More of the same.
That's a simple -- and accurate -- way to describe just what happened Tuesday night in the opening round of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state football playoffs.
The historically strong programs advanced easily. The historically weak City Conference flopped spectacularly. And we're all gearing up for some interesting area showdowns, coming up on Saturday.
In Division 1, Arrowhead and Homestead have met in the last three state championship games. Each team took the first step toward a four-peat on Tuesday, as Homestead (10-0) buried Milwaukee King, 47-0, and Arrowhead (8-1) handled Janesville Parker, 28-12.
Things will get much more interesting for both teams on Saturday..
Homestead has a 1 p.m. showdown scheduled at Menomonee Falls (9-1), a highly-regarded, powerhouse program that knocked off Manitowoc, 17-14, on Tuesday.
The powerful running of Falls senior Cole Myhra, who has rushed for just short of 1,200 yards and has scored 17 touchdowns, will test the vaunted Homestead defense, which has allowed an average of 6.2 points per game. The winner will meet either Sun Prairie (8-2) or Fond du Lac (6-4) in a quarterfinal game next week.
Arrowhead, meanwhile, gets a rematch with the only team to beat the Warhawks this year, Waukesha West (10-0). West, which held off Madison West on Tuesday, 21-19, will be the host of the 6 p.m. Saturday game, though it will be played at Waukesha South.
West took a 12-6 victory over Arrowhead in Week Four, getting two touchdowns from Ryan Young and holding Arrowhead to two Drew Meyer field goals. However, Arrowhead out-gained West in the game, 242-112, and held West to six first downs. Two lost fumbles hurt the Warhawks.
Two more area Division 1 powers won their openers Tuesday and are headed toward a possible quarterfinal showdown. Milwaukee Marquette (10-0) raced past Racine Park, 49-17, and plays host to Oak Creek (7-3) at 4 p.m. Saturday at Hart Park in Wauwatosa.
Also, Kenosha Bradford -- slowed by the flu -- buried Milwaukee Bay View, 58-0, as the Redcats lost more than two dozen players program-wide due to grades. Bradford takes on Kenosha Tremper (6-4) on Saturday, after Tremper took advantage of Milwaukee Riverside's inability to move the football in the mud, taking a 14-6 victory despite losing four fumbles and having one pass intercepted and one punt blocked.
If Marquette and Bradford both win, they'll square off in a quarterfinal game next week.
Riverside, Bay View and King weren't the only City Conference teams to go down in flames in their playoff openers on Friday, heaping more criticism on the City as the weakest football conference in the state. The conference had seven state qualifiers, five in Division 1 and two in Division 2. The five D-1 qualifiers lost by a combined score of 230-6. The two D-2 teams lost by a more humane 88-35. Add it up, and the average City team's playoff loss came by a score of 45-5.
Area winners in Division 2 were South Milwaukee, Franklin, Waterford and Cedarburg. Advancing in Division 3 were unbeaten Pewaukee, Wisconsin Lutheran, Union Grove, New Berlin Eisenhower and Catholic Memorial. Also moving on were Greendale Martin Luther in Division 5, Racine Lutheran and Lake Country Lutheran in Division 6 and defending champion Burlington Catholic Central in Division 7.
AREA SCHEDULE SATURDAY
DIVISION 1
Homestead (10-0) at Menomonee Falls (9-1), 1 p.m.
Arrowhead (8-1) vs. Waukesha West (10-0) at Waukesha South, 6 p.m.
Oak Creek (7-3) vs. Milwaukee Marquette (10-0) at Hart Park, Wauwatosa, 4 p.m.
Kenosha Bradford (10-0) at Kenosha Tremper (6-4), 1 p.m.
DIVISION 2
Cedarburg (9-1) at Monona Grove (10-0), 4 p.m.
Lake Geneva Badger (8-2) at South Milwaukee (6-4), 1 p.m.
Franklin (8-2) at Waterford (9-1), 4 p.m.
DIVISION 3
Reedsburg (7-3) at Pewaukee (10-0), 6 p.m.
Union Grove (7-3) at Wisconsin Lutheran (8-2), 7 p.m.
New Berlin Eisenhower (9-1) vs. Catholic Memorial (7-3) at Carroll University, 4 p.m.
DIVISION 5
Fond du Lac St. Mary's Springs (10-0) at Greendale Martin Luther (6-3), 7 p.m.
DIVISION 6
Racine Lutheran (8-2) at Shiocton (10-0), 7 p.m.
Algoma (9-1) vs. Lake Country Lutheran (9-1) at Kettle Moraine, time TBA
DIVISION 7
Benton/Scales Mound (7-3) at Burlington Catholic Central (9-1), time TBA
WIAA brackets are available here.KICKIN' IT AT UIHLEIN
The WIAA state soccer tournament begins at noon today at Uihlein Soccer Park, on Good Hope Rd. just east of 76th St. Milwaukee Marquette (18-4-1), which has won six championships since 2000 (including last year), takes the field at 5 p.m. for a tough test against Arrowhead (18-2-3).
The Hilltoppers seem to have drawn the tough half of the eight-team Division 1 bracket, as the winner of the Marquette-Arrowhead test must meet either Muskego (24-1-1) or Kenosha Tremper (22-1-3) in a semifinal on Friday. Muskego and Tremper meet tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m.
Also today (Thursday), Eau Claire Memorial (21-1-3) meets De Pere (17-9) at noon and Hartford (24-2) takes on Madison Memorial (15-2-4) at 2 p.m.
Click here for more on the state tournament, including game results and an archive of past performances.
SPIKE TIME
We're getting to the best part of the girls volleyball season, as sectional tournaments in all four divisions begin tonight (Thursday) and conclude on Saturday, when the field for the state tournament will be set.
Area teams often dominate the statewide rankings, especially in Division 1, and the list of sectional qualifiers reflects that. Milwaukee area conferences have produced 18 of the 32 survivors in the Division 1 sectional round.
At West Allis Hale tonight (Thursday), Muskego, ranked No. 1 in the Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association state poll, meets Brookfield East at 6 p.m., followed by a match between Brookfield Central and Franklin.
At Watertown, the host Lady Goslings, ranked second, meet ninth-ranked Homestead at 6 p.m., with No. 5 Menomonee Falls taking on No. 7 Nicolet at 8 p.m.
At Milwaukee Pius, third-ranked Divine Savior Holy Angels meets Wauwatosa West at 6 p.m., and Oak Creek meets No. 10 Pius at 8 p.m.
At Burlington, the host Demons (ranked fourth) meet Mukwonago at 6 p.m., followed by Kenosha Tremper and Westosha Central at 8.
And at Beaver Dam, No. 10 West Bend East meets Neenah at 6 p.m., followed by West Bend West and Fond du Lac at 8.
In Division 2, second-ranked Catholic Memorial plays host to No. 8 Wisconsin Lutheran at 7 p.m., and third-ranked Kettle Moraine Lutheran meets Sheboygan Falls at Grafton at 7 p.m.
In Division 3, Somers Shoreland Lutheran meets Whitefish Bay Dominican at Random Lake at 7 p.m. And in Division 4, top-ranked Burlington Catholic Central, the defending champion, plays host to No. 10 Johnson Creek at 7 p.m., and Lake Country Lutheran meets third-ranked Manitowoc Lutheran at Sheboygan Christian at 7 p.m.
Sectional finals will be held Saturday. Brackets will be updated with match results here.State rankings can be found here:
Division 4
CROSS COUNTRY
The state cross country meet will be held Saturday at The Ridges Golf Club outside Wisconsin Rapids. The meet was previewed in a recent blog. For more on the meet, including results on Saturday, visit here.
Art Kabelowsky has spent 33 years in the sports writing business, the last 12 with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Art was named the Journal Sentinel's Prep Editor in July, 2000, directing its high school sports coverage until he accepted the paper's offer of a voluntary buyout last August.
A graduate of Sussex Hamilton High School and UW-Whitewater, Art has also worked for daily papers in Fort Atkinson, Racine, La Crosse and Decatur, Ill. He has been sports editor in Fort Atkinson and La Crosse.
Art spent five years as a beat reporter covering the La Crosse Catbirds of the Continental Basketball Association and has also covered a Rose Bowl, countless Green Bay Packers games and more than 25 years' worth of state high school basketball tournaments and football finals.
He lives on the northwest side and has spent the last few months volunteering as an assistant football coach at Milwaukee Riverside High School.
