yards in the state. He’s a really good quarterback. They throw the ball a lot. I know we’ll have to play in space and we’ll have to be really sure on tackling. We have to do a little bit better job of getting 11 jerseys to the ball than we did (against Lakeland).”

The matchup has a similar feel to last year’s Level 2 matchup when Medford faced another of the state’s top passing attacks while boasting a running attack that had lit up Onalaska for 566 yards in a 52-35 regular season win. Quarterback Adam Skifton and the rest of the Hilltoppers got their revenge in the playoff game, winning 35-16.

Pass-heavy offenses aren’t something Medford sees a lot of. Onalaska did most of its damage on the ground this year in its 33-18 win over the Raiders in week two. Mosinee got its share of big plays in week nine and got 320 passing yards, but Medford also picked off two passes and won the game 58-35. In week six, Medford did well in a 44-6 win over Wausau East, who features one of the GNC’s better quarterback/wide receiver tandems in Davis Winter and Jesse Napgezek.

Papendorf runs the Foxes’ offense out of the shotgun, has good height at 6-4 and has completed 56% of his 172 passes, per WisSports.net stats with 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

The top two receiving threats have been David Schumacher, who will line up often in the backfield as well as outside and has 54 catches, including 10 touchdowns, and Nic Martin, who is more of the big-play threat with 42 catches for 771 yards and seven scores.

“They have it all,” Wilson said. The kid’s got a pretty big arm. They have a nice intermediate short game and then they obviously take their shots over the top. They have a pretty nice receiver, (Schumacher). He’s a real weapon for them. There are a lot of short gains that he turns into long gains and he also runs the deep ball very well and catches them very well. They have him and two other kids who both have 30-plus catches on the year. Their scheme is a good one. It sets up to attack multiple layers every down. A lot of it is flood-type concepts where they’re trying to attack multiple layers at once.”

When they do run, Blessings Kapande, more of a tall, lanky running back, is the main threat, having carried 134 times for 680 yards and 10 touchdowns. “A lot of it will also come back to us being able to get a little pressure on (Papendorf),” Wilson said. “We can’t let him sit back there and make our guys cover forever. It works together with coverage and a little bit of pass rush. Those are both important.”

While potent offensively, the Foxes have had some tough times defensively against good competition. They won a 4844 shootout with Xavier early in the year, lost to Freedom 43-42, lost in overtime to New London 50-44 and lost 35-19 to conference champion Winneconne. Two special teams turnovers in the second quarter allowed Wausau East to scramble back into last week’s game after the Foxes jumped ahead 30-7, but the Lumberjacks never got the lead.

Fox Valley Lutheran has allowed 260 rushing yards per game. They gave up 469 to New London. That is something Medford, no doubt, hopes to exploit.

“Our offense needs to play well and take care of the ball and we need to get a few stops,” Wilson said. “It reminds me of playing Mosinee. They have a good offense, they have a good quarterback, they’re probably going to break one or two. They’ll throw it up enough times that they’re going to complete some balls. You have to get a stop here and there and then you have to keep the ball and not turn it back over to them. Our offense playing well and controlling the clock and controlling the ball is just as important as playing defense.”

Along with Rothmeier, senior Evan Wilkins has gotten into a late groove as well with three straight 100-yard games, including last week’s 144 yards on just nine carries. Rothmeier has games of 311 and 290 yards to his credit this season.

Friday’s winner will advance to a Level 3 matchup with either third-seeded La Crosse Logan (8-2) and second-seeded Onalaska (7-3). Both were part of a fiveway tie atop the Mississippi Valley Conference with 5-2 league records. Logan won the regular-season game 36-35 and took care of Waupaca 42-28 in Level 1. Onalaska, who has rode a bit of a roller coaster this year, struggled to beat Medford’s GNC rival Merrill, 13-8, needing a late touchdown to take the lead in its playoff opener Friday.