T-Bird football battles, falls to Medford in Level 1 playoff game

Lakeland’s football team outscored Medford in the second half, but it wasn’t enough for an upset victory on Friday night.

The top-seeded Raiders beat the eighth-seeded Thunderbirds 28-7 in a WIAA Division 3 Level 1 playoff game in Medford.

“Solid second half,” coach Dan Barutha said. “We beat those guys 7-6 in the second half so from that standpoint it was good. (We) had some opportunities. They’re a good team. Our guys never quit and kept fighting all the way through. (We) did some nice things tonight for sure, and it was good the way our guys rallied, and the way our guys played the second half.”

Medford offense

It took Medford four plays to score their first touchdown of the game on their first drive. Evan Wilkins showed his explosiveness with a 58-yard touchdown run. Carmelo-Roche Vetterneck sacked the quarterback to stop the two-point conversion.

“You could sense that we were kind of on that edge at points, but our guys never got down,” Barutha said. “They kept battling and it was like, ‘OK, well now we got to answer, now we got to string together a drive. Let’s get a couple first downs. We got to chew some more clock, we got to get the defense off the field, give those guys a break. Special teams start with a good kick return.’”

The Raiders led 6-0.

On Medford’s next drive, Paxton Rothmeier and Wilkins both ran for first downs. Then, quarterback Parker Lissner found Alex Faude for a first down all the way to Lakeland’s five-yard line. Rothmeier ran it in from a yard out two plays later. Evan Czarnezki ran in the two-point conversion to make it 14-0.

Medford needed three plays to score their third touchdown of the game, this one in the second quarter. Wilkins broke loose with a 48-yard touchdown run. Rothmeier’s two-point conversion run was good.

“(We) gave up some explosive plays, couldn’t string it together,” Barutha said. “We’d pick up a couple first downs, and you know, they’d make a play, or we’d make a mistake somewhere.”

The Raiders led 22-0 at halftime.

Run the ball

Lakeland had a goal in mind of keeping the ball on offense for as long as possible. They moved the ball but couldn’t finish with points.

“We converted multiple third downs. We converted a couple fourth downs I think,” Barutha said. “We got some fourth downs in there. We put together drives for sure … but could not get over the hump.”

The Thunderbirds used a combination of Evan Zoch and Noah Bruckner at running back. Zoch had a first-down run in each of Lakeland’s first two drives before they stalled out.

“They have a very good defense, and they have a very good team, and they made plays, but we also made some plays too,” Barutha said.

The most successful Thunderbird drive of the first half came before halftime. An Eli Ewald kick return gave the Thunderbirds good starting field position.

Nolan Johnson and Mitch Mleko both caught passes that resulted in one first down. On 3rd and 8, a hook-and-ladder executed by Mleko and Tyson Redman resulted in a first down. Deklan McQuade had the throw.

Friday marked McQuade’s first start against Medford as a quarterback. He completed two six-yard passes to Redman, the second resulting in a first down on 4th and 3.

The drive ended with a Wilkins interception in the end zone.

“The drive right before the half — I think it was one of our assistant coaches said it was like seven, seven-and-a-half minutes or something crazy that we did,” Barutha said. “We chewed a bunch of clock. We told our guys, ‘We want to shorten this game as much as possible’ because as long as you can keep it close with a team, a No. 1 seed, you always give your guys a shot to be able to believe, and I thought from that standpoint, we were doing well.”

Scoop-n-score

Lakeland’s only touchdown of the game came in an unconventional way in the fourth quarter.

The drive started with a Mleko catch for four yards. Later, McQuade found Johnson on 3rd and 4 to extend the drive. The Thunderbirds stayed aggressive on offense. McQuade thew a strike to Zoch for 29 yards into Medford territory.

Then, Bruckner caught a screen pass for a first down to keep the drive in a rhythm. Bruckner ended up fumbling near the sidelines. Mleko alertly picked up the fumble and ran it in the end zone for his first-career varsity touchdown.

“We ran a screen pass with Bruckner, and it was set up really, really well, saw that he got the first down,” Barutha said. “Couldn’t really tell because guys were kind of walking out towards the field from the sideline. Couldn’t really tell that he fumbled, did not see Mitch pick it up, and I just kind of thought Noah got in, and all of a sudden the official raised his hand. I was like, ‘OK, that’s good news.’ I was getting the next play call ready, not anticipating that we were in the end zone.”

Redman made the extra-point to give Lakeland seven points.

“It was a good scoring drive, we put one together and took advantage of what they were giving us,” Barutha said. “It was nice to be able to hit one over the top. They were bracketing Evan. We saw that last week with how they played Mosinee and what they were going to try to do. Deklan had a good ball, good pass protection up front. And then try as much as we can, get the ball in the hands of our playmakers.”

Second-half defense

The Thunderbirds limited the Raiders to six second-half points. In fact, the Thunderbirds outscored Medford 7-6 in the second half.

The Raiders turned the ball over on downs on their first drive of the half. The next time they held the ball, Medford drove 80 yards that resulted in a Rothmeier four-yard touchdown run.

Medford’s third drive of the half ended in another turnover on downs with Lakeland forcing a fumble.

“I thought our guys pursued well to the football, they tackled well and again, when you hold Medford to six points in the second half — I mean that’s a pretty good, a pretty darn good effort,” Barutha said.

The playoff loss ended Lakeland’s season at 5-5.

“It’s ironic because it’s five years ago tonight that we played Menomonie,” Barutha said. “We’re making progress and progress, as much as you want it to be linear growth, it’s not, and it’s hard, and it’s difficult. I want to credit all of our players, and I told them after the game — I said I love them, and I thank them. What we ask them to do is hard. Football is not for everybody. That is absolutely true. We wouldn’t be in the position that we’re in and have been in, and the success that we would have achieved if it weren’t for the players and the efforts and time that they’ve put in and the work of our coaching staff.”

Brett LaBore may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].