It was an exciting finish to the high school football regular season and teams who earned spots in the playoffs now know their road to a state title. First we will recap the week 9 highlights on the field and then breakdown the WIAA brackets that were released on Saturday.
Week 9 highlights:
D.C. Everest clinched an outright WVC/BRC-East title with a 62-22 win at Eau Claire Memorial. The Evergreens made sure there was no drama by jumping out to a 28-0 lead after the first quarter. DCE quarterbacks combined for 10 for 10 passing with 200 yards and 5 TD’s while the Everest run game put up 285 yards led by Reid Frame’s 109 yards.
Wausau West made their playoff berth official with an exciting 27-21 come-from-behind win over River Falls that kept the Wildcats out of the playoffs. The Warriors trailed 21-7 late in the 2nd quarter when Cooper DePuydt returned a fumble 22 yards to switch the momentum. West would score twice in the third quarter to take the lead and the defense would make it hold up. DePuydt would rush for 94 yards and TD while Miles Waldvogel added 75 yards for the Warriors.
In the Great Northern Conference the league title was on the line in Mosinee as Medford took a 1 game lead into the match up. The Raiders used a huge first quarter offensive explosion to lead 30-7 after 12 minutes and went on to complete a perfect conference season with a 58-35 win.
Wausau East had already clinched a playoff spot but secured a home game in the postseason by topping Antigo 40-21 and ending the Red Robins’ playoff hopes in the process. The Davis Winter to Kayden Meverden connection sparked the Lumberjacks. Winter was 9 of 11 passing for 171 yards and a touchdown while 3 of those connections went to Meverden for 120 yards and the TD.
Also in the GNC Merrill and Lakeland got week 9 wins that put each team in the playoffs. In the 100th meeting between Merrill and Rhinelander the Bluejays won 30-18 to secure a spot in the postseason. In a game that would see the winner make the playoffs and the loser come up short, Lakeland won at Tomahawk 7-6.
In the CWC-Large, Stratford completes a perfect regular season and sets themselves up for a run toward a third straight state title with a 43-8 win over Loyal/Greenwood. Witt-Birn secures second place in the conference with a 28-19 win at Amherst. Bryson Schmid ran for 126 yards and 3 TD for the Chargers.
In the CWC-Small Edgar made sure to avoid a three-way title tie with Abbotsford and Auburndale with a 42-21 win over Abbotsford. A Falcons win would have left all three teams in a tie for the league title. Maverick Butt ran 16 times for 183 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Wildcats.
Auburndale heads to the playoffs at 8-1 after an impressive 48-21 win over Iola-Scandinavia. Pittsville squeezes into the playoffs with a 70-32 win over Pacelli.
In 8-Player Newman Catholic finishes a 7-1 regular season with a 51-6 romp at Wild Rose. In a season that featured numerous injuries and four quarterbacks, the Cardinals extend their post-season streak to 8 counting the 2017 8-Player Jamboree.
Area teams playoff seeding and match-ups:
In Division 1 the Wisconsin Valley Conference teams received very little respect. Stevens Point was seeded 6th, D.C. Everest 7th and Wausau West 8th in their bracket. The surprise was the conference champion Evergreens not only seeded so low but seeded below their conference rival SPASH, who Everest defeated in double OT in week 8 to finish one game up in the conference standings and also had a better overall record at 7-2 compared to the Panthers’ 6-3. Each of the WVC squads will look to go on the road and earn some respect with wins in Level 1. Stevens Point will head south to face #3 seeded Madison Memorial. D.C. Everest will head west to meet #2 Hudson while Wausau West will get #1 seeded Waunakee Friday night in a game that will be broadcast live on 98.9 WXCO, bullfallsradio.com and the Civic Media app.
In Division 2 another low seeding for the WVC as Marshfield is seeded #8 and will get a rematch at top seeded New Richmond. New Richmond is undefeated and the Big Rivers Conference champions but had their toughest game of the season back in week 1 when they barely survived Marshfield 7-6 as the Tigers missed a late field goal that would have won it.
Division 3 features four teams in the same bracket from the Great Northern Conference. There will be a rematch in Level 1 of the week 5 game between Medford and Lakeland. The #1 seeded Raiders won at the 8th seeded Thunderbirds 40-8 back on September 20th. This time around the game will be played in Medford. Wausau East is seeded #4 and have earned a Level 1 home game at Thom Field vs. #5 seeded Fox Valley Lutheran. It will be the first time the Lumberjacks have hosted a playoff game since 2007 when they defeated LaCrosse Logan. East will meet a very good FVL team that maybe only 5-4 but two of those losses were by one point each in the Bay Conference. The Merrill Bluejays are also in the D-3 playoffs and will make the long trip to Onalaska on Friday night. Onalaska has traditionally been a tough opponent in the playoffs for GNC teams with eliminations of Medford the last two years and they handed the Raiders their only loss this season.
One GNC team will be in Division 4 this season as Mosinee’s enrollment put them just below the cut line from D-3. Mosinee is a #3 seed in their bracket and will host #6 Ellsworth on Friday night. Treve Stoffel has been the multifaceted engine to the 6-3 Mosinee offense this season with his arm and legs at QB. From the Middle Border Conference, Ellsworth is also 6-3 and finished third in that league.
Division 5 features four teams from the CWC-Large, including two-time defending D-6 state champion Stratford. After those two titles, the WIAA competitive balance formula pushed the Tigers up a division this year. Stratford is a number 1 seed and will be home vs. #8 Horicon/Hustiford. A win for the Tigers in Level 1 could set up a rematch with conference rival Amherst. Amherst, who started the season 7-0 before losses to Stratford and Wittenberg-Birnamwood the last two weeks, is seeded 4th and will host Oostburg on Friday. If both win, Stratford will again host Amherst in Level 2. The other side of the D-5 bracket has two more CWC-Large teams. Witt-Birn is seeded 4th and will be home vs. #5 seeded Barron. Colby also makes the playoffs despite a 3-6 overall record and is seeded 7th. The Hornets will travel to #2 seeded Northwestern for a Level 1 game.
One CWC-Large and a pair of CWC-Small teams are part of the Division 6 bracket. Weyauwega-Fremont is seeded 8th in their part of the bracket and will have the difficult task of travelling to #1 seed Coleman. In another part of the bracket, Auburndale receives a #3 seed and will be home vs. #6 seeded Westfield. In the same part of the bracket Abbotsford is a 4 seed and will host #5 Nekoosa.
In Division 7 the Edgar Wildcats will begin their journey to another state championship as a top seed. Edgar will be home Friday night for a match up with CWC-Small rival Pittsville. Also in that part of the bracket Iola-Scandinavia, another CWC-Small team, is seeded 2nd. I-S will host #7 Hilbert on Friday. Should Edgar and I-S win their first two games there would be a rematch of a 20 point Edgar win during the regular season.
In 8-Player, Newman Catholic continues their streak of making the playoffs every season since the WIAA began sponsoring a tournament in 2018. The Cardinals fought through injury after injury to go 7-1 in the regular season to earn a #3 seed. Newman will travel to #2 seeded McDonell Catholic in a Level 1 game Friday night at Dorais Field in Chippewa Falls. The game will air live on the Sports 2 Stream of the Civic Media app and at bullfallsradio.com starting with the pregame at 6:40 pm and kickoff at 7.
