By Craig Marx, Editor

The Antigo Red Robins hosted the West Salem Panthers on Friday evening, proving that Antigo was indeed a No. 1 seed in the Division III WIAA Playoffs with a 21-0 home win.

The Robins move on to the Level 3 round of the playoffs and their top seed still means another home guarantee. Antigo will host No. 2 Rice Lake on November 3 at Schofield Stadium following the Warriors 42-13 win over Onalaska.

The ground game was the determining factor once again for the Robins as Antigo pounded 300 rushing yards while the defense stood fast, allowing just 131 yards of total offense for the Panthers. Adam Schmidt and Jericho Kelly came to play, rushing for 141 and 116 yards, respectively.

Matt Winter completed one pass of just three attempts for four yards while West Salem sat with a goose egg for total passing yards throughout the game. Winter scored a late touchdown with his legs in the fourth quarter to seal the deal for the Robins, while earlier rushes of 3 and 15 yards by Schmidt and Kelly helped Antigo take a 14-0 lead into halftime.

Looking onward to next week, Rice Lake entered the 2017 WIAA Playoffs from the Big Rivers Conference, a league in which they finished 5-2 and 8-2 overall up to Friday’s ensuing matchup with the Robins.