Thursday, November 30, 2006

I promise, regular blogs will commence shortly

Sorry for the lack of updates. We've been crazy busy with our basketball preview issue, which will hit newsstands on Friday. Basketball is always a tough one to preview... it's very easy to skip over a team or two that didn't turn in any information or may not have the best record.

But we've made every effort to have all 31 teams represented in the section. There were some that we weren't able to get to, and I feel bad about that, but I'm sure you'll enjoy what we were able to throw together.

As for me, I'm going a little stir-crazy. I haven't covered a live event since Mayville's state championship game two weeks ago. I need to cover something soon.

I'm still debating what I should attend on Friday night. I'm leaning toward Waupun at Beaver Dam boys basketball. If anyone has any other suggestions, feel free to let me know.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Ripon drops opener

Scott Gillespie scored 26, but Ripon lost to Sussex Hamilton, 52-42, in the Sheboygan South Redwing Tournament. Read more on our Web site here. And remember, we'll be updating the site all season long so check back for scores and highlights.

Break is over, let's get back to it

We have two more all-conference stories to go before we officially put the fall sports season to bed. And while the winter sports season has already started, we certainly haven't discussed it here too much.

That's going to change, starting today.

We're putting together our annual prep basketball preview this week, so be on the lookout for that. Our very own Carlos Munoz put together preview stories on the Fondy boys and girls hockey teams. Next week, he'll have a look at the area prep wrestling scene.

It's a fairly light schedule this weekend, but there's one boys basketball game in particular I'll have my eye on: Ripon vs. Sussex Hamilton tonight in the Sheboygan South tournament.

The Tigers advanced to a sectional final last year and gave mighty Seymour all it could handle. And while East Central Flyway-Lakes player of the year Scott Gillespie returns, Ripon doesn't have much to speak of down-low experience-wise. Hamilton has one of the top big men in the Greater Metro Conference in 6-foot-6 Alan Carsky. It will be interesting to see how Ripon handles a team that has a solid post player.

We'll post the score and any highlights on www.fdlreporter.com tonight.

Speaking of Ripon, if you are from the Ripon/Waupun/Laconia area and you'd like to help out with our new fan blog, send me an e-mail at jcasper@fdlreporter.com. We are also looking for another volunteer for the Fond du Lac area, and/or anyone that may know a thing or two about wrestling. For more information on the fan blog, check out the post directly below this one.

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Want to have a blog of your own?

Do you attend a lot of sporting events? Do you feel that your favorite teams are not covered enough either in The Reporter or on my blog? Do you know how to type in complete sentences?

Then we would like to work with you. We are currently looking for die-hard high school sports fans to help us with a new project.

It's a blog called "The Sixth Man," and will be written entirely by you — the fans. The blog would cover all sports — basketball, wrestling, hockey, baseball, cross country, track, football, softball, soccer and more. We'd like to have a staff of 4-6 writers to start off with, with each one contributing 2-3 blogs a week on any topic involving high school sports.

Did your favorite team have a good game on Tuesday night? Write about it.

Is there a player on another area team that you think is having a good season? Share your thoughts.

Who do you think will win the state championship? Make your picks public.

While we would like to involve high school and college students, this offer is open to anyone in the community as long as you are willing to actively contribute to the blog and regularly attend high school events.

If you are interested, or know someone that does, drop me an e-mail at jcasper@fdlreporter.com and we can talk about it more.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Check out some Mayville video

We newspapermen are just getting into the latest in technology, and while I had nothing to do with this, some much more talented journalists that work for The Appleton Post-Crescent did.

Check out some video highlights from Thursday night's game here.

You'll see more video from our newpapers and other within the Gannett chain, so keep your eyes out for Web features.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Mayville falls, 41-23, in title game

Click here to read the story I threw up on our Web site. I have to get to work now, but I'll have more later. Be sure to check www.fdlreporter.com for complete coverage tomorrow, as well as video highlights from tonight's game.

Wrightstown takes the lead

You can feel the momentum shifting here at Camp Randall Stadium.

Stephen Williams scored his second touchdown of the third quarter on a 4-yard burst to give the Tigers their first lead since early in the second quarter, but Mayville blocked the extra point to keep it a 26-23 game.

Mayville, however, has the ball deep in Wrightstown territory.

Mayville squanders an opportunity

Consecutive penalties negated a nice drive Mayville had going, and the Cardinals were forced to punt. The Cardinals still have the lead, 23-20, but Wrightstown has the ball at its own 36 with 2:32 left in the third quarter.

I spoke too soon

We have a ball game here.

Wrightstown struck back almost instantly, as Stephan Williams scampered for a 77-yard touchdown run, using one nice stiff-arm on a Mayville defender along the way.

Mayville's lead is cut to 23-20, making that fourth-and-goal stop at the end of the first half all the more crucial.

Mayville takes a two-score lead

Mayville marched deep into Wrightstown territory, but only came away with a field goal.

Matt Haass was stopped on a quarterback keeper on third-and-goal from the 5, and Cale Moyle kicked his second field goal of the season to give Mayville a 23-13 lead with 6:11 left in the third quarter.

Very crucial drive for Wrightstown coming up.

Halftime stats update

Some quick observations of the halftime stats:

*Wrightstown has 156 rushing yards, although I'd bet the Tigers have only 50 in the second quarter. 65 of those yards came on their first drive.

*Matt Haass is 7 of 10 passing for 82 yards and two touchdowns, and also has one rushing TD

*Wrightstown is only 2 of 5 on third-down attempts

*Michael Nied has 8 carries for 47 yards

And for those that want to enhance their vocab, this is what scuttlebutt means:

–noun
1.
Nautical.
a.
an open cask of drinking water.
b.
a
drinking fountain for use by the crew of a vessel.
2.
Informal. rumor or
gossip.

Another big play by Michael Nied

Less than a week after his hit on Evansville's Derek Cashore sent his team to the state championship game, Michael Nied made another big defensive stop, this one to give Mayville a halftime lead.

Facing a fourth-and-goal at the 1, Evansville opted to go for it, but Riley Schreurs was stopped dead in his tracks by Nied, who came in hard from the linebacker position.

Mayville got the ball back inside its 1 with a minute left, but because the Cardinals will get the ball back to start the second half, coach Tom Noennig felt content to let time run out.

After a shaky start, things are looking real good now for Mayville, especially if the Cardinals can score on their opening drive of the second half.

Some more on the "touchdown" to Apfelbeck

The scuttlebutt around the press box is that the official was out of position when he incorrectly ruled that Tyson Apfelbeck scored on a 5-yard pass from Matt Haass in the second quarter.

Replays showed that Apfelbeck should have been ruled out at the 1, where Mayville would have been facing a fourth-and-goal. It's hard to say if Mayville would not have scored anyway, but you better believe people from Wrightstown will be complaining about the call for years to come.

Mayville takes the lead

The breaks keep coming for the Mayville Cardinals.

Wrightstown mishandled a handoff and Mayville pounced on the loose ball. A nice 15-yard run by Alex Krueger and a 18-yard pass from Matt Haass to Tyson Apfelbeck put Mayville in position, and Haass punched it in two plays later on a designed QB sweep.

With the extra point by Cale Moyle, Mayville leads 20-13 with 5:04 left in the second quarter.

Mayville catches a break

Matt Haass completed his second touchdown pass of the day, this time to Tyson Apfelbeck, as Mayville tied the game at 13-13.

Replays, however, showed that Apfelbeck was clearly out at the 1-yard line, and the official that was five yards behind the play ruled it a touchdown.

Mayville missed the extra point, however, and the game remains tied at 13-13.

Wrightstown takes the lead

The scoring in this game is coming too fast for me to keep proper updates, so I may pick and choose my spots from here on out.

Anyways, Wrightstown struck again — this time on a 34-yard TD pass from Kyle Kamps to a wide-open Tharin schussler on fourth-and-3. It was the Tigers' first pass attempt of the game.

The extra point try failed, however, so Wrightstown leads 13-7 at the end of the first quarter, but runs by Michael Nied has Mayville across the 50.

Mayville comes marching back

Taking advantage of good field position and what appears to be a soft zone defense by Wrightstown, Mayville's Matt Haass completed a 26-yard pass to Alex Krueger to set up a 5-yard TD pass to Krueger, evening the score at 7-7.

The problem that Mayville seems to have is slowing down Wrightstown's run game. The Tigers are hitting the Cardinals with runs in all directions, and they are now in Mayville territory as the first quarter comes to a close.

Wrightstown strikes first

James Lasee scored on a 3-yard run a mere 1 minute, 14 seconds into the game as Wrightstown grabbed a quick 7-0 lead. The scoring drive went 65 yards in only four plays, with Riley Schreurs doing most of the damage on a 49-yard run on the first play from scrimmage.

Mayville takes over at its own 32 for its first possession of the game.

We're about to kick off

You're looking live at a blog from Camp Randall Stadium in Madison for tonight's WIAA Division 4 state championship game between Mayville and Wrightstown.

Keep coming back for insight and general tomfoolery throughout the night.

Mayville won the toss and deferred to the second half, so Wrightstown will get the ball first.

Check back for updates later today

I'm trying to shake a nasty head cold, so that's why I'm still in Fond du Lac and not in Madison.

But fear not, I'm about to head down in a few minutes to get there for the second half of what should be a very exciting Division 5 state championship game between Lancaster and Kewaunee.

I'll also have insight on tonight's main event, Mayville vs. Wrightstown, as well as updates on www.fdlreporter.com.

And come back on Friday. We will have video highlights from tonight's game as well as more coverage.

Hope you enjoy the state championship games.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Read about how Matt Haass destroyed me in a video game

You can read about it here. To the few Mayville players that actually stayed after practice to watch it, I'm sorry for not putting up much of a fight.

Read the game story from Mayville's 1994 state title game

We've posted the game story from the last time Mayville won a state football title, which was in 1994.

We'll have some more Web-only content over the next few days, and I'll be updating the blog live from Madison, so if you can't make it down to the game, check back here for my unique brand of sarcasm.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Mayville mania kicks off today

If you are a Mayville fan, then you may want to buy up every copy of The Reporter this week.

That's because we are planning wall-to-wall coverage of the Cardinals' upcoming WIAA Division 4 state championship game against Wrightstown. It started with today's story about senior Nick Kamphuis by Doug Whiteley.

There's also a special web-only surprise we'll have in store for you either late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, so be on the lookout for that.

We also want to hear from you Mayville fans, young and old. If you remember the 1994 team, send us your memories and/or photos. If you have photos from this year, send us those too.

If not, sit back and enjoy the ride.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Quick thoughts

I've gotta get some sleep, but I'll be back throughout the day tomorrow with other tidbits of wisdom, but I wanted to get some quick thoughts up here.

***Tough luck for Kewaskum. It was a sloppy field in West Bend, and I think that hurt the Indians more than it hurt Greendale. Still, Kewaskum had lots of chances in the first half it'd like to have back. You can never pass up an opportunity to score, especially in the playoffs.

***I'm curious as to why West Bend is a host for a state semifinal game. The seating arrangements are subpar, the press box is tiny and I'm not sure the grounds crew was prepared for the snow. Friday's snowfall left about 2 inches of snow that was cleared off... with a plow. While a plow may be effective, I think it also tore up the field more than it had to. The middle of the field was pure mud for most of the game.

***Hats off to Mayville. The defense really came to play in the shutout over Evansville. Wrightstown will be a tough draw; the Tigers have put together some impressive victories over the last few weeks. We'll have plenty more on the Cardinals as the week progresses.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

A little bit more about Greendale

Greendale has been on a roll since losing its first game of the season, 31-15, to Waukesha West.

It has only allowed four touchdowns in its last seven games and has one of the best defensive players in 6-3, 265-pound defensive end Eric Brunner. In fact, it's entire defensive line is pretty big.

Kewaskum coach Jason Piittman compared Greendale to Pewaukee, another team from the Woodland South and Kewaskum's first playoff opponent, in terms of size, but said the Panthers have speed like Waupun.

Offensively, they offer several looks ranging from a full backfield to a 4-wide receiver set.

Quarterback Mike Hennessey has thrown for more than 1700 yards and 20 touchdowns, but has also thrown 15 interceptions. Hennessey also leads the team in rushing with 675 yards and 13 touchdowns. Kyle Mabry, a 5-10, 175-pound wide receiver, leads the team with 51 receptions for 868 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Check out some Greendale video

I'll have more on Kewaskum's state semifinal game later tonight, but I thought some of you may be interested to see this little clip. Now, any team will probably look good when you take just the highlights, but this gives you a little bit of an idea of what the Indians are up against on Saturday.

Evansville suspensions?

The scuttlebutt on several Internet message boards is that there are three starters for Evansville that have been suspsended for athletic code violations.

I'm not sure if that is a fact, so I'm not going to speculate.

What I do know, in talking another newspaper reporter that covers the team, is that there were two starters that did not play in Saturday's game against Platteville — Tyler Paquin and Mitch Hutchins.

What they were suspended for, I don't know. Hutchins is 6-foot-3, 195 pounds and a dangerous return man while Paquin is 6-0, 195. The reporter said they both played running back, but knowing the lack of depth many Division 4 teams have, I'd imagine they played a little in the defensive backfield as well.

WIAA rules dictate that players suspended for one game of a WIAA tournament series for an athletic code violation are suspended for the entire tournament. I'm not sure if that's the case here.

That's what I know. If I hear more, I'll post it here.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

A quick look at Evansville

Evansville has been my No. 1 team in Division 4 for pretty much the entire season, but as I've mentioned several times before, I usually don't know what I'm talking about.

But the Blue Devils are still a darn good team. They rolled through the Rock Valley Conference without much opposition and had an impressive 14-6 nonconference victory over Division 2 Union Grove.

Evansville does have two victories over Brodhead-Juda, a team that beat Mayville 22-20 in the first week of the season. Evansville won 31-14 on Oct. 6 and stole a 16-14 victory in the second round of the playoffs on a 35-yard TD pass with 1 second left.

But the transitive property applies to math and not sports, and Mayville, as most teams tend to do, develop over the course of the season so its not worth the cyberspace to debate such a topic.

I'll have more as the week progresses, so come back often.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Third-round revisited

As I write this entry, I'm watching the replay of the Ripon-Mayville game on Fondy's Channel 25 right now.

Wow.

What a game this was. Anyone that paid $3 to get into this one should go back to Ripon and plop down a $20 bill. Even that is a steal.

Scott Gillespie did everything in his power to get a victory for Ripon, but Mayville's Matt Haass just had the gamebreakers around him to get the job done. Tyson Apfelbeck turned in the second-best performance of a receiver in the area on Saturday (more a little bit later on the best one).

Ripon should definitely be proud of its postseason. To beat top-seeded Lodi in Lodi, to force overtime against Chilton and to trade blows with Mayville for all but the last few minutes of a third-round game was incredible for a team that didn't have the best regular season. But there was something that seemed to click for the Tigers once the postseason started.

Mayville, on the other hand, is playing like a state title contender. When Ripon grabbed a 28-20 lead, I was surprised with how Mayville responded. For a team that hadn't been this far in the playoffs in some time, it was quite the showing. For more on the game, read Doug Whiteley's story here.

I saw a pretty good game myself in Arrowhead's 36-21 victory over Fond du Lac. From the very first play of the game, an 80-yard touchdown pass from Ben Anderson to Kyle Senn, it was clear that Fondy was not going to be intimidated.

The Cards lost the game in the second half when Arrowhead bottled up Senn, who had seven catches for 179 yards... the best performance I've seen from a receiver this year. He also had three touchdown catches and made several impressive grabs. He should get some all-state recognition from someone.

Finally, hats off to Kewaskum for battling back to beat Waupun. I'll get a chance to check out Casey Scheel for the first time this weekend... and according to the stats from coach Jason Piittman, Scheel has done it all for the Indians.

Semifinal sites are up

We've got the sites and times for Mayville and Kewaskum's semifinal games listed on our Web site, so click here to see those.

I'm taking a bit of a break from the blog, as you may seen. I'll have some fresh insight on later tonight, so be sure to come back.

Thanks for reading!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

No bold predictions this time

I learned my lesson last week. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't know what I'm talking about. But if you are reading this sentence, you still came back. So I guess I got the last laugh.

ANYWAYS, on to (today's) games. All intriguing matchups and all games that I wish I could attend. But alas, the coaches forgot to consult me as to when to hold kickoff, so I can only attend one.

And I shall start my commentary with the Fondy-Arrowhead tilt. I'm starting to come around as a Fondy believer. Before the brackets came out, I wasn't sure this team would win a game. After I saw the matchups, I figured they'd win at least one game and maybe give Janesville Parker or Mukwonago a challenge before falling short. But, this team just finds ways to win. The victory over Mukwonago, at least to me, wasn't impressive because of the last-minute touchdown or the two fourth-quarter touchdowns. To me, the win was impressive because Fondy allowed 360 rushing yards and didn't force a turnover, yet it still won the game. That's unreal. I'd love to see how many high school manage to run for 360 yards, don't turn the ball over and still lose. Now, Arrowhead is a big favorite in this game and they should be. They've consistently been one of the best programs in the state for several years and have been playing at a differently level than most teams this season. But, never count out a team that finds different ways to win. I'm not going to make any predictions. I'll just leave it at that.

Waupun and Kewaskum is a game that could go either way. It could be a 10-7 slugfest, or we could have a good-old fashioned donnybrook (to quote Brent Musberger). Neither team had a big offensive showing last week, which makes me believe that we'll see the same this week. I'm giving Waupun the edge just because they can beat you in so many different ways, but Kewaskum's defense is tough.

The best game of the day may turn out to be the last one... Mayville at Ripon. I think this is going to be a track meet. Scott Gillespie has been throwing the ball all over the place... and he's doing it against pretty good teams. The key is going to be if Ripon can take away more things than it can't. What I mean by that is if Ripon can take away those quick 5-yard routes that Tyson Apfelbeck and Alex Krueger like to run and find a way to keep Michael Nied in check, they can live with a few deep passes. But if they take away the deep pass and give up the 5-yard routes and Michael Nied rushes for 200 yards, well, then it will be tough. This will be a classic and one that you shouldn't miss if you can make it there.

As always, check out www.fdlreporter.com for score updates throughout the day.

Random thoughts from the WIAA state volleyball tournament

It was my first time attending the WIAA state volleyball tournament, and while it was unfortunate to see our two area teams bounced in the semifinals, it was a pretty exciting day.

But before I get too involved with this weekend's state football quarterfinal playoff action, here are a few thoughts I had from the state volleyball tournament.

***When played well, volleyball is quite the sport to watch live and up close. I'm amazed at some of the hops that the girls for Waupun have, in particular, freshman Brandi Dolgner. They can get up.

***At first, I questioned the fact that the WIAA has two games going at the same time for the rounds before the state final. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but the cool thing about it was there was a lot of noise in the Resch Center and I think the girls really fed off that, even if the cheers weren't for them.

***Waupun will be back. The team starts two sophomores and two freshman and only graduates two seniors. One of the freshman, Bridget Nickel, was so excited after every point that she would jump up and down. Of course, when she jumps up and down, it's a good three feet into the air, so it's a bit more noticeable.

***To the Waupun student section: Very fine roller coaster.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Platteville star RB out for season

Wisfootball.net is reporting that Platteville running back/defensive end Louis Nzegwu is out for the season after suffering a hand injury.

If you subscribe to their premium service, you can read the rest of the article on their site.

Nzegwu was one of the prized recruits of the University of Wisconsin, and a big reason the Hillmen were considered one of the teams to beat in Division 4. Platteville's only loss this season came by a point to Lancaster.

Platteville plays undefeated Evansville in a state quarterfinal game on Saturday. The winner advances to play the winner of Saturday's Mayville/Ripon game.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Gillespie getting it done

While my recent history may prove otherwise, I’m not that bad at predicting certain things.

Take this little nugget of prognostication from an earlier blog:

Player that can take his team the farthest: I'm real interested to see what Ripon does with its offense. Ripon coach Rick Kelm hinted after his team's 49-28 loss to Waupun that it might rely on the pass a little bit more. After all, quarterback Scott Gillespie threw for 273 yards — albeit against a Waupun defense that wasn't putting much of a rush on. Still, if Lodi decides to put a lot of pressure on Gillespie, he's quick enough to evade a rush and make a play out of the pocket. He has a speedy running back in Justin Baker to throw swing passes to, and has some nice tall receivers in Ryan Hill and Brendan O'Brien that could pose matchup problems against smaller opponents. If Gillespie is able to make a bunch of plays for Ripon, I think they can pull off the upset of Lodi.

See, I do know a thing or two. No man can carry an entire football team throughout the playoffs, but what Gillespie has done in Ripon’s playoff ride so far is remarkable.

Take, for example, Ripon’s last drive in regulation in Saturday’s thrilling 21-20 overtime victory. Ripon took over at its own 15 with 3:29 left and a 14-7 deficit. After the first two plays netted negative 5 yards, Gillespie and his boys went to work. With 1:59 left and facing a third-and-15 from the Ripon 10 and the rush closing in, Gillespie completed a 18-yard pass to David Soda. There were three completions to Brendan O’Brien for 35 yards and a two-yard run for a first down thrown in there somewhere. Quick strike passes to Peter Schroeder and Soda, as well as a 7-yard run gave Ripon the ball at the Chilton 7.

On first-and-goal from the 7 with 30 seconds left, Gillespie dropped back to pass but couldn’t find anyone open and took off. He made it down to the 1, but Ripon was called for clipping back at the 20. So not only did the play take 15 seconds off the clock, but Ripon now faced a first-and-goal at the 35.

Not to matter. Gillespie lofted a pass into the end zone for O’Brien, but the ball caromed off his hands and into the hands of Schroeder. Ripon had tied the game with 7 seconds left.

On the final drive, Gillespie completed 8 of 11 passes for 97 yards and also ran for 8. That’s not bad.

For more on Gillespie's remarkable season, visit www.ripontigerfootball.com.