Photos by Bob Mainhardt

Hodag football played their last game of the season in a shortened season hoping to keep up their winning ways only having lost to conference champion Medford. The four team bracket playoff had the team playing Mosinee for the second time this season.

The first time around Mosinee was without the services of starting quarterback Michal Dul who was out on COVID protocol. The players were looking forward to the rematch proving they could do it again with Mosinee at full strength. The Hodags were without Walker Hartman who has a knee injury but the team showed it did not matter as they held on for the 27-26 win in another nail biter. Of the Hodags eight wins, five had a one-score margin.

The Hodags scored first and a botched kick for the extra point forced a long pass for a 2-point try that was good for the early 8-0 lead.

Mosinee would score in the first but missed the point after try and both teams would score again and miss the point after attempts to make the score 14-12 in the Hodags’ favor after the Hodags had scored.

The Hodags would kick off and Mosinee ran the kick in for a touchdown to quickly take a 14-20 lead after the 2-point try was good. The Hodags went into the half down again as they had in several games this season.

Rhinelander scored first in the third quarter and the point after kick was good to make the score 21-20 with 7:11 left in the quarter. The Hodags would contain Mosinee and score a touchdown in the fourth with 7:44 left and very little wiggle room with a 27-20 lead. With under three minutes left in the game the Hodags were inside the Mosinee 5-yard line but could not score and turned the ball over on downs with 2:18 left in the game. Mosinee worked some magic and in just a few plays and no time outs they scored with 1:31 left on the clock. Mosinee went for the 2-point play and were stopped short.

The onside kick attempt was covered by Jacksen Smith and the Hodags took the victory formation for three plays and ran out the clock for the 27-26 win and the end of a great season.