Northern Badger 2011 packed with wrestling excitement

Posted on December 30, 2011 by westwisport

Defending state champions, state placewinners and wrestlers with great chances of earning those titles this year packed the 2011 Northern Badger Wrestling Invitational at River Falls High School on Wednesday and Thursday.
This year’s Northern Badger, more than any in recent memory, seemed to have at least one blue chip wrestler in every weight class. And oftentimes, there were several top wrestlers in each class.
Wrestling fans had to be chomping at the bit to see if some of the possible final draws would end up meeting and in many cases they did, and the finals matches lived up to the hype.
One of the classes I was most interested to see was at 138 pounds, where four wrestlers with state tournament experience were included and all four reached the semifinals. They included defending D3 state champion Austin Moe of Glenwood City, D2 third place finisher Gabe Flandrick of Somerset and state qualifiers Andrew Hartmann of Durand and Tyler Hudack of Ashland.
Hartmann knocked off Moe in the semifinals, while Flandrick took care of Hudack. In the finals Flandrick and Hartmann (who could face each other again in a Jan. 19 dual match) battled through regulation tied at 1-1. In overtime Flandrick tried a shot, but Hartmann was able to counter to get the 3-1 win.
In the 132-pound finals defending D3 state champion Adam Holmquist of Glenwood City faced Nathaniel Behnke of Bruce, who took third at 119 pounds in D3 a year ago. Holmquist kept his record pristine with a 6-2 win.
The 160-pound finals featured two undefeated wrestlers, Amery’s Gabe Paulson and St. Croix Central’s Cody Nyhagen. These are two fierce, physical wrestlers who look ready to make a charge at state. Paulson was able to come out with the win on Thursday, 3-0.
Two former state finalists met up in the 120-pound finals, with Spring Valley’s Brady Webb versus Ashland’s Jack Pierce. This was another of the tactical battles you see in big matches, with Webb getting the title with a 2-1 win.
The 182-pound finals was a classic rematch. Somerset’s Haydon Dvorak took second place in the D2 171 pound bracket last year. Rademacher is one of the finest upper weight sophomores in the state, coming into Thursday’s finals undefeated. Dvorak’s experience won out on Thursday, scoring a 5-2 victory, his 15th straight win this season.
There were several more champions who looked prepared for runs at the state podium. Damien Luchterhand and Dan Schoen of Neillsville-Granton, Marcus Malecek of St. Croix Central and Tyler Weyer of Baldwin-Woodville have all reached the state awards stand before and their Northern Badger titles show they care clearly capable of getting there again.

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Coaches’ time commitment equates to success

Posted on December 15, 2011 by westwisport

Congratulations to St. Croix Central football coach Tony DiSalvo and assistant coach Zach Turpin for being honored as the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association All-Region head coach and assistant coach.
It was almost impossible to do a story on the honor because both coaches were so modest about their awards. They were both straight to the point with their comments, only making sure that the credit go to the entire coaching staff and the dedication of the players.
It’s difficult to argue with that sentiment, especially sharing any success throughout their coaching staff.
That’s one thing that’s been noticeable over the past decade or more in high school sports. There’s plenty of talk about the athletes expected to be year-round athletes. But if you look at the consistently successful teams, regardless of the sport, the most successful teams are those where the coaching staffs commit the most time.
It is not uncommon at all to see coaches begin planning for their seasons within a week or two of their current season ending. Most do that, but not all carry through their contact with the athletes in the off-season. If you want a hint about which programs will be on the upswing during the next school year, spend some time around high schools, hockey rinks, ballfields, tennis courts, etc., during the summer. When you see coaches in contact with their athletes on a nearly daily basis during the summer, those are the programs you can expect to see making improvements during their season.
It’s a harsh reality, but coaching at the high school level has become as competitive as the action taking place on the field. Some coaches don’t want to believe that, but if they are signing on to be a head coach, they are committing to a year-round job. And on many of the most successful teams, it’s not just the head coach that is putting in that sort of time, it is their assistant coaches as well. Coaching is becoming a more and more demanding profession. But if you want to play the game, you can’t just dip your toe in the pool. It’s all-in if you want to win.

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Impromptu anthem says something about kids

Posted on December 7, 2011 by westwisport

Sometimes high school kids do things that make me think that the future is in pretty good hands, after all.
One of them came at the start of the New Richmond-Hudson boys hockey game on Tuesday. Everyone stood for the playing of the national anthem. After an awkward silence of 15 seconds or more, it was announced that the recorded version of the anthem wasn’t working, so the officials should start the game.
The New Richmond student section apparently really wanted an anthem. The first few words came out of the stands like a murmur. By the second line, nearly all of the student section, plus many more fans, were belting out the national anthem. Musically, it might not have been a perfect rendition, but that’s what made it special. This wasn’t choir students, it was a cross section of the student body, of all musical talents. Some were having fun with it, some were taking it seriously. Their voices blended together to fill the New Richmond Sports Center with a sound that was completely unrehearsed and quite special.
This was the second time I’ve been made proud in recent weeks by high school students doing impromptu singing of the National Anthem. The first was at the WIAA state football championships.
Somerset and Wrightstown were getting ready to play the Division 4 state title game and the Wrightstown High School band took the field to perform the anthem.
Standing on the Somerset sidelines, the first sounds that could be heard were from the Wrightstown band. After the first few notes, the Wrightstown band was being drowned out by the Somerset student section, which was quite seriously and solemnly singing the anthem.
Through decades of covering high school sports, I’m guessing that I’ve heard thousands of versions of “The Star Spangled Banner.” There have been some wonderful and memorable renditions. They’ve ranged from string quartets performing in New Richmond to the Somerset volleyball team singing the anthem as a team.
Some of the performances that have impressed me most are when individual students perform in front of their school mates. In groups, a slip of the lyrics or the clanking of a note can be covered by the voices of the other singers. But to be out there alone, that takes heaps of courage. And I will bet that you hear fewer lyrical slip ups from high school singers than you will from high priced entertainers who are getting paid tons of money to perform.
All this leads to a point. I am amazed at the respect shown by current high school students toward the national anthem. It seems that teenagers are grasping the fact that this is a difficult time in United States history and that taking the national anthem seriously is a way they can show their pride in their country.

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What will be the next steps in sports safety?

Posted on November 29, 2011 by westwisport

With all of the precautions being taken toward concussions and head injuries in sports, it seems like a next wave of precautionary actions can’t be too far down the line.
It seems that several sports are due for equipment changes that could make their athletes less likely to receive head injuries.
Soccer is a sport where it seems some sort of headgear has to be coming. There seems to be a high enough rate of head injuries in soccer where this issue needs to be explored. After seeing players strike heads, getting knees or elbows to the head, and seeing the compression on the skull when players strike the ball with their heads, there certainly are possible dangers to athletes’ skulls.
Hockey has taken steps to improve player safety, but there’s still room for improvement. When seeing the helmets hockey players use, compared to football helmets, leaves questions on why hockey helmets aren’t as elaborate. Seeing chin strips that don’t hold the hockey helmets tightly in place seems to be one place to start. If the helmets aren’t secured tightly, they are offering very little true protection.
Weight loss in wrestling is another issue begging for closer guidelines. There have been major steps taken to monitor wrestlers’ weight loss during the season, which is an admirable step. Just as concerning, but seemingly overlooked, is the weight loss by wrestlers before their seasons start.
It’s not uncommon to see a wrestler playing football or another fall sport, only to shed incredible amounts of weight between seasons. This is often done in a short span of time. If wrestling wants to truly consider the health of its athletes, it should monitor the weights of wrestlers year-round, not just in season. By watching the weight of wrestlers all year, unhealthy weight gains, and then weight losses, could be prevented.

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Somerset carries the torch for western Wisconsin football teams

Posted on November 15, 2011 by westwisport

And then there was one.
Somerset will be the only western Wisconsin team playing in the WIAA State Football Championships this Thursday and Friday at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
Somerset earned its spot in the Division 4 state championship game by beating Bloomer last Friday, 18-13 in the state semifinals.
Menomonie, Clayton and Eau Claire Regis were area teams that had a shot to reach the state finals, but they were all defeated in the semifinals.
Other than Somerset, the closest team is Greenwood-Granton, which is located between Eau Claire and Marshfield. The Greenwood-Granton team beat Clayton on Saturday, 34-26.
Menomonie lost a gut-wrenching Division 2 battle to two-time defending state champion Waunakee by a 21-19 score. Menomonie was hurt severely by an excessive celebration penalty after a 95-yard touchdown. Watch for that call to be the center of discussions in WIAA rules interpretations meetings in the off-season. It seemed evident that game officials were trying to be noticed in some of the playoff games. Somerset’s bench was called for a penalty on Friday when an assistant coach entered the coaching box to yell out instructions between plays. This is supposed to be allowable, but the sideline official clearly didn’t want his authority questioned. The Spartans elected to not argue, moving everyone back several yards on the sideline.
Regis, after barely squeezing past Hurley two weeks earlier, ran out of magic against Shiocton. Regis lost the game 28-0. Shiocton now faces a massive assignment in the Division 6 title game, facing a potent opponent in undefeated St. Mary’s Springs of Fond du Lac.
That leaves Somerset to carry the pride of western Wisconsin to the state championships. That our area is so far away from Madison may weigh in the Spartans’ favor.
Somerset will face Wrightstown in the Division 4 state championship game at 7 p.m. on Thursday. Wrightstown is undefeated and has been ranked among the top teams in Division 4 all season.
Wrightstown is from the Green Bay area and their team has received considerable publicity all around the state, while Somerset has barely been a blip on the state football radar this season. With all the attention that Wrightstown has received, you have to wonder if their players aren’t feeling a little confident in their chances on Thursday.
Wrightstown is a power offense team. The Tigers frequently run out of a two-tight end formation and try to blast their way through opponents. No team has been able to blast through Somerset’s defense with any extended success. Somerset carries a high level of confidence that its complicated defense can stop any opponent. Since their one-game debacle early in the season against Prescott, no opponent has scored more than 15 points against the Spartans.
The wild card in this game may be Somerset’s offense. Wrightstown’s defense has given up more than 20 points five times this season. If the Spartans can pick up yardage between the tackles consistently, it would set up the big plays the Spartans have been creating on the perimeter.
Wrightstown has relied on being able to outscore any opponent this season. The Tigers may not have met a defense as good as Somerset’s, so this is looking like a matchup that could do right down to the final seconds, just like Somerset’s win on Friday against Bloomer.

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If NBA doesn’t play, would anyone notice (or care)?

Posted on November 10, 2011 by westwisport

The absolute greed shown in the National Basketball Association lockout, and the apathy shown by fans across the country, begs for a question to be asked.
If the NBA doesn’t play, would anyone notice (or care)?
There are no winners in the NBA lockout, but the fans are the ones who are going to come out as the biggest losers. Both the owners and players don’t want to budge off of their negotiating stances. It has become a repetitive ploy of each side thumping their chests like warring gorillas. And it has left fans banging their heads against the wall.
The amount of money the NBA players are fighting for is obscene. Especially for a product that has grown more and more unwatchable over the past 20 years. Ever since Michael Jordan retired (the first time), the NBA has been sliding down hill. It’s become a bloated product featuring egomaniacs who want to show off their offensive skills. Defense has ceased to exist in most NBA games. The maturity level of many players could be matched, or surpassed, in a visit to any elementary school classroom.
To NBA players it’s all about “me, me, me” and “money, money, money.”
It is just a matter of time before one side in the lockout caves in, simply because there is too much money on the table to allow this to go on forever. But wouldn’t this be the perfect time for NBA fans to send a message to the league.
Here’s the message: Don’t buy tickets. Spend the money by going to a high school game or a college game. Tell the NBA owners and players that they need the fans more than the fans need them. The fans have been pawns in this battle, and it’s time for a fan uprising.
If there was any justice in this dispute, the owners and players wouldn’t be arguing over a 50-50 split. They’d be making the split 45-45. Then they’d take the remaining 10 percent and knock that off the price of their obscenely priced tickets. We know that will never happen. But with many NBA teams struggling to sell tickets before the lockout, it’s going to be many times more difficult to sell tickets once the lockout is ended.

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Several area teams still alive in WIAA football playoffs

Posted on November 1, 2011 by westwisport

Several area teams are still alive in the WIAA playoffs. This weekend’s games will be highlighted by a pair of cross-county games.
Two St. Croix County teams will clash in Division 4, when Somerset hosts St. Croix Central at 7 p.m. on Friday. There’s a cross-Polk County collision scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, when Frederic and Clayton meet in a Division 7 game in Frederic.
Among the other area teams competing this weekend are Menomonie and Spring Valley.
Friday’s game between Somerset and St. Croix Central should be a dandy. Central hasn’t lost in 11 games this season, while Somerset is currently 10-1. Somerset has a long history of handling Central, but both coaches will be quick to tell you that this year’s Central team is the most advanced team Central’s put on the field in the past decade or longer.
Central has speed to burn, quite literally. Quarterback Carl Moll, halfback Korey Jacobson and receiver Cody Nyhagen all have competed at the state track meet.
Central averages 32 points per game. Opponents don’t try to stop them, they’re just happy to slow them down.
Somerset’s offense isn’t based solely on speed, but it has been just as unstoppable as Central. The Spartans are averaging 36 points per game. The Spartans take what the opposing defense gives them. And they usually club them into submission with it. Somerset has scored 34 points or more in seven of its games this season.
Saturday’s game between Clayton and Frederic should be a classic. Even though they’re small schools, they play football at a high level. Frederic has an enrollment of 165, compared to Clayton’s 122.
Clayton is undefeated, averaging a mountainous 42 points per game, while giving up 12.5 points per game. Frederic has just one loss, it came in a non-conference game against Lake Country Lutheran, a private school from the Milwaukee area that’s still alive in the playoffs.
Menomonie is well…Menomonie. The newly-named Mustangs are one of the stone cold locks when it comes to making the playoffs and being a threat to reach state. The Mustangs didn’t look the sharpest in their playoff opener against New Richmond, but they did on Friday, when they massacred Marshfield 44-14.
The Mustangs play at Tomah this Friday. Tomah received the top seed in the regional bracket, but it would be hard to bet against this year’s Menomonie team. Menomonie has a multi-faceted offense that can score from anywhere on the field. Drew Otto is one of the best game-breaking running backs in the area and Neiko Stokke is a deadly accurate quarterback.
One of the teams that has been putting up jaw-dropping numbers in the playoffs is Spring Valley. The loss to St. Croix Central in the final round of regular season play seems to have energized the Cardinals. In the opening round of the Division 6 playoffs the Cards ripped Northwoods 39-0 and they followed that up with a 42-6 thrashing of Marathon on Saturday.
Spring Valley faces one of the toughest challenges in Division 6 in the state this week. The Cards face Eau Claire Regis at 7 p.m. on Friday at Eau Claire’s Carson Park. The Ramblers averted disaster on when they won at Hurley 21-20 on Saturday. Spring Valley should be an even stronger challenger.
The winner of this weekend’s games will advance to the state semifinals, which will be played the following weekend at neutral sites around the state.

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Boy Scouts, outdoor groups a winning combination

Posted on October 25, 2011 by westwisport

You might think handing a kid a saw or a large pruning shears would be asking for trouble.
Instead, it might be the action that opens the child’s eyes to all that is magical about the outdoors.
On Saturday, more than 350 Boy Scouts attended “Conservation Day on the WPA.” The event was held at Oak Ridge Waterfowl Protection Area near Star Prairie. This was open to Scouts from St. Croix, Pierce, Polk and Burnett counties, and Hastings, Minn., which are all part of the Eagle River Boy Scout District.
This was an absolutely brilliant idea, started by Somerset Scout Master Greg Scheder. Kids these days are being bombarded with technology that makes the outdoors seem less and less interesting. The Conservation Day gave Scouts ranging in age from 5-21 then opportunity to be active and productive in an outdoor activity.
The kids were given the project of eradicating buckthorn and other invasive plant species from the area. It was estimated that they cleared more than 10 acres of the thick underbrush that was making it impossible for desirable plants to grow.
You could see in the kids’ faces they were enjoying the chance to try something new. Some were a bit tentative at first, but with guidance from the many volunteers and workers, they quickly understood which plants to remove.
This wasn’t just a work experience. During breaks the kids listened to speakers, who talked about a wide variety of outdoor topics. One speaker might teach them about different tree species. Each group heard from speakers “Leave No Trace,” an organization which stresses that humans leave no detrimental effect when they venture into nature.
The Scouts got to view a number of displays during their lunch break. They marveled at the numerous animal skulls that Mike Reiter had on display. They were captivated by the different stuffed duck species the DNR had available, which helped the kids learn the different species of the birds.
A project of this magnitude not only takes exceptional planning, it takes funding. A number of businesses and service organizations stepped up in a big way, whether it was with financial support or supplying manpower.
Planners of the cleanup hope this will become an annual event. That would be wonderful. It’s rare when two needs merge together so well and with such a great benefit.

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Messmer lawsuit against WIAA a shameful example of greed

Posted on October 18, 2011 by westwisport

The lawsuit filed by the Milwaukee Messmer-Shorewood football cooperative against the WIAA to get the co-op team into the WIAA playoffs is an insult to every state football program.
The co-op has become nicknamed “Messwood” and that couldn’t be more fitting.
The Messwood lawyers are attacking some non-specific wording in the WIAA’s football bylaws as their way to wriggle around the WIAA’s intent.
Perhaps a little history is in order. The Messmer-Shorewood cooperative has an enrollment of 1,301 students. The WIAA has a very clear rule about programs that bail out of a conference without WIAA approval. They are ineligible for WIAA playoffs for the following four years.
Messwood jumped out of a Milwaukee conference where they were one of the larger schools because they were getting beat consistently by smaller schools. They found the easiest possible competition, moving into the Midwest Classic – North Conference. Messmer’s enrollment is more than three times larger than the next nearest school in the Midwest Classic.
If this isn’t obscene enough, some of these small schools are still pounding on Messwood. They finished with a 4-4 record this season. Among their losses were setbacks against Lake Country Lutheran and Living Word Lutheran.
Let’s hear it for the Lutherans, because they both took down Messwood. Living Word Lutheran has 193 students, less than one-sixth of the Messwood enrollment, but they still beat the giant, 35-20.
Lake Country Lutheran is even smaller, with 181 students, less than one-seventh of the Messwood enrollment. Lake Country Lutheran still was able to defeat Messwood, 27-20.
We don’t know who is behind this lawsuit, whether it’s egotistical parents, coaches or school administrators. We should feel bad for the Messwood players, who probably didn’t want to get dragged into the middle of this quagmire. In the football playoff projections, Messmer-Shorewood was listed among the smallest schools that would fall into the Division 1 playoffs. If they do end up landing in Division 1, they could end up facing one of the top teams in the state in the opening round of the playoffs. You can bet there wouldn’t be many tears shed around the state if Messwood gets drilled 50-0 or worse in the opening round. The WIAA made the rule on jumping conferences for a reason and it’s a rule that is well-respected. That one school has seen fit to say it is too good for the WIAA rules is a slap in the face to the rest of the high school football programs in the state.

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Unhappy with the Vikings? Blame the front office, not the coaches

Posted on October 6, 2011 by westwisport

It’s amazing how quickly the love affair the Minnesota Vikings fans had for coach Leslie Frazier has eroded.
Especially when most of the Vikings’ current problems aren’t all Frazier’s fault.
Anyone unhappy with the Vikings should be looking at owner Zygi Wilf and the Vikings’ front office. Pure and simple, the Vikings don’t have the talent to be a top level NFL team. They don’t have the talent to be an average NFL team.
Fans who think the Vikings have the talent to contend for an NFL title are delusional. The front office knew that this was going to be a down year so they planned economically. Look at all the free agents that left in the past two years that haven’t been replaced (Ben Leber, Pat Williams, etc.) without being replaced. The Vikings’ move to jettison Bryant McKinnie at the start of the season was 100 percent financial. They’d been trying to find a way to get out from under his contract while being able to save face. His showing up at training camp as a 400-pound tub of goo made it all too easy for the front office to hand him a pink slip.
To show the Vikings’ current talent level, we are dividing their starting players into four different categories. It shows how badly the front office has allowed the talent level to slide.

Star Players: Running back Adrian Peterson, defensive end Jared Allen, linebacker Chad Greenway.
We viewed this as players who are in the top 15 percent at their position, who would be likely Pro Bowl candidates. That the Vikings only have three out of 22 is an indictment of their talent pool.

Above Average: Receiver Percy Harvin, the tight end trio of Visante Shiancoe, Jim Kleinsasser and Kyle Rudolph, guard Steve Hutchinson, defensive tackle Kevin Williams, linebacker E.J. Henderson, cornerback Antoine Winfield.
We included 16-49 percent in this group. Hutchinson, Williams and Winfield were all Pro Bowl caliber players in the past, but their play has slipped and the Vikings have no young players being groomed to take over their positions. The Vikings’ trio of tight ends are individually all average, but combined this group has useful skills. Harvin and Henderson have the talent to be at the top of this group, but because of their health, neither can perform at a consistently high level.

Below Average: Tackle Charlie Johnson, guard Anthony Herrera, tackle Phil Loadholt, receiver Michael Jenkins, defensive end Brian Robison, cornerback Cedric Griffin, safety Jamarca Sanford, safety Husain Abdullah.
We went from 50-80 percent in this group. These players are serviceable at best and very marginal starters at worst. None has given any reason to think they will be above average again in their NFL careers.

Immediately Replaceable: Quarterback Donovan McNabb, receiver Bernard Berrian, center John Sullivan, defensive tackle Remi Ayodele, linebacker Erin Henderson.
It’s hard to imagine any of these guys starting for any other team in the NFL.

What should be most alarming for Vikings fans is the lack of young starters on this roster. For a team that is clearly aging, the Vikings have made few moves to begin building for the future. If the front office doesn’t start taking action, the Vikings’ stay at the bottom of the NFC North could last for several seasons.

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