Jeremy Ratliff
Editor
Friday night, Oct.9, the Bluejay varsity football team fell short to the visiting Rhinelander Hodags; 42-8 at Jay Stadium.
The Hodags controlled the scoreboard for most of the game, but Bluejay quarterback Cayden Diels spared Merrill of a shutout with a 20-yard scoring strike in the fourth quarter.
Despite the loss, Diels turned in a workhorse effort for Merrill with 195 yards on the night; 153 of which being delivered aerially (8/15, TD, INT) and the other 42 yards on the ground, via 12 carries for a hard-earned 3.5 yard per carry average. Alex Mann (9 carries/36 yards) and Nik Zastrow (3 carries/22 yards) also proved to be key contributors to the Merrill ground attack.
Bailey Turenne enjoyed a triple digit performance while leading the Merill receiving corps Friday night, hauling in four receptions for 111 yards.
Defensively, Merrill was led by Zastrow (4 tk, ast); Mason Vandervelde (3tk, 4 ast) and A.J Vogel (3 tk, 2 ast).
Friday night, the guys will hit the road westward to square off with the 3-0 Medford Raiders. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m at Medford High School.