The Tomahawk football team played Medford to a strong stalemate for more than three quarters of Friday’s home game. But the Raiders scored two touchdowns in the final seven minutes to escape with a 14-0 win.
“It was a great team effort,” THS coach John Larson said. “It was a defensive battle. Both offenses struggled.
“The Hatchets had plenty of opportunities early. The whole first quarter we played on Medford’s side of the 50. But we had too many penalties. For every step forward, we took two back.
“Defense played very well, created turnovers and gave us great field position. Special teams were great and came up with turnovers as well. (Punter) Dylan Brietzke pinned Medford deep in their own territory a couple of times.”
The first seven possessions ended in punts, then Craig Swan intercepted a pass at the THS 45. After a punt, Clay Borchardt recovered a fumble at the Medford 40 but THS turned it over on downs.
The Raiders finally converted a 7-minute drive with just 7:01 left on a one-yard burst by Cole Loertscher. Medford’s Patrick Grunewald then returned a sack fumble 63 yards for a score.
Medford (144 rushing, 66 passing) outgained Tomahawk 210 to 162 after discounting 28 sack yards. Andy Firkus passed 10-18 for 134 yards, to Swan (4-63), Borchardt (2-33), Mitch McAllister (2-22) and Kory Brietzke (2-17). Jacob Swenty (15-40) and McAllister (9-16) led in rushing.
For Medford, Loertscher (17-68), Jordan Dahl (13-56) and Austin Henrichs (2-22) paced the ground game and Marshall Strebig hit on 5-9 passes for 66 yards. Christianson (3 catches) and Derrin Meyer (2) split the yards.
Payton DuPlayee (3 s, 11 a) led the THS defense, and was aided by Borchardt (2 s, 6 a, 1 FC), Swan (2 s, 4 a, 1 PBU, 1 int), McAllister (1 s, 10 a), K. Brietzke (3 s, 4 a), Dan Galloy (5 a, 1 FC, 1 PBU).