Mukwonago High School and other schools across the state could face penalties for the use of "Indians" or other Native American mascots.

Carol Spindel, who wrote "Dancing at Halftime" in 2000 about the controversy surrounding Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois, plays devil's advocate in her book by making a statement difficult to refute.

"There are no bigheaded mascots here,” she says, describing the scene at an Illinois basketball game featuring a dancing Chief performing during halftime, “no caricatured T-shirts or sideline hijinks, no tomahawk chops or scalp ‘em headlines. The appreciation for the beautifully crafted clothing, the dance, and the music is genuine. With so much feeling, can this be racism?”

With Wisconsin state legislation proposing sanctions against high schools with Native American mascots -- such as Mukwonago's Indians -- that remarkably difficult question bubbles to the surface.

On the one hand, the mascot representation can be done tastefully, and probably isn't the greatest of issues facing the state's education system. On another, if someone asked you to picture an "Indian," would you not imagine a costumed, spear-bearing, made-up warrior? Many educated minds can overcome that initial reaction, but it's undeniable that the images created by sports mascots flourish in our mind as credible representations. What about the minds still learning, the ones surrounded every day by these mascots?

I can say I'm not a huge fan of state lawmakers getting involved, but the greater problem I have is the rhetoric that emerges in opposition. On one local radio program discussing the issue last week, I already heard the predictable responses: "Well, anything can offend you, if you think about it," and, "The schools are honoring the Native Americans -- how can anyone be offended by that?"

I understand the fervent opposition. There are scores of alumni who consider themselves "Indians" from Mukwonago, Menomonee Falls and anywhere else using that mascot. One tactic I use in starting conversations with strangers is to find out where they attended high school, bring up the mascot from that school -- "So, you're a Warhawk, eh?" -- and I usually get an instant connection. It's a small part of a person's formative years, so there's understandably an attachment.

The "anything can offend" argument is pretty juvenile. Choosing an animal, local icon, weather pattern or inanimate object does not present the same risk of offensiveness compared to portraying a racial or ethnic group. End of story, and it's not really worth debating.

The worst offense committed by those who believe they are "honoring" the portrayed group through mascots is the implied belief that it's our right to honor those groups and uphold their tradition. 

A line from "Dancing At Halftime" sticks out to me, coming from protesters outside a Florida State Seminoles football game several years ago. One protester said the student acting like a Seminole war leader looked like a "Lakota who got lost in an Apache dressing room riding a Nez Perce horse.” It's especially surprising to see this kind of inaccuracy at Florida State, where Seminole leaders have gone on record supporting Florida State's use of the mascot.

If the intent is to bring some sort of honor to the represented group, the least a school can do is develop a historically accurate representation. But more than that, cultural preservation should be a task left to the culture itself, and not through an unaffiliated school’s secular event. 

Furthermore, Native Americans work in a broad spectrum of occupations, drive contemporary cars, listen to contemporary music and wear contemporary clothes. The Indian on a high school gymnasium wall is a caricature, and while discerning minds realize that, it's still not the proper way to "honor" a race of people.

I would think those in opposition of a mascot change simply don't want their world altered -- they've always been Indians and don't want to change now. Or, they're fed up with society's political correctness. I have no issue with those points of view -- so long as they're honest and avoid the lousy rhetoric that the Indian could be just as offensive as "Blue Jay" or "Lightning," and that the so-called "honor" is reason not to change.

Wrestlers trot out during the March of Champions at February's state championships.

When I started covering high school athletics a few years ago, I have to admit I knew nothing about wrestling. I didn’t know how it was scored, didn’t know the strategy, didn’t know the terminology.

If I covered a match, my conversations with the coaches afterwards were essentially a walk-on-eggshells endeavor where I tried not to ask a stupid question. I didn’t want to insult the coaches by trying to interpret an event about which I knew precious little.

I like to think I’ve made a pretty good effort to understand it since then, largely because it has become one of my favorite sports to cover. I’m in tune with who can be considered the best wrestlers or teams in the state, I can identify pretty much everything the moderate fan understands and I positively love the state tournament in Madison. I’ve been lucky enough to cover a small handful of state champions, continuing last weekend when Arrowhead’s Jake Sueflohn won the 135-pound state title.

I don’t think people outside the wrestling community expect or understand how remarkable the finals round Saturday can be. With so many different communities represented, the Kohl Center is essentially filled to the rafters. The three divisions host concurrent matches, so the waves of cheering sometimes come without warning for people zoned in on a specific match.

There must be an official title for what happens immediately before the start of the finals matches – I’m pretty sure it’s the “March of Champions,” but I’ve heard “Ring of Champions,” “Ring of Honor” and a few other variations. With the lights off and spotlights rolling through the venue, two separate lines of wrestlers emerge from the Kohl Center’s service level and circle the arena.

These are the state finalists, and each wrestler ultimately finds a spot along one of the mats, where they stand for the national anthem. Standing directly across the way is the last competitor blocking the path to a state title.

A well-produced video package showcasing the action earlier in the weekend precedes the march, and afterwards comes the flurry of title matches. It occurs to me watching the march that every one of the competitors is at the most elite level, and half of them are going to walk away having etched a permanent place in state history. It winds up being pretty powerful.

There are other moments each year that stand out – not the least of which is the occasional standing ovation from the house, usually afforded to a four-time state champion or other remarkable achiever. This year, 171-pound wrestler Davion Willis of Milwaukee Custer was given the tribute after he won a state title, a rare feat for a wrestler from the City Conference.

But to me, it’s the march that makes the state wrestling tournament such a unique experience. There is an awe generated from seeing the absolute best grouped together in that format, more than there would be for the light-hearted atmosphere of an All-Star game.

Even if you understand nothing about the sport, it’s easy to appreciate.
 

Arrowhead student blogger Michael Fox takes a look at ACL injuries, which have become a very common presence on the high-school sports scene. Typically season-ending ailments, ACL tears have shown up pretty commonly among local teams in recent months, with several basketball teams affected -- the Arrowhead girls (Sydney Pierson, Amanda Bauer), Kettle Moraine girls (Sam Pfeifer) and Sussex Hamilton boys (Kameron Cerroni) among them.

A little over a year ago in early January, Milwaukee Bucks leading scorer Michael Redd landed awkwardly after a shot against the Sacramento Kings in Milwaukee.  An MRI showed that he had torn both his ACL and MCL in his left knee and wouldn't play again that season.

Redd was playing again in the 2009-2010 when the 2008 Olympian once again suffered an ACL and MCL tear in his left knee, ending his season and perhaps his career. Though the ACL tear is a rare injury that once appeared more prominently in the college and pro sphere, this life-changing injury seems to plague more and more high school athletes each year.

I wanted to know if high school athletes worry about this phenomenon and what can be done to prevent it.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament is the main stabilizing ligament in the knee. This ligament connects the femur to the tibia, or in layman’s terms, the thigh bone to the leg bone. When a quick turning or cutting action is applied to the knee, the pressure can cause a snap or pop in the ligament and will result in immediate instability and swelling of the knee. 

Football, basketball, lacrosse, and soccer typically lead to ACL tears because of the constant jumping, pivoting and cutting movements. The injury mostly occurs in non-contact situations, and more frequently in female athletes. 

While it is definitively unclear why female athletes are more prone to this injury than males, the New England Musculoskeletal Institute at the University of Connecticut Health Center believes it has something to do with differences in hormones and muscle strength, as well as a smaller bone notch in females, where the ACL is located.

Often when an ACL tear occurs, torn cartilage follows in the lateral meniscus of the knee, as well as the joint surface. There are two main methods of treatment -- surgery or just bracing and rehabilitation.  Athletes will often choose surgery so they can quickly regain strength in their knee to remain active.  Usually the time for recovery and returning to sports is seven to nine months after much restoration and rehab.

The Arrowhead girls basketball team has become very familiar with these details. In 2008, senior standout guard Katie Hackbart tore her ACL and missed the season after earning conference Player of the Year honors as a junior. Hackbart worked hard to get back on the hardwood, but in her sophomore year at St. Norbert’s College in DePere, she tore her ACL a second time. 

A little over a month ago, Warhawks starting point guard, senior Sydney Pierson, fell to the ground in a game at Milwaukee Pius when she pivoted awkwardly on her on right leg and felt her knee pop. 

“When it happened it felt like a sword cut my leg in half and I couldn’t feel the bottom half of my leg,” Pierson said, “I was in so much pain that I went into a state of shock and I was in a panicky state.  I kept thinking of how it was my senior year and how I was supposed to lead my team and just negative thoughts like that.”  

After a week of icing and rest, Pierson went to see Dr. Gerard Adler in Oconomowoc. Days later, an MRI confirmed that Pierson had completely torn her ACL and part of her LCL. She opted for a two hour hamstring surgery, which involved getting 22 centimeters of her hamstring double wrapped around the ACL to basically create a new ligament.

“I’m not at a full range of motion yet and that’s what makes me the most apprehensive (about playing in college), because I don’t want to have to go through this same mess again," Pierson said. "The whole Katie Hackbart situation really scares me. I don’t want that to be me.” 

For now, Pierson’s therapy takes place twice a week at Aurora Health Care in Oconomowoc. After five weeks, she’s finally off crutches.

“So far, it’s been a month and a half since surgery; my goal is to regain the full range of motion back in my knee soon," she said. "Hopefully in three months, I’ll able to start running again.”  

Five weeks after Pierson went down, the Hawks lost her replacement starter to the same injury. Returning letterwinner and sophomore guard Amanda Bauer felt the same sword cut through her season Feb. 19.  Bauer, who is also a state-level runner that competed in the 4x800-meter relay in last year's state track meet as a freshman, saw her sophomore sports season come to a premature end.

Junior Carly Cech is a two time starter for the Warhawks girl’s soccer team, a team that lost one of its starters to an ACL injury last year. When asked if she ever worried about this kind of injury occurring, Cech said she never personally worries about an ACL or any other season ending injury. 

But the coaches do. As a warm up for practices and games, the team does a strength building exercise labeled “bounding,"  jumping laterally from left to right on opposite feet to help strengthen the muscles that surround the ACL. 

But as far as prevention, not much can be done. 

“There really is no fool proof way to prevent that kind of injury," said Rachel Kuhntz, Arrowhead trainer and a member of the Orthopedics Association of Wisconsin. “What they say now is that the most effective way to prevent this injury is working on hip strength and gleut strength.” 

Other areas that should be involved with strength training are the quads and hamstrings as well as the abdominal region. 

“Working and focusing on core strength is also important, taking time off in between seasons to give muscles the time to heal is a part of this,” Kuhntz said. 

The Orthapedics Association of Wisconsin even offers year round camps used to help prevent ACL tears.  But as far as the recent rash of ACL tears in high school sports go, there is no real answer for why. 

“The only thought is that there are more and more athletes participating now, but that doesn’t answer why," Kuhntz said.

The individual state wrestling tournament is under way at the Kohl Center, and while I'm near a computer, how about some periodic updates on locals competing?

Finals

I'm sitting ringside for the finals at a packed Kohl Center in Madison, with 103-pound matches already underway as of 5:52 p.m. Early start!

We did have a couple third-place finishers after the matches earlier today.

3rd place -- Mitch Teeters, 119 pounds, Pewaukee
3rd place -- Al Yde, 160 pounds, Arrowhead
5th place -- Mike Dusel, 145 pounds, Pewaukee
5th place -- Max Nonnamaker, 112 pounds, Pewaukee
5th place -- Shane Hughes, 171 pounds, Arrowhead
6th place -- Taylor Mommaerts, 135 pounds, Oconomowoc
6th place -- Jake Morrison, 140 pounds, Oconomowoc
6th place -- Kent Girmscheid, 215 pounds, Pewaukee

Follow Jake Sueflohn (Arrowhead 135 pounds) on my Twitter page in his finals match.

*****

9:57 p.m.

It's not really a surprise that Jake Sueflohn will wrestle for a state title, but there is a lot of heartbreak for area wrestlers falling by single-point outcomes in the state semifinals.

Arrowhead's Sueflohn continued his crusade through the Division 1 field at the state individual wrestling meet in Madison on Friday, earning a berth in the state finals at 135 pounds. Saturday night.

It will be the second straight year Sueflohn has appeared in the final. Last year, he lost to Jesse Thielke of Germantown in the final at 125 pounds.

Sueflohn (47-1) defeated Jake Raflik of Wisconsin Rapids in the semifinals, 6-0, and will battle Jackson Urso of Stoughton (35-4), with finals matches beginning at 6 p.m. Urso is ranked No. 2 by Wisconsin Wrestling Online in the weight class, but Sueflohn will nonetheless be a significant favorite to win his first state title. You can follow his match on Twitter at the Preps Alcove.

Teammate Al Yde endured heartbreak at 160 pounds, falling in the semifinal to Matthew Pennings of Green Bay Preble in double overtime, 2-1. He wasn't the only area wrestler falling via close call in the semis -- Pewaukee's Mitch Teeters fell to Joseph Her of Two Rivers in the Division 2, 119-pound bracket by a 4-3 score, and Pewaukee's Mike Dusel lost to Isaiah Erickson of Cumberland at 145, 3-2.

Oconomowoc's Jake Morrison also fell in Friday's semifinals at 140 pounds, 22-10, against Rylen Lubeck of Rapids. Shane Hughes of Arrowhead fell at 171 to Lubeck's teammate, Devin Peterson, 7-2.

So let's take a look at the matches on tap for area wrestlers tomorrow.

State final
135 pounds, Division 1 -- Jake Sueflohn, Arrowhead (47-1) vs. Jackson Urso, Stoughton (35-4)

Back draw matches
112 pounds, Division 2-- Max Nonnamaker, Pewaukee (35-17) vs. Jack Pearce, Ashland (39-2)
119 pounds, D2 -- Mitch Teeters, Pewaukee (41-11)  vs. Joey Nelson, New Holstein (27-8)
135 pounds, Division 1 -- Taylor Mommaerts, Oconomowoc (39-8) vs. Marshall Pennings, Green Bay Preble (44-6)
140 pounds, D1 -- Jake Morrison, Oconomowoc (31-6) vs. Kegan Gennrich, Hortonville (38-7)
145 pounds, D2 -- Mike Dusel, Pewaukee (44-11)  vs. Jordan Roosa, Mosinee (31-9)
160 pounds, D1 -- Al Yde, Arrowhead (45-7) vs. Trenton Larson, Marshfield (37-7)
171 pounds, D1 -- Shane Hughes, Arrowhead (34-13) vs. Roland Dunlap, Muskego (25-2)
215 pounds, D2 -- Kent Girmscheid, Pewaukee (45-9) vs. Alex Schleis, Kewaunee (36-4)

Bear in mind that the worst these wrestlers can do is sixth place, which means every one of them is going to get a medal at state. A win tomorrow in these back draw matches guarantees no worse than fourth, and multiple wins means a third-place showing, which is extremely impressive. Congrats to all the area participants. Pewaukee will have four medalists, Arrowhead three and Oconomowoc two.

I won't be around during the day tomorrow, but check back on Twitter for Sueflohn's finals showing in the evening.

*****

4:10 p.m.

Not sure what happened at 215 pounds in Division 2, but Frank Dobbs of Melrose-Mindoro has forfeited his backdraw match with Pewaukee's Kent Girmscheid, so the Pirates will have another wrestler competing Saturday morning. Mitch Teeters and Mike Dusel already have matches forthcoming in the semifinals, and Girmscheid will draw one of the semifinals losers in his flight in his next match.

The awesome postseason ends, however, for Kettle Moraine heavyweight Alex Cochrane, who was pinned by Curt Fuller of Wisconsin Rapids in 2:56. It was a great conclusion to the season for the junior.

I probably won't be around to post updates during the semifinals, but check back later this evening when I have a semifinals rundown. Wrestlers still alive from our area include: Max Nonnamaker of Pewaukee (112), Mitch Teeters of Pewaukee (119), Jake Sueflohn of Arrowhead (135), Taylor Mommaerts of Oconomowoc (135), Jake Morrison of Oconomowoc (140), Al Yde of Arrowhead (160), Shane Hughes of Arrowhead (171) and Kent Girmscheid of Pewaukee (215).

*****

3:48 p.m.

Travis Decker of Pewaukee is done after falling to Dakota Cable of Lodi, 11-3. Decker had a brutal draw as well in the 171-pound field of Division 2, and he closes his senior season with a record of 37-13.

*****

3:42 p.m.

Bryar Harper of DeForest handled Mukwonago's Ryan Aprahamian in the second round of the loser's bracket, 12-3, a major decision that ends the junior's hopes of seeing the podium. It was an unfavorable draw for the talented Mukwonago 152-pounder.

*****

3:07 p.m.

Adam Yde's tourney ends at 119 pounds after he falls to Josiah Bobier of Kaukauna at 119, but Pewaukee's Max Nonnamaker will be wrestling tomorrow morning in Division 2 at 112 for Pewaukee. The senior won his first wrestleback match over Bryce Krejcarek of Mishicot, 5-1, and is awaiting an opponent based on what happens in the semifinals tonight.

Equally good news for Taylor Mommaerts of Oconomowoc (135), who bested Connor Whitehead of Wausau East, 8-5. He'll get one of the semifinalists who gets defeated tonight.

It's the end of the road for Pewaukee's Josh Berg at 125 after he fell to Mark Dessart of Seymour, 5-2. It was a tough bracket, and Berg will surely be back the next two seasons.

*****

2:25 p.m.

I was so busy zoning in on the Pewaukee wrestlers that I forgot about the wrestlebacks in Division 1, which included some local names. Each of these wrestlers lost once yesterday.

• Mark Landsgaard (22-20) of Arrowhead was defeated by Jason Munoz of Wisconsin Rapids at 103, pinned in 38 seconds. The Arrowhead sophomore's first state-tourney experience thus came to an end.
• Adam Yde of Arrowhead won over Alex Parsons of D.C. Everest at 119 and will face Josiah Bobier of Kaukauna (41-6) next.
• Zach Mommaerts of Oconomowoc saw his tourney come to a surprisingly early conclusion with a loss to Tanner Owens of Hudson in the first wrestleback. Mommaerts finished his senior season with an outstanding 43-4 record.
• Still wrestling is younger brother Taylor Mommaerts, who defeated Gunnar Melstrand of West Bend West in the first wrestleback, 6-2. Next up for the sophomore is Connor Whitehead of Wausau East (35-7).
• Ryan Aprahamian of Mukwonago pinned Bill Langford of Westosha Central in the third period and advanced to face Bryar Harper of DeForest (34-10).
• Aprahamian's teammate Damon King (38-10) saw his senior season come to an end at 189 after he fell to Eric Nelson of Stoughton, 13-5.
• It's hard to imagine a better postseason for Kettle Moraine heavyweight Alex Cochrane, who won yet another match over a talented opponent in a 6-4 victory over Joe Cychner of Badger, who came to state with four losses. Cochrane (18-10) must now face Curt Fuller of Wisconsin Rapids in the next match.
• To summarize, wrestlers in tonight's semifinals include: Jake Sueflohn, Shane Hughes and Al Yde (Arrowhead), Jake Morrison (Oconomowoc) and Mitch Teeters and Mike Dusel (Pewaukee). Still alive in the back draw are Adam Yde (Arrowhead), Taylor Mommaerts (Oconomowoc), Ryan Aprahamian (Mukwonago), Alex Cochrane (Kettle Moraine) and Kent Girmscheid, Travis Decker, Max Nonnamaker and Josh Berg (Pewaukee).

*****

2:01 p.m.

Kent Girmscheid was the final PHS wrestler of the day at 215 pounds, and he fell to top-ranked Matt Tourdot of Sparta, 5-0. Tourdot entered the match with a 47-0 record.

Girmscheid, whose dual pins clinched victory in both team sectional wins, will battle Frank Dobbs of Melrose-Mindoro (6-2) in the backdraw. Those second round matches begin shortly.

*****

1:55 p.m.

Nearly every Pewaukee match today has come down to the wire. Travis Decker nearly pulled another upset at 171 pounds, falling to second-ranked Tom Schumacher of Freedom, 8-7.

Fourth-ranked Dakota Cable of Lodi awaits Decker in the backdraw, and Cable comes in ranked fourth (Decker is sixth). The two wrestlers could very well face each other again March 6 when the two programs meet in the Division 2 state semifinals at the team state competition.

*****

1:04 p.m.

With so many matchups for his wrestlers today against top-ranked kids, Pewaukee coach Ed Kurth was probably just holding out for one upset, maybe two. If that's the case, he got what he wanted.

Senior Mike Dusel, a truly great story for Pewaukee's wrestling program, upset top-ranked Max Loberger of Denmark (40-2) at 145 pounds to reach tonight's semifinals, 3-2. Dusel, who was ranked ninth among the 12 entrants at his flight in Division 2, will face third-ranked Isaiah Erickson of Cumberland (38-4) in the 7 p.m. semifinals. A win puts Dusel in tomorrow's state final.

The Pirates having two wrestlers in the semifinals is a surprise, especially when one of them isn't Max Nonnamaker, who was the only Pirates wrestler of the six still competing favored in the quarterfinal match today. Nonnamaker lost in double overtime, on top of it.

Dusel has been bothered by injuries during his years with Pewaukee, and he's frequently been called upon to wrestle up weight classes. He's light at 145 pounds, and yet he was wrestling up at 152 in both team sectional matchups, splitting those matches.

*****

12:16 p.m.

Josh Berg, who took fifth last year at 103 pounds, gave top-ranked and undefeated Jared Donar of Cuba City a little bit of a push in the quarterfinals but ultimately fell, 4-0.

Berg will face Mark Dessart of Seymour (37-6) in the consolation opener this afternoon.

*****

11:59 a.m.

What a nail-biting day for Pewaukee wrestlers so far!

As I just mentioned, Nonnamaker lost in double overtime, but now Mitch Teeters has a victory in double overtime, 9-8 over Sam Huppert of Ellsworth. Huge win against a higher-ranked wrestler. He was ranked No. 4 in Division 2 at 119, while Teeters was handed the No. 7 ranking by Wisconsin Wrestling Online.

It gets no easier in tonight's semifinals, which begin at 7 p.m. (there are now five area wrestlers in the semifinals -- the Division 1 foursome is Jake Sueflohn, Al Yde and Shane Hughes of Arrowhead, as well as Jake Morrison of Oconomowoc). Waiting there is Joseph Her of Two Rivers, ranked No. 2 in the draw. A win puts Teeters in the finals Saturday.

*****

Day 2: 11:51 a.m.

Figures, now that I'm at work I can't install the proper software to watch the matches online, so my reactions and thoughts will be super limited by extension. The early session features Division 2 and 3 wrestlers, and Pewaukee comes in as a darkhorse in pretty much all their matches.

Unfortunately, the one match where Pewaukee was favored went the other way in a heartbreaker. Max Nonnamaker was defeated at 112 pounds in his first match of the tournament, falling to Matt Ronsman of Luxemburg-Casco in double overtime, 6-4. Nonnamaker will wrestle in the backdraw against Bryce Krejcarek of Mishicot (41-11) later this afternoon.

Other Pirates due up are Mitch Teeters (119), Josh Berg (125), Mike Dusel (145), Travis Decker (171) and Kent Girmscheid (215). All of them, save for Teeters, face the No. 1 or No. 2 ranked kid in their respective draws.

*****
10:25 p.m.

Did you miss me? Let's summarize what I missed while I was away.

• Damon King of Mukwonago lost at 189 pounds to state-title favorite Noah Budi of Kaukauna, 16-0. King will meet Eric Nelson of Stoughton (43-6) in the wrestleback.
• Jacob Laux of Kettle Moraine didn't even get a wrestleback at 215. It's a disheartening day for him, who started the tourney with his eyes on the finals and finishes without a victory. Matt Blackwell of Sussex Hamilton also did not get a wrestleback at 215, and his tourney is over.
• Alex Cochrane of KM lost to unbeaten Bill Mitchell of South Milwaukee in the second round, getting pinned in 1:36. Next up in the backdraw, Joe Cychner of Badger (40-5).
• Ryan Aprahamian, who lost in the second round for Mukwonago at 152, will face Bill Langford of Westosha Central (31-8) in the backdraw.
• Taylor Mommaerts of Oconomowoc, who fell to Jake Sueflohn of Arrowhead in the second round at 135, will meet Gunnar Melstrand of West Bend West (27-10) in a battle of Little Ten foes tomorrow.
• Brother Zach Mommaerts will face Tanner Owens of Hudson (35-10) in the 125 backdraw.
• Adam Yde of Arrowhead will face Alex Parsons of D.C. Everest (28-20) in the 119 backdraw. Yde lost his first-round match. Teammate Mark Landsgaard also picked up a wrestleback after an early loss and he'll face Jesse Munoz of Wisconsin Rapids (37-13)
• Not getting a wrestleback after a first-round loss: Mitchell Berenz of Arrowhead (130) and Hank Mattson of Mukwonago (119)

Once again, the four local Division 1 wrestlers heading into tomorrow night's semifinals:

135 pounds -- Jake Sueflohn, Arrowhead (46-1) vs. Jake Raflick, Wisconsin Rapids (40-10)
140 pounds -- Jake Morrison, Oconomowoc (31-5) vs. Rylen Lubeck, Wisconsin Rapids (47-3)
160 pounds -- Al Yde, Arrowhead (45-6) vs. Matthew Pennings, Green Bay Preble (47-0)
171 pounds -- Shane Hughes, Arrowhead (34-12) vs. Devin Peterson, Wisconsin Rapids (48-2)

In case you were wondering, Wisconsin Rapids has five semifinalists overall.
 
Now for some Pewaukee results in the Division 2 field.

• Max Nonnamaker (112) and Mitch Teeters (119) both had first-round byes and learned their opponents for tomorrow's matches. Nonnamaker will face sophomore Matt Ronsman of Luxemburg Casco (41-13), and Teeters draws senior Sam Huppert of Ellsworth (32-8), a wrestler ranked ahead of Teeters in the pre-tourney rankings.
• Josh Berg won at 125 in a close call over Shaw Amundson of Saint Croix Falls, 4-3. Next up: top-ranked Jared Donar of Cuba City (45-0).
• Mike Dusel advanced at 145 with a 7-5 win over Hunter Colden of Brodhead-Juda. Next on the docket is another top-ranked wrestler in Max Loberger of Denmark (40-2).
• Travis Decker won at 171 with a 9-8 decision over Tyler Ryan of River Valley. Second-ranked Tom Schumacher of Freedom (42-2) awaits.
• Kent Girmscheid appeared to have the easiest go of the Pirates wrestling Thursday with a 12-5 win at 215 over Steve Chojnacki of Stanley-Boyd/Thorp. Girmscheid's next foe is top-ranked Matt Tourdot of Sparta (47-0). Some unpleasant second-round draws for the Pirates.
• Two Pirates were defeated in the first round -- Chris Czech lost a 12-1 major to Jordan Giachino of Luxemburg-Casco at 135, and Nathan Knutson was pinned in the first period against Seth Higgins of Medford at 160. There are no options for wrestlebacks for first-round losers in Division 2.

*****

That's all for a while -- I'm off to catch some basketball between the Arrowhead and Mukwonago boys in the final game of the Classic 8 regular season. I'll be back later to give some details on the Pewaukee wrestlers and the remaining outcomes in Division 1.

6:58 p.m.

Shane Hughes of Arrowhead is also in the semifinals -- three Warhawks will be competing for spots in the finals tomorrow. He defeated Justin Hergins of Racine Case at 171 pounds, 5-1.

*****

6:49 p.m.

One darkhorse to reach the state finals will fall short, but another's crusade continued with an exciting result.

Arrowhead's Al Yde just celebrated a 56-second pin over Nick Larson of Hudson, who came into the match with a 42-2 record and No. 2 ranking in 160 pounds. Yde, ranked No. 3, will participate in tomorrow night's semifinals against the No. 1-ranked Matthew Pennings of Green Bay Preble. Hey if you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best, right? If Yde makes it through to the finals, he'd be a favorite after being an underdog in each of his preceding two matches.

Pennings, by the way, needed an overtime win to get to the semifinals. A scramble that could have gone either way, but Pennings came out with control to survive.

Mukwonago's Ryan Aprahamian, however, could not defeat top-ranked Kyle Crain of Hudson at 152 pounds in a fairly lopsided decision.

*****

6:38 p.m.

Jake Morrison of Oconomowoc is headed to the semifinals!

The 140-pound senior destroyed Alex Amann of Racine Horlick, 10-3, to win his second match of the day and advance to tomorrow evening's big match against Rylen Lubeck of Wisconsin Rapids. Lubeck is 46-3, but Morrison has been such a great story already, so congratulations to him.

*****

6:30 p.m.

In the first battle between local entrants, it was Jake Sueflohn of Arrowhead defeating Oconomowoc's Taylor Mommaerts to reach the 135-pound semifinals, though the Cooney sophomore gave the nationally-ranked Sueflohn a nice battle until the distance between the two expanded in the third period. The 12-4 victory pits Sueflohn against Jake Raflik of Wisconsin Rapids in tomorrow night's semifinal -- a win puts Sueflohn in the Saturday state championship match.

*****

6:16 p.m.

There will be no shocking second-round upset for Oconomowoc senior Zach Mommaerts.

Germantown's Jesse Thielke, who has two state championships already and is looking to become the second Division 1 wrestler to ever win four state titles, defeated Mommaerts in the second round at 125 pounds with a 19-4 tech fall.

Mommaerts enters the wrestlebacks with a match tomorrow morning against Tanner Owens of Hudson, and the Cooney senior is absolutely good enough to wrestleback for a spot on the podium (top 6).

*****

5:58 p.m.

The dream late-season run continues for Kettle Moraine heavyweight Alex Cochrane!

While the Laux loss was surely a disappointment for the Lasers coaches, Cochrane once again notched a thrilling victory with a third-period pin over John Jude of Milwaukee Custer. Cochrane was losing at the time but got the late turn to advance in the 285-pound bracket.

Cochrane shocked Breyon Cosey of Waukesha West in the sectional wrestleback, scoring a pin in 16 seconds over a wrestler that had defeated Cochrane twice during the regular season. Check out video from that win.

*****

5:45 p.m.

Wow, big upset short circuits the title chances of Kettle Moraine's Jacob Laux, who was defeated by Chase Letson of Milton, 7-5.

Laux was ranked No. 2 in the 215-pound field and had a pretty favorable matchup, with the top guys all on the other side of the bracket. Letson looked like the toughest matchup on Laux's path to the finals, and that turned out to be true. It's disappointing for the Lasers, which hadn't put a wrestler at the state meet since 2005.

Nick Gurrath of Fond du Lac knocks off Hamilton 215-pounder Matt Blackwell, pulling away in the third period after owning just a 1-0 lead

*****

5:26 p.m.

A third Arrowhead wrestler has made it through to the second round, Shane Hughes. The giant-killer at 171 pounds made himself a major force with some big victories late in the year, and a 2-0 win over Mat Rieckhoff of D.C. Everest puts Hughes against Justin Hergins of Racine Case. Hughes has a very real opportunity to advance ot the semifinals and faced top-ranked Devin Peterson of Wisconsin Rapids.

Damon King of Mukwonago made the most of his first state appearance at 189 pounds, topping Ben Fiers of Holmen in the opening round with a third-period pin. Kaukauna's Noah Budi, the top-ranked wrestler in that class and a defending state champion, got a push in his first-round match but still advanced to face King in the second round.

*****

4:58 p.m.

Al Yde of Arrowhead had no trouble with Eric Walsh of Oregon at 160 pounds, with a 12-0 final. Nick Larson of Hudson, one of the top wrestlers in the draw, will present a formidable second-round foe.

*****

4:49 p.m.

Interesting development at 152 for Mukwonago's Ryan Aprahamian, who was scheduled to face a pretty tough first-round foe in Sam McGinnis of Neenah. Something must have happened to the Rockets wrestler, because he was replaced in the draw by Ryan Wischer of Port Washington. Wischer took third place in the sectional and lost to McGinnis in the semifinal by a tough 2-1 decision.

It became even more interesting when Aprahamian and Wischer were locked in a scoreless dual through two periods, though the top wrestler for MHS took a 1-0 lead early in the third. He held on for the nail-biting vivctory. He wasn't the only one -- unbeaten Joey Immekus of West Allis Central (on the same side of the bracket) also won, 1-0. Kyle Crain of Hudson will be Aprahamian's second-round opponent.

*****

4:29 p.m.

Jake Morrison makes it 3-for-3 for Oconomowoc wrestlers in the first round. The senior had his way with Bobby Herrick of Nicolet at 140 pounds, taking a lopsided decision, and he'll face either Levi Horton of Kenosha Tremper or Alex Amann of Racine Horlick in the second round. What a great day so far for the Raccoons.

*****

4:15 p.m.

The great day for the Mommaerts family continues! Taylor Mommaerts just pulled an upset at 135 pounds, topping Kyle Welzen of Wilmot (33-2) in a decision victory. Mommaerts had control of almost the entire match -- very impressive showing. His reward will be to face Arrowhead's Jake Sueflohn, the No. 1-ranked wrestler in the 135 draw. He defeated Gunnar Melstrand of West Bend West, 11-2.

*****

3:52 p.m.

We have our first area winner! Zach Mommaerts of Oconomowoc got the pin just before the buzzer sounded in the first period to earn the pin on Greenfield's Steve Fisher. The 125 pounder, who has just two losses all season, will face Germantown's Jesse Thielke later tonight.

In 130 pounds, Arrowhead freshman Mitchell Berenz fell in his first appearance at the state meet to Pulaski's Jonathan Enderby, who entered with a 44-2 record, by an 8-0 score.

*****

3:35 p.m.

Mark Landsgaard of Arrowhead, making his first state appearance, fell to Marquette's Gabriel Grahek in the first round at 103 pounds, 4-0. Grahek lives in Milwaukee but actually came up through the Mukwonago wrestling club, so he's got some local connections. Landsgaard can still get a wrestleback if Grahek advances into the semifinals.

Adam Yde of Arrowhead fell in the first round to Dominic Garcia of Kenosha Tremper at 119, 5-0. I'm watching some of the video and it looks like Garcia scored all his points in the second period. He came in with a 49-1 record, so there's a good chance Yde will get a wrestleback.

Garcia's opponent will be Alex Parsons of D.C. Everest, who defeated Mukwonago freshman Hank Mattson, 7-2.

After a pretty unsuccessful attempt to predict the seeds for the WIAA Division 1 boys basketball postseason, I decided the best remedy for my shortcomings was to dust myself off and try again.
It’s the girls’ turn now, with weekend seeding meetings set to determine the postseason fate for many local hoops squads. I’ve done my best to calculate the seeds again in Division 1, Sectional No. 5, which includes a host of teams in the Lake Country Publications coverage zone, as well as Pewaukee’s regional in Division 2.

As I mentioned last week, I’ve never been to a seeding meeting, but each coach brings their own set of determining factors into the meetings, so I suppose my guesses are as good as anyone’s. This layout doesn’t take into account the last batch of games before the meeting, scheduled for Feb. 25 and 26.

Here’s my stab at the Division 1 sectional:

• (1) Milwaukee Vincent, first round bye
• (9) Arrowhead (8-11) at (8) Sussex Hamilton (11-9)
• (12) Menomonee Falls (5-14) at (5) Waukesha South (12-7)
• (13) Waukesha West (3-15) at (4) Kettle Moraine (15-5)
• (14) Waukesha North (3-17) at (3) Germantown (16-4)
• (11) Homestead (5-14) at (6) Cedarburg (12-7)
• (10) Milwaukee Madison (12-8) at (7) Oconomowoc (11-8)
• (2) Mukwonago, first round bye

1. Even though Milwaukee Vincent lost on Tuesday, the Vikings are safely entrenched as the No. 1 seed and will be the overwhelming favorite to advance out of this sectional as they pursue their fourth consecutive state title.
2. One of the most compelling battles is for the No. 6 seed between Cedarburg and Oconomowoc, and I ultimately used the head-to-head criteria (Cedarburg beat Cooney by a narrow 2 points earlier this year) to break the tie. Both teams have similar profiles, but the Bulldogs have the added advantage of two other North Shore allies in the seeding meeting.
3. In looking at the eight losses between Mukwonago and Germantown, the only loss against a losing team belongs to the Warhawks, which dropped a game to Arrowhead earlier this year. Mukwonago also has better wins – including a victory over a Muskego team whose profile took a boost when it defeated Vincent on Tuesday. Victories over Pewaukee, Kettle Moraine and a nail-biting loss to New Berlin Eisenhower should give the Indians the edge for the No. 2 seed and critical first-round bye.
4. It’s hard to really know how the coaches will look at Milwaukee Madison, which has a much better record than a 10-seed typically would. The City, save for the very top teams, is notoriously bad, which could devalue Madison’s record. They have given a push twice to small-school Destiny, a high-scoring program with an 18-1 record, and it’s truthfully unclear to me how good Madison could be.
5. Nobody should want to meet fifth-seeded Waukesha South. The Blackshirts defeated Janesville Parker earlier this year, nearly knocked off Mukwonago and then shocked Brookfield Central on Tuesday. I don’t see them overtaking Kettle Moraine for that fourth seed, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see South in the sectional.
6. A good rematch is brewing in the 8-9 game if Arrowhead and Sussex Hamilton meet again. The Chargers fell Feb. 15 in a nonconference game, and Arrowhead plays in a tougher conference, but Hamilton probably has enough cushion in its better record to get the home game. Hamilton has really tested a couple excellent teams in Milton and Germantown. Arrowhead has been bothered by injuries this year, but the team did defeat Germantown earlier in the season.

Division 2
I went into this fully expecting Pewaukee to get the top seed, but a closer look told me Lakeside Lutheran deserved the nod:

• (1) Lakeside Lutheran (16-2), first round bye
• (5) Whitewater (7-13) at (4) Jefferson (11-8)
• (6) East Troy (8-11) at (3) Catholic Memorial (12-7)
• (7) Fort Atkinson (5-15) at (2) Pewaukee (18-2)

1. The top seed is pretty crucial here, because it means a first-round bye and either Pewaukee or Lakeside Lutheran can miss a second-round meeting with Catholic Memorial, a team that has fared very well in a conference of much bigger schools.
2. Pewaukee probably has the weakest loss between the two top teams (New Berlin West), and the Woodland Conference is not blessed with a lot of talent. The Pirates win over New Berlin Eisenhower is monumental, but Lakeside began the season with three wins over teams with at least 15 wins and later on the road against 17-3 Deerfield.
3. A crucial matchup scheduled for Thursday, with Lakeside facing one of the top teams in the state, Columbus. Lakeside Lutheran lost the first battle but could absolutely sew up the top seed with a win. With a loss, Pewaukee is back in play.
4. East Troy has one more win than Whitewater, and the two teams have split in the regular season, but the Trojans have really stumbled down the stretch, with a loss against the Whippets included. Thus, Whitewater gets the higher seed.

Friday night will be a big showdown in the Classic 8 Conference, when Arrowhead travels to Catholic Memorial for a 7:30 p.m. battle for league supremacy. The Warhawks and Crusaders are both 17-2 this year, but CMH won the first go-round and has a one-game lead in the standings. Check back Friday evening for live reaction from courtside. In the meantime, check out my bracket busting for the boys postseason, with brackets likely to be released by Monday.

Just because it’s not yet March doesn’t mean we can’t start thinking about March Madness.

With the seeding meetings this weekend in WIAA boys basketball, the postseason tournament is essentially on our doorstep, which is great news for people like me who love this time of year. Regional games begin in the first days of March.

Offering my poor man’s version of “Bracketology,” I’ve done my best to calculate the seeds in sectionals that affect area teams in Division 1 and 2. Friday’s games – the last batch before heading into the meetings –  aren’t included in my analysis, so these are definitely subject to change.

I’ve never been to a seeding meeting and can only guess what criteria each coach uses in assigning seeds. In Sectional No. 5 of the Division 1 brackets, several Lake Country teams are vying for the same spot at the state tournament. Here’s how the field might lay out::
 

• (1) Arrowhead (18-2), first round bye
• (9) Mukwonago (11-8) at (8) Sussex Hamilton (11-9)
• (12) Waukesha South (5-15) at (5) Waukesha West (15-5)
• (13) Kettle Moraine (4-16) at (4) Germantown (14-6)
• (14) Milwaukee Madison (2-15) at (3) Milwaukee Vincent (12-5)
• (11) Oconomowoc (10-9) at (6) Homestead (10-9)
• (10) Waukesha North (10-9) at (7) Cedarburg (9-9)
• (2) Menomonee Falls (16-3), first round bye

 The challenge of picking this field is that six teams have very similar profiles – Hamilton, Mukwonago, Waukesha North, Oconomowoc, Homestead and Cedarburg.

Of those six, I think Oconomowoc has a couple things going against it. One is that it doesn’t have a truly marquee victory, though it does have multiple victories against teams hovering around or slightly above .500. The other is that it’s the only Wisconsin Little Ten team in the batch. Coaches from the Classic 8 and North Shore – widely perceived as very difficult conferences – may be likely to promote their own squads in the seeding process and can safely say their intra-conference schedules are tougher than what the WLT has to offer.

Cooney getting a win over Waukesha South on Tuesday was crucial, and it keeps the Raccoons from dipping further … but I see OHS at the bottom of those six teams I mentioned.

Of Waukesha North’s nine losses, seven have come against teams with at least 14 wins, but the Northstars don’t really have a marquee win either (splitting with Mukwonago might be the best accomplishment, and the loss to MHS was by 20 points).

Mukwonago has a couple bad losses in conference but has been playing very well lately and does have a win over Waukesha West. The Indians also have convincing responses to those bad losses in the second go-round of league play. Mukwonago has not been blessed with a tough nonconference schedule, which will lead many to say the winning record is deceiving.

Sussex Hamilton will probably wind up in the 8-9 game, though the Chargers have struggled down the stretch and recently incurred a loss to Green Bay Southwest (7-11). As with Oconomowoc, coaches may point to a weak Greater Metro Conference this season and downgrade the Chargers based on a lighter in-conference schedule.

Cedarburg is the only team on my list with three truly quality wins (Neenah, Nicolet, Germantown), and none of the losses have come against teams with losing records. However, two of those losses have come against Homestead, which gives HHS the edge in a head-to-head comparison. The Highlanders have zero bad losses (the closest being a setback against Oconomowoc) and a win over Germantown among other decent victories.

Kettle Moraine has struggled this season and will almost certainly draw the 13 seed, but with the top two teams drawing byes, there aren’t likely to be all that many mismatches in the first round. The Lasers have the capability to give teams a push.

Arrowhead could theoretically lose the top seed with a loss Friday at Catholic Memorial, but a 1-2 pairing with Menomonee Falls seems almost automatic. Many people will anticipate a rematch at the Al McGuire Center at the sectional final. The two teams met there just after Christmas, with Arrowhead surviving in overtime.

Milwaukee Vincent has just enough firepower to edge Germantown for the No. 3 seed – I wasn’t wowed by Germantown’s nonconference schedule, and Vincent can also say it plays in a tough conference. The schools could flip come seed time.

Big matchup to keep an eye on: Waukesha West against Waukesha North on Friday. A win for West would cement its top-five seed status and maybe threaten for a No. 4. A win for North pushes them much higher on this list, possibly as far as hosting a first-round game.

Division 2
Pewaukee plays in a positively unforgiving Sectional No. 4, with defending state champion Wisconsin Lutheran just one of the many powerhouses in the field. The division seeds by regional, so a quick rundown of what I expect in Pewaukee’s field of 8:

• (8) Fort Atkinson (2-18) at (1) Catholic Memorial (18-2)
• (5) Lakeside Lutheran (13-5) at (4) St. John’s Northwestern (12-5)
• (6) Whitewater (8-12) at (3) Pewaukee (17-3)
• (7) Jefferson (3-16) at (2) East Troy (16-3)

I smell a second-round rematch between Pewaukee and East Troy – the Pirates led earlier this year headed into the fourth quarter before the Trojans rolled in the nonconference meeting. That win is partially the reason why East Troy earns the higher seed here.

Jefferson buried Fort Atkinson by 20 this year, which will make those two easy to seed out.

St. John’s beat a Watertown Luther Prep team that beat Lakeside Lutheran by 20. It’s probably not a fair comparison, but I think it’s one of the factors that will give St. John’s the home game in the 4-5 matchup. If there’s a major upset, it could be St. John’s in the second round against Catholic Memorial, though the Crusaders are positively oozing with the senior experience St. John’s lacks.

Next week, I’ll try the same thing with the girls basketball brackets.

Pewaukee's wrestling team will try to make it three straight trips to the WIAA team state meet when it competes in Tuesday's WIAA Division 2 team sectional at Whitewater. Join me as I provide live updates from the Pirates' first-round dual against Campbellsport at 6 p.m., followed by a finals meeting with either Valders or Winneconne at 8 p.m.

I'll also try to stay in touch with what's happening in duals involving Mukwonago and Arrowhead, as both area programs also gun for state with sectional matches in Division 1.

I like to think we were slightly ahead of the Trevon Hughes story at Lake Country Publications when we ran our story "Raising the Guard" during his sophomore year with the University of Wisconsin basketball team two years ago.

The voyage has been a circuitous one for Hughes, from Queens, NY to a small military academy in Delafield, where Hughes became a standout in the Wisconsin prep basketball scene.

Now a senior, the St. John's graduate has become a focal point of the Badgers offense, guiding Bucky to an outstanding start, surefire berth in the NCAA Tournament and recent big-time win over Michigan State, which came into the Kohl Center undefeated in league play Feb. 2.

It's not just the local paper that's taking notice now. Hughes, one of 11 finalists for the Cousy Award, given anually to the nation's best point guard, has been a key reason why the Badgers have stayed afloat despite an injury to top post player Jon Leuer.

As has been the Wisconsin calling card through the years, the Badgers seldom make mistakes and entered the latter half of last week leading the nation with 9.2 turnovers per game. That's more than a full turnover better than the next-closest school in a major conference. The point guard also leads the team with 15.5 points per game.

The Hughes story has become fodder for many national publications. USA Today ran a piece prior to that Michigan State game that briefly touched on Hughes' sometimes-tumultuous trip as an eighth grader to another part of the country. Though Hughes looks back on the experience at St. John's as a crucial component of his maturation, the story relayed a story of how his mother brought Hughes to the area under the pretense of a football camp, then stocked his room with supplies and told her son he was there to stay.

"Once my mom left, everything changed," Hughes said in the article, penned by Marlen Garcia. "It was like a movie where at first people act real polite when someone is around. Once the grownup leaves, it was a whole new saga."

Mother Twanna Hutchinson talked more in-depth about how she chose St. John's and what prompted her to move her son cross country in a beautiful piece written by Luke Winn of CNNSI.com.

"I think [Trevon] decided to stay in Wisconsin, because he'd made a name for himself there, almost like a celebrity," Hutchinson also said in the article, which ran Jan. 13. "It was like a home away from home."

Hughes was also featured in a recent episode of Big Ten Network offering "The Journey," a captivating documentary profiling life in the Big Ten Conference for the 11 men's basketball teams. Hughes gave a mini-tour of the St. John's campus and showcased some of the landmarks in his upbringing.

Coach Brian Richert relays a story on the program about how he had to kick Hughes out of the historic St. John's gym many times, but the guard kept coming back. Several years later, it looks like a good thing he did.

The BTN frequently runs repeats of "The Journey," so check it out if you get the opportunity. One of the better college sports success stories from the Lake Country area, there is no doubt Hughes' story is engaging on a behind-the-scenes level, as well.

The WIAA submitted a new layout for the WIAA basketball postseason Monday, which would divide schools into five divisions and re-distribute the wealth a bit when it comes to the state tournament. Each division will get four participants at the annual Madison gathering, which is sure to frustrate Division 1 teams used to 8 representatives in the current model and sure to elate smaller schools that will gain a greater competitive balance.

The governing body of state high school athletics released tentative sectionals under the proposal, and there is reason to believe local basketball programs would be disappointed with the new layout, which could be implemented as soon as the 2011 postseason barring a June vote of the WIAA Board of Control.

Some losers

Pewaukee – It’s tough enough playing in Pewaukee’s current Division 2 sectional, which includes heavy hitters Wisconsin Lutheran, New Berlin Eisenhower, Whitefish Bay, Catholic Memorial and others. Consider how it would look in the new layout: those teams plus Whitefish Bay, Wauwatosa East, Milwaukee Washington, Nicolet and Milwaukee Pius XI. For the Pirates, that’s a very tough road to hoe on the boys side. On the girls side, it’s marginally easier, though Pius and Eisenhower have both produced superb teams over the past few seasons. The Pirates have developed an excellent basketball program and should feel elite enough to reach state each season – this definitely makes that quest tougher. Even in the difficult sectional, the Pewaukee boys reached the sectional final last year before losing to Wisconsin Lutheran (pictured), the eventual champs.

The Milwaukee Area – Fans of Milwaukee City Conference boys basketball will be dismayed to see every Division 1 school in the same sectional, battling for the same spot at state. The litany of traditional powerhouses such as Hamilton, King, Vincent and Bradley Tech have occasionally appeared in separate D1 sectionals, but with only four D1 sectionals, it’s hard to imagine geography allowing that to happen again. Of course, many will point out that City teams seldom bring strong attendance to the state-tourney games, and a lack of those teams in Madison will probably make the WIAA a financial winner. Many Waukesha County programs appear in a different sectional, however.

Division 1 – The biggest schools will say they represent a larger population of high school students and thus deserve more representation at state. They also represent the highest quality of basketball and are likely to bring in larger fan bases at state (though those points are at least debatable). It might be true, but this layout treats every school as equal. If the plan passes, the bigger schools will simply have fewer opportunities to reach state than they have had in the past.



Some winners

St. John’s – The Division 3 and Division 4 pool of schools represent 50 percent of schools in the enrollment category of 200 to 600 students. That pool is divided in half to form these two divisions, and this represents a jump down for the Lancers, who play in Division 2 against some of the aforementioned tough schools in Pewaukee’s sectional presently. There will be plenty of talented programs in D3, such as perennial powers Racine St. Catherine and Whitefish Bay Dominican, but for a St. John’s team that should return the majority of its talent, it’s a move away from several challenging D2 schools.

Private schools – Initial versions of the plan called for modifications for private schools, which would be forced to “play up” a division if fitting certain circumstances. Several local private schools, including Catholic Memorial, would suddenly be facing schools well more than twice their size. With language addressing private schools removed from this version, those programs can breathe a little easier – their enrollment figures will be taken at face value if the plan passes.

The rest of the state – The bottom line is that every school will have to win the same number of games to reach state, and that’s going to sit well with a lot of people and probably contribute to this plan’s passing. Without the complication of the “private school issue” that’s sure to get examined again, the plan is straightforward and offers digestible modifications, in contrast to the complex “district” concept presented in football. The plan will likely be warmly received by everyone except those in Division 1, who figure to lose a previous advantage.

Quickly: name the last five Super Bowl winners.

Pittsburgh was last year, of course, preceded by the New York Giants shocking the Patriots. Before that, the Colts over the Bears. Before that … was that New England? Or Pittsburgh over the Seahawks? They all sort of run together. I know the Rams got a few of them, and the Packers certainly won in 1997 and lost to the Broncos in 1998.

Now name the winner of the Super Bowl following the 1972 season. That’s easy. The Miami Dolphins.

It’s an answer the majority of sports fans should know, because the 1972 Dolphins remain the only NFL team to complete a perfect season. The Patriots came precariously close two years ago before falling in the Super Bowl, and I think New England may have ruined it for everyone by not following through.

The Indianapolis Colts are favored to win a second championship in the past five years when they challenge the New Orleans Saints next weekend in Super Bowl XLIV. I’m hoping for a good game, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy the familiar Super Bowl celebration, one of friends, Doritos, frothy beverages and hopefully an excellent football game.

But without much of a local angle, it won’t leave much of a lasting impact on me. It’s too bad – because this could have been a game that put Peyton Manning and the Colts on the verge of absolute greatness, instead of just another title that will fade from memory in less than a decade.

You think I’m crazy, don’t you, using the phrase “another title” like it’s some meaningless benchmark along the way. But hear me out.

After wins in 14 straight games, Indianapolis essentially laid down in its final two games, resting its starters as the New York Jets rallied for a victory Dec. 27, then allowing the Buffalo Bills to walk all over them in a 30-7 regular-season finale. It wasn’t the same team that rattled off 14 straight victories and put itself in a luxurious position where losing in the final two games carried no consequences in the postseason picture.

Onlookers will say it’s a good decision – the rested Colts churned out fairly convincing wins over Baltimore and the Jets to reach the Super Bowl, and the ultimate goal is to hoist that Lombardi trophy, right? Nobody wants to be the Patriots, who went for the full undefeated glory and didn’t get the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, right?

I feel differently. Looking at pro sports on a holistic level, I wonder about the ultimate aim of participants. Sure, it’s to win a championship – but doesn’t being remembered play into that? The 1972 Dolphins will be remembered by even passive football fans, because they’re the only ones to cash in on the rare opportunity that pro football affords – the actual possibility of finishing without a loss.

As sports fans, we gravitate toward greatness, and we want to bear witness to it as it unfolds. Every year, somebody wins the Super Bowl – but only once in history has a team gone undefeated. The Colts put themselves in position to be more than just another team, but they passed on it, because the risk of injury jeopardizing a run toward the title was more important that sheer greatness.

There will be many who disagree with me, saying that teams have a responsibility to their fan bases to make a championship the one and only goal. They’ll say “greatness” can be perceived as a selfish, superfluous aim, especially after one team seemingly went for it and lost (never mind that the Patriots lost thanks to some ridiculous heroics by Eli Manning, David Tyree, Plaxico Burress and others).

As a fan of sports, that’s disappointing. I wasn’t there when I saw the Dolphins taste perfection, and I have a feeling I’ll never see it in my lifetime. It’s just not something teams in the NFL want.
 

With a scowl on my face, I watched Brett Favre’s postgame interview after his team dismantled the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday and earned a berth in the NFC Championship Game. As a lifelong Packers fan, it pained me to watch the local version of Benedict Arnold spew out how great the experience with the Minnesota Vikings has been and how it’s been everything he thought it would be.

Like so many Packers fans during the Favre saga, I’ve gone from joy to disappointment to anger, and I was hoping an early exit from the playoffs would befall the Old Gunslinger. Instead, I watched in horror as his team continued to ride the Favre Renaissance and took one step closer to the Super Bowl.

I found myself thinking, "I hope at the end of this, if he does win a Super Bowl, he looks back and feels hollow inside." Apparently driven by revenge against Packers general manager Ted Thompson and feeling a driving desire to prove people wrong, I wanted him to glance back at the tattered remnants of his legacy in Wisconsin and be forced to consider that maybe all this wasn’t worth it.

If the motivation is spite, then the accomplishment offers an opportunity to say "I told you so." Great. Then what? Is that single moment worth fracturing a career’s worth of memories and accomplishments to a deeply loyal and loving fan base?

But a couple days later, I re-evaluated my outlook somewhat. I thought about the satisfaction I would feel if Favre lost to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday and fell short of the Super Bowl. Wasn’t that the exact same thing – an "I told you so" moment that offers a fleeting moment of fulfillment, and then ... what exactly?

Nothing gets accomplished. The Packers have already moved on, the Favre legacy has already been torn apart, and it would ensure that I have no vested interest in the Super Bowl two weeks from now.

The truth is, at 40 years old, Favre is enjoying virtually unprecedented success for an NFL quarterback his age. He’s been outstanding, even if his motivation has poisoned how I view him, with more production than anyone expected and a lack of home-stretch ineffectiveness that the nay-sayers foresaw.

One last Super Bowl would be an extraordinary opportunity for theater, especially pitted against another great in Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, whose prime may also be one or two years away from past.

It’s true that Favre is worth some of the ire, but I think I’m far more irritated with former Packers fans who have essentially traded in their allegiance to the Green and Gold for irrational loyalty to the player. People call in to sports talk radio defending Favre’s actions, seemingly eager to rub it in the face of Packers Nation on behalf of Favre.

I can’t understand how this vocal minority finds no fault with Favre’s selfish behavior and believes his departure from the organization was a direct detriment to the team’s past and present championship chances. But they’re out there, and shutting those people up is important to me. But is that worth rooting against Favre, whose colorful career probably should be appreciated by any football fan, regardless of team allegiance?

I recognize that the more he wins wearing purple, the longer it will take for the Green Bay-Favre relationship to heal, although I do think over time it will heal. The generations after mine will know Favre the way I know Bart Starr, as one of the greatest to ever play and someone that can be happily called a Packer. In the biggest of pictures, making the Super Bowl with another franchise will only heighten Favre’s legend, not completely change the way the world associates him with Cheeseheads. So is it really so bad if he succeeds? It’ll be a fun ride, if nothing else, to watch the aging wonder compete for another Super Bowl more than a decade after his last one.

Sigh. No matter the logic I can give you and give myself, I’m probably going to root against Favre on Sunday. I can’t stand him, after all. But there is a tiny part of my Packers-loving heart that wants to see Favre go out a winner. That’s what he brought to Packers football.

The Olympics are nearing, and I've been working on a series for Lake Country Publications called "Visions of Vancouver: Our Communities and the Olympic Games." Topics so far have included a Waukesha speedskater headed to compete in the Games and a Mukwonago snowboarder looking to overcome the financial challenges of the economy.

I also wanted to try my hand at curling for the next step in that series, and my story "Curls of Wisdom" will run in our Thursday publications. Good news for you: you can read the unedited version of the story right here. Enjoy my foray into the sport of curling...

___________________________________

Remarkably, I didn’t fall down.

That was the chief concern harbored by co-workers and friends when I reported back on my curling experience, and I was happy to say I had, in fact, kept my feet Jan. 14 when I attended an open night at the Kettle Moraine Curling Club in Hartland.

Even when instructor Pat Van Till fitted me with a flat-soled slider for my shoe, allowing me to slide farther upon delivery of the “stone,” I held on to my balance. Maybe those balance games on the Wii Fit have been paying dividends.

If I didn’t make a fool of myself that way, I figured I would instead slide all the stones out the back of the target area or “house,” with an inappropriate volume of violent force. The momentum of the stone comes from legs, Van Till told me, and not the arm, but I have a bowling background and expected my right arm to revert into a natural pushing or throwing mode.

Not so! Though I left plenty of stones short of the mark, I was delighted when two or three made their way into the target area, leaving me feeling like maybe I could play this game, after all.

“It’s a lot like golf,” Pat’s husband and club vice president Ken Van Till told me. “It takes you 15 minutes to learn how to play and you spend the rest of your life trying to perfect it.”

So rather than wait around for the inevitable depreciation of skills, I quickly tried my hand at sweeping and quit while I was ahead, deferring to the more-than 35 participants who showed up for the weekly open night. I spent the rest of the night learning about the game that the Van Tills – residents of North Lake – obviously love very dearly.

A popular sport

When I told friends I wanted to try curling, the endeavor was met with equal parts fascination and amusement. On the one hand, the game looks like an icy version of shuffleboard, with maybe some lawn bowling mixed in, except two players are furiously sweeping the ice with brooms. That hardly sounds like an Olympic sport.

On the other hand, the game has a substantial base of popularity in Wisconsin. Its 24 clubs – including Milwaukee, Wauwatosa, Racine and Hartland – are the most of any U.S. state, and this particular club on Oakwood Rd. boasts a membership of 200. With several weekly leagues of varying experience and seriousness, not to mention a program with Carroll College and occasional visits from high school gym classes, the club seldom sees down time.

Curling took a long hiatus from Olympic status until returning as a medal sport in 1998, and the United States won its first medal – a bronze – at the last Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. The game harbors a fitness component, but modifications to the delivery can be made to accommodate aging or injured players, and the Van Tills said one club member was still playing into her 90s.

“Some clubs are younger than ours, but we have a spread of ages,” said North Lake resident Jimmy Hulen, 36, in his second year of curling. “I’m the youngest by half (the age of the next-oldest player) on my Wednesday team, but it’s awesome. One of the guys is 80, and he’s the most fun to hang out with. I feel younger hanging out with these guys.”

Social circles

Each of the circular tables in the back of the club has eight chairs, and there’s a very specific reason why.

As competitive as the game can be, the socialization aspect is equally key to the curling experience. Pat Van Till said the four-person teams are downright required to sit with their opponents after a match and eat or drink together – with most sustenance provided by the club’s full kitchen and bar.

“It’s a very social thing,” Stu Bachmann of Merton said. “When you join here, Pat makes sure that everyone gets to meet everyone. If we have a new couple join, she makes sure she introduces people and makes you come back. You’re supposed to visit with your opponents.”

Said Delafield’s Bob McClain, “At some clubs, I’ve heard the winners buy the drinks, and it keeps the beginners coming back.”

That’s not the case at the Kettle Moraine club, where annual dues cover curling as well as beverages and club activities. Plush couches and gorgeous new wooden lockers were beyond my pre-conceived expectations, let alone a full kitchen.

It’s a tenet entrenched in the game itself, which specifically calls for fair play, sportsmanship and camaraderie.

Stone’s throw

When I was learning how to play, I didn’t realize I was being trusted with such expensive equipment. Ken said two curling stones cost upwards of $750, mainly because all of the world’s stones are constructed of rock from a specific quarry in Scotland.

It was in Scotland that the game was born, in the 16th century.

“Did Ken kind of tell you about the origins of it?” Hulen asked me. “Basically in Scotland, they played a game to roll a rock as far as you can down the lake. But Seamus was bigger than Peter and could always throw the rock farther, so Peter said, ‘Forget it, I’m drawing circles on the ice and whoever’s closer to here … that’s how we do it.’”

As Hulen said, the game is pretty simple – closest to the middle wins. But the strategy of where to place a stone, “guarding” other pieces already in the target area and reading the ice like a golfer reads a putting green creates a game more akin to chess than darts.

“Two good sweepers can make an average player look really, really good,” Hulen said. “People play a lot of different styles of game.”

My style: try not to fail miserably, so I count this visit as a success. Next time, I may try my hand at an actual game. I’m going to need a lot more Wii Fit for that.

Pictured: Yup, that's me, looking ... not very good at this. Photo: Russ Pulvermacher.

Two 5-0 teams battle for tentative conference supremacy in a showdown at Arrowhead on Friday, with the Warhawks battling Catholic Memorial. Tip time is 7:30 p.m., and you can follow the action with my live blog right here. Sign up for a reminder email and enjoy the show.

So it wasn't exactly my favorite Monday morning ever. After enduring a positively demoralizing 51-45 Packers loss in the first round of the playoffs Sunday, I receive the news that the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team – fresh off a great weekend win over No. 4 Purdue – will be without top inside player Jon Leuer for most of the season after he broke his wrist.

It wasn’t until later in the day that the Milwaukee Bucks declared Michael Redd out for the season yet again.

Brutal.

What, no offseason Yovani Gallardo elbow injury or a broken bone for Marquette’s Lazar Hayward?

As a huge Brewers fan, I'm used to disappointment, and these new developments can be added to my long list of saddening sports moments.There have been some great ones in this market, too -- the 2008 MLB Playoffs, the 2000 Final Four and the 1996 Super Bowl among them -- but this week, I prefer to wallow in a bit of self-pity and remember those achingly painful moments in time.

1. The 2007 NFC Championship game. When the Dallas Cowboys fell to the New York Giants in the other half of the NFC semifinals, I completely believed the Packers were going to the Super Bowl. Brett Favre had enjoyed a renaissance season, the Packers had played near-perfect football and now hosted a home game in the merciless cold at Lambeau Field for the right to reach the Super Bowl. But the team struggled most of the game, and Favre’s infamous interception in overtime led to a Lawrence Tynes field goal that sent New York into a remarkable Super Bowl appearance. Instead of a Super Bowl, the Packers were left mired in a seasons-long quarterback controversy.

2. The Wisconsin Badgers 2006-07 tournament. They won 30 games for the first time in school history, held the top ranking in the AP poll for one week and flirted with a one-seed in the NCAA tournament. It was a team that had been building for years as a possible standout, and everything was swimming along until late season setbacks against Michigan State and Ohio State. They looked mediocre in the Big Ten tournament, then nearly became a laughingstock upset in the first round of the Big Dance to a 15-seed. It all ended with a second-round loss to UNLV, pushing an early-season title contender to an early exit.

3. Super Bowl XXXII. Truth be told, I only rank it up here because it’s a big game, but I was more than pleased to have won the previous season's Super Bowl and wasn't feeling particularly greedy. But it was a pretty big upset when John Elway finally got his first ring at the expense of the Packers, beating Green Bay in San Diego, 31-24.

4. Fourth and 26. All you have to do is type this expression into Google, and you’ll find that it has its own Wikipedia page – that’s how famous this play became. On Jan. 11, 2004, the Packers seemed to have the Philadelphia Eagles beaten in the NFC semifinals, backing up Donovan McNabb and friends into the dicey “4th and 26” situation with 1:12 to play, no timeouts and a 17-14 deficit. But McNabb converted to Freddie Mitchell on a terrible broken coverage, allowing David Akers to tie the game with a field goal. In overtime, Brian Dawkins intercepted Brett Favre and another Akers field goal clinched victory for the NFC Championship-bound Eagles.

5. The Milwaukee Brewers 2002 season. It wasn't the most disappointing because the Brewers lacked all expectations, but finishing 56-106 was the biggest blow on a franchise that had quickly become among baseball's worst. This season represents the low point in an absolute flurry of losing, complete with bad managers (Davey Lopes and Jerry Royster, who once had a mid-game argument on the mound with pitcher Mike DeJean) and a flubbed All-Star game that famously ended in a tie. Milwaukee lost 94 games one year earlier and both of the succeeding two years, leaving me in a constant state of misery.

6. The 2009 Wild Card loss. The most disappointing aspect of this week's game was the poor defensive showing after an outstanding season that featured the best run defense in team history and a league Defensive Player of the Year. Realistically, the Packers should have lost the game (a missed Arizona chip shot in the final seconds?) prior to overtime, and the fact that the team forced only one punt is largely to blame for the offense never having the chance to take a lead. A fluky way to lose in overtime hurts plenty, as well.

7. The 2001 Eastern Conference Finals Game 7. “Milwaukee Bucks, you are the talk of the city right now.” I remember talk show host Bill Michaels saying so, after the Bucks had climbed so close to the NBA finals. But conspiracy theories by Ray Allen, combined with a lackluster game seven performance against Philadelphia, left the Bucks out of the championship picture. With their 108-91 loss in that final game, my interest in NBA basketball went with it. Because after that, the Bucks have been super, super bad.

8. The Milwaukee Bucks 1998 Draft. The Milwaukee Bucks needed a big man, and made a shrewd draft-day deal with Dallas to acquire the rights to Robert “Tractor” Traylor, in exchange for Pat Garrity and ... you know what’s coming ... Dirk Nowitzki. Needless to say, that may have been the worst trade in team history. I know, I know, circumstances dictated that the Bucks probably would not have gotten Nowitzki no matter what happened, but it still looks like a black eye on the franchise.

9. The Milwaukee Brewers 2006 season. They had just finished at .500 the previous year for the first time in 14 seasons, and everyone expected a winning record at least, with a possible playoff push in the future. But injuries to two of the top four pitchers and several position players made it an uphill battle, and while the 75-87 finish was disappointing, it paled to the realization that the winner of the division (and eventual World Series champion Cardinals) went just 83-78. Before the season, many fans would have been disappointed if the Brewers won just 83 games. Fortunately, two years later, Milwaukee made this season a memory.

10. The Milwaukee Brewers 1998 Draft. I was smart enough in high school to start following the minor league system, and it was hard not to be excited about the 1998 draft, which would be one of the last for general manager Sal Bando. The Brewers took hugely promising right-hander J.M. Gold, then stole what many saw as a first-round talent in the second round by getting Nick Neugebauer. Both pitchers were hyped incessantly during their rise through the organization, but arm troubles plagued them and neither ever made a big-league impact. Not a single worthwhile nugget came from the draft except for a flameout once-prospect named Bill Hall who was eventually put on the team in September 2002 just to get a cursory look. He added his own issues to the table much later.

I'm going to go eat some ice cream.

Pictured: Aaron Rodgers reacts to the events of Sunday's game against Arizona. (AP)

The flowchart in my head would probably have complex equations all over the place -- you'd need to be a math person to figure them all out.

There would be a series of "if/then" statements, as well. If team up x points + x minutes remaining, then sit starters. If team up x points and opponent is in xth place in the standings and x title is on the line, then do not sit starters.

Coaches on all levels seem to face scrutiny for choosing when to sit and start key players. The NFL is a prime example -- consider the fire Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell has faced for resting his starters with an undefeated season on the line. On the other side is Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who drew some criticism for leaving his starters in play against Arizona until the fourth quarter -- even though the Packers' playoff destiny had been etched in stone at that point.

The issue exists in high school athletics, too, though the factors are altered. At this level, fairness to the other team and to the kids at the end of the bench become crucial components in decision-making.

The problem is that the flowchart in my head doesn't exist. No matter when a coach removes his starters from a one-sided game, there always seems to be grumbling that the decision came too late, that the winning team essentially embarrassed the opponent by playing starters too long. It's a tightrope of timing that has to be frustrating. Take St. John's Military Academy's basketball team last year, which thrashed numerous opponents on its way to a two-loss season. It wasn't the Lancers fault that the schedule stacked up with lesser teams, and yet they had to cater to the opponent and not "embarrass" them by leaving starters in.

Coach Brian Richert expressed his frustration with that reality -- after all, he needed all the time he could to prepare his starters for the postseason, which promised to be a much harder test. He said he owed it to those kids to give them every opportunity on the floor, and he had to keep preparation in mind above the potentially hurt feelings of an opponent. His response to the problem was a beefed-up schedule that lessened the possibility of a lopsided game this year.

But in every conference, there are mismatches. That's one less game coaches can use their starters full-tilt and one less opportunity for the team to develop together. Instead, coaches walk that tight rope, letting starters play as long as they possibly can before the situation becomes too demoralizing for the opponent.

Surely, there are coaches who take it too far, but without some concrete wisdom suggesting when starters absolutely should be removed from a game, it seems only right to give coaches facing the situation the benefit of the doubt. Strategizing in sports comes with enough pressure as it is, and most coaches will also factor in the feelings of an opponent -- but it's a very inexact science, and it's certainly an added burden.

Basketball is unquestionably my favorite high school sport to cover for a variety of reasons -- brevity in length, for one thing, but also the chance for unparalleled drama. There is nothing quite as exciting as the moments late in a tied game, with the possibility for a momentum shift at any second.

I haven't seen as many buzzer beaters as I would like in my limited time covering high school athletics, beginning in 2004. But I have seen a couple pretty good ones lately. Earlier this year, I thought I would try to chronicle all of Greater Milwaukee's buzzer-beaters in a somewhat-weekly "Top of the Key" roundup, and that turned out to be too much of a hassle.

Instead, a brief description of the five most memorable buzzer-beaters that I have witnessed in my brief history of high school sports coverage shall suffice.

The crazy eight. It was the wildest eight-second stretch I’ve ever seen. In 2005-06, the Greendale boys were hosting New Berlin West. The Vikings appeared to have the game won after hitting a shot to go up 2 points with eight seconds left, and Panthers leading scorer Kyle Johnsen was whistled for a technical foul thereafter.

West’s Josh Fabian missed both technical free throws, though, despite his team going 9-for-9 from the line to that point in the game. With the Vikings retaining possession and 3 seconds to play, they inbounded to Fabian – who missed two more free throws.

The game still appeared over when Greendale’s Juston Calvert rebounded the second miss and heaved a desperation half-courter that fell well short. But instead of the game ending, Calvert was whistled for traveling, meaning West needed to inbound near midcourt to work off the final second.

Before that could happen, West top scorer Jason Averkamp was whistled for an off-the-ball foul – his fifth of the game. That turned the ball over to Greendale, which inbounded from the same spot. Johnsen took a pass in the corner, and he buried a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, giving the Panthers a 52-50 victory. How can a team give up the go-ahead score, commit a technical foul and deliver an ill-fated half-court heave in the final 8 seconds of the game … and still win?

The desperation winner. Before he was a guard for Marquette University, Dwight Buycks led a Bay View team looking for the state tournament in 2005-06. In the sectional final at a sparsely-populated South Milwaukee High School, the Redcats allowed Milwaukee South to overcome a sizeable deficit and take the lead late in the game.

The Cardinals appeared to have the game in hand, but Buycks released a bomb from the far-end free throw line that banked in and created a massive uproar, with Bay View taking the 64-62 victory.  It’s by far the most improbable buzzer-beating shot I’ve seen, and it vaulted Bay View into the sectional final against Milwaukee King (where the Redcats lost).

I always thought it was a shame so few people came to see City Conference basketball, as they missed opportunities like that one. I had a tough call that night -- I still regret not being able to see the Muskego boys against Brookfield Central at the same time. Muskego's Brad Starken fired in 30 points, including a 30-foot 3-pointer at the buzzer to force the first of two overtimes. Central wound up prevailing.

Olewinski makes it a double. He couldn’t convert on a shot to win the game in the first overtime, but Pewaukee senior Mike Olewinski turned the feat at the end of the second extra session, burying a rhythm jumper to give his team a 55-53 win over fellow unbeaten league foe New Berlin West earlier this season.

The story here has been the continued success of the Pirates, who opened the season 8-0 despite graduating all five starters from the previous year. Last year's team lost an overtime heartbreaker in the sectional final.

Barr exam. Two seasons earlier, Alex Barr hit a jumper at the buzzer in New Berlin West’s gym to give Pewaukee a 39-37 win in a defensive battle. Hey, the game doesn’t have to be pretty – it just has to end well to be memorable. Apparently, every time I watch the New Berlin West boys team play, drama follows.

Recent memory. When Ben Mills hit a shot with 15 seconds to play in overtime this week, that wasn’t technically a buzzer-beater, but it did give Arrowhead a 67-66 lead in one of the more memorable games in recent memory.

Menomonee Falls missed two chances to re-take the lead at the OT buzzer, and it was a dynamite victory for a Warhawks team ranked No. 1 in the state by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. Falls, led by premier sophomore JP Tokoto, led by as many as 9 points in the fourth quarter before AHS stormed back, forced overtime and won the game on Mills’ putback in the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook Shootout.

The battle was held at the Al McGuire Center, which has been the home to several last-second heroics in its short history.

Add your own buzzer-beating memories in the comments.

Pictured: Kettle Moraine teammates mob Dan Kelm after he hits a game-winning shot against Arrowhead last year.

Oh, you're one of those people.

That's my reaction when I attend a high-school sporting event and hear a parent badmouth the home-team coach. I see a person who can't separate his or her child's success from their own, and someone with zero perspective.

Maybe that’s not entirely fair. I work with coaches pretty regularly, so my bias will admittedly lead me to side with the coach over the parent. I'm not yet a parent myself, and I've never known what it's like to watch my child put so much effort into something. I can’t empathize with those who openly criticize a coach and complain about a child’s playing time or role on the team.

Earlier this week, two-time state player of the year Jeronne Maymon quit the Marquette men’s basketball team, and many shocked Marquette supporters were quick to point the figure in a number of directions. Fans of state boys hoops know the name Tim Maymon well, since Jeronne’s father has been a very present figure in the recruitment process and his son’s career. Too present, people like myself would say.

I thought Marquette coach Buzz Williams handled Maymon’s departure with grace. Take this line, which really stood out to me…

“I want all of the sons of the parents on our team to be great, and I think that J-May was progressing that way. … I hate that it didn't work out for a longer period of time, but I understand their dissatisfaction. But our team is never going to be about one son; it's always going to be about all the sons."

Amen.

I recently attended a high school sporting event and witnessed a parent all-out accost the coach after the game. Surrounded by other students, other parents and fans filtering out of the building, the parent began with an accusatory tone and escalated from there. The parent felt their child was the victim of a "personal vendetta" by the coach, which is truly hard for me to wrap my head around.

Personal vendetta! It’s like an episode of The Sopranos. (Can you imagine being Anthony Jr's football coach? That would add a whole new level to the parent problem).

Even if I’m unqualified to say so, I just wish people could ask themselves, “does what I’m thinking/saying make sense” or, more importantly, “Is this the right time and venue to address it?” I’ve learned if there is something I truly want to address, the best way is to do so calmly, eloquently and long after my initial frustration has passed. Furthermore, is it just impossible for parents to assume the best way to overcome a dissatisfying situation is more work, more patience and more resolve?

"When you're a parent, you want your best for the kids, and it’s the hardest thing in the world to look at and watch it," one athletic director said. "You would hope common sense would prevail and that would be the end of it. I understand the emotions behind it; I don’t understand the level of emotion. If not athletics, it might be the theater or at a job. The hardest thing to do as a parent is watch your kid fail or not get the opportunity."

The AD I spoke to said he deals with at least two unhappy parents a week, and he has even been accosted physically on more than one occasion in the past. That really made my jaw hit the floor. I don’t want to devolve into the basic “It’s just a game” rhetoric, because I do realize to high school kids, it’s a very important part of their lives and will be for a long time. But getting borderline violent about it seems astoundingly over the top.

I was talking with a colleague about his young elementary-aged daughter, who is pretty undersized on her basketball team and didn't even take a shot in a game last year. He expressed how awesome it was to see her make her first "career" basket this week and the jubilation that washed over her face. I wish parents of high school and college kids could think back to moments like that one, when the simplest things and just the joy of competing was enough to make both the parent and the kid smile.

I don’t think this problem is particularly new – maybe more intense in recent years, but teams have always had one or two parents who take things too far. But it's a problem, all the same. Just keep repeating Buzz's words to yourself. It’s never going to be about one son. It’s always going to be about all the sons.

Pictured: Former state star Jeronne Maymon left the Marquette program this week.

Oh, you're one of those people.

That's my reaction when I attend a high-school sporting event and hear a parent badmouth his or her kid’s coach. I see a person who can't distinguish their child's success from their own, and someone with zero perspective.

Maybe that’s not entirely fair. I work with coaches pretty regularly, so my bias will admittedly lead me to side with the coach over the parent. I'm not yet a parent myself, and I've never known what it's like to watch my child put so much effort into something. I can’t empathize with those who openly criticize a coach and complain about a child’s playing time or role on the team.

Earlier this week, two-time state player of the year Jeronne Maymon quit the Marquette men’s basketball team, and many shocked Marquette supporters were quick to point the figure in a number of directions. Fans of state boys hoops know the name Tim Maymon well, since Jeronne’s father has been a very present figure in the recruitment process and his son’s career. Too present, people like myself would say.

Marquette coach Buzz Williams handled Maymon’s departure with grace. Take this line, which really stood out:

“I want all of the sons of the parents on our team to be great, and I think that J-May was progressing that way. … I hate that it didn't work out for a longer period of time, but I understand their dissatisfaction. But our team is never going to be about one son; it's always going to be about all the sons”

Amen.

I recently attended a high school sporting event and witnessed a parent all-out accost the coach after the game. Surrounded by other students, other parents and fans filtering out of the building, the parent began with an accusatory tone and escalated from there. The parent felt their child was the victim of a “personal vendetta” by the coach, which is truly hard for me to wrap my head around.

Personal vendetta! It’s like an episode of The Sopranos. (Can you imagine being Anthony Jr's football coach? That would add a whole new level to the parent problem)

Even if I’m unqualified to say so, I just wish people could ask themselves, ‘Does what I’m thinking/saying make sense,’ or more importantly, ‘Is this the right time and venue to address it?’ I’ve learned if there is a grievance I truly want to address, the best way is to do so calmly, eloquently and long after my initial frustration has passed. Furthermore, is it just impossible for parents to assume the best way to overcome a dissatisfying situation is more work, more patience and more resolve?

“When you're a parent, you want your best for the kids, and it’s the hardest thing in the world to look at and watch it,” one athletic director said. “You would hope common sense would prevail and that would be the end of it. I understand the emotions behind it; I don’t understand the level of emotion. If not athletics, it might be the theater or at a job. The hardest thing to do as a parent is watch your kid fail or not get the opportunity.”

The AD I spoke to said he deals with at least two unhappy parents a week, and he has even been accosted physically on more than one occasion in the past. That really made my jaw hit the floor. I don’t want to devolve into the basic “It’s just a game” rhetoric, because to high school kids, it’s a very important part of their lives and will be for a long time. But getting borderline violent about it seems astoundingly over the top.

I was talking with a colleague about his young elementary-aged daughter, who is pretty undersized on her basketball team and didn't even take a shot in a game last year. He expressed how awesome it was to see her make her first “career” basket this week and the jubilation washed over her face. I wish parents of high school and college kids could think back to moments like that one, when the simplest things and just the joy of competing was enough to make both the parent and the kid smile.

I don’t think this problem is particularly new – maybe more intense in recent years, but teams have always had one or two parents who take things too far. But it's a problem, all the same. Just keep repeating Buzz's words to yourself. It’s never going to be about one son. It’s always going to be about all the sons.

Pictured: Jeronne Maymon, who left Marquette's basketball team this week.

That's my reaction when I attend a high-school sporting event and hear a parent badmouth the home-team coach. I see a person who can't separate his or her child's success from their own, and someone with zero perspective.

Maybe that’s not entirely fair. I work with coaches pretty regularly, so my bias will admittedly lead me to side with the coach over the parent. I'm not yet a parent myself, and I've never known what it's like to watch my child put so much effort into something. I can’t empathize with those who openly criticize a coach and complain about a child’s playing time or role on the team.

Earlier this week, two-time state player of the year Jeronne Maymon quit the Marquette men’s basketball team, and many shocked Marquette supporters were quick to point the figure in a number of directions. Fans of state boys hoops know the name Tim Maymon well, since Jeronne’s father has been a very present figure in the recruitment process and his son’s career. Too present, people like myself would say.

I thought Marquette coach Buzz Williams handled Maymon’s departure with grace. Take this line, which really stood out to me…

“I want all of the sons of the parents on our team to be great, and I think that J-May was progressing that way. … I hate that it didn't work out for a longer period of time, but I understand their dissatisfaction. But our team is never going to be about one son; it's always going to be about all the sons."

Amen.

I recently attended a high school sporting event and witnessed a parent all-out accost the coach after the game. Surrounded by other students, other parents and fans filtering out of the building, the parent began with an accusatory tone and escalated from there. The parent felt their child was the victim of a "personal vendetta" by the coach, which is truly hard for me to wrap my head around.

Personal vendetta! It’s like an episode of The Sopranos. (Can you imagine being Anthony Jr's football coach? That would add a whole new level to the parent problem).

Even if I’m unqualified to say so, I just wish people could ask themselves, “does what I’m thinking/saying make sense” or, more importantly, “Is this the right time and venue to address it?” I’ve learned if there is something I truly want to address, the best way is to do so calmly, eloquently and long after my initial frustration has passed. Furthermore, is it just impossible for parents to assume the best way to overcome a dissatisfying situation is more work, more patience and more resolve?

"When you're a parent, you want your best for the kids, and it’s the hardest thing in the world to look at and watch it," one athletic director said. "You would hope common sense would prevail and that would be the end of it. I understand the emotions behind it; I don’t understand the level of emotion. If not athletics, it might be the theater or at a job. The hardest thing to do as a parent is watch your kid fail or not get the opportunity."

The AD I spoke to said he deals with at least two unhappy parents a week, and he has even been accosted physically on more than one occasion in the past. That really made my jaw hit the floor. I don’t want to devolve into the basic “It’s just a game” rhetoric, because I do realize to high school kids, it’s a very important part of their lives and will be for a long time. But getting borderline violent about it seems astoundingly over the top.

I was talking with a colleague about his young elementary-aged daughter, who is pretty undersized on her basketball team and didn't even take a shot in a game last year. He expressed how awesome it was to see her make her first "career" basket this week and the jubilation that washed over her face. I wish parents of high school and college kids could think back to moments like that one, when the simplest things and just the joy of competing was enough to make both the parent and the kid smile.

I don’t think this problem is particularly new – maybe more intense in recent years, but teams have always had one or two parents who take things too far. But it's a problem, all the same. Just keep repeating Buzz's words to yourself. It’s never going to be about one son. It’s always going to be about all the sons.

Pictured: Former state star Jeronne Maymon left the Marquette program this week.

I used to be a pretty proud member of the student cheering section at Kaukauna High School, and I remember how much fun that could be. My cohorts and I knew a lot about the top players in the conference -- and thus, we knew precisely which players to ridicule in an effort to give our Galloping Ghosts the edge.

It was kind of empowering, in a way, to get on a player's case and try to have any influence we could on the floor action. I confess to using the same tactics in college -- especially at women's games when a fan was more likely to be heard.

That can be a rush for a high school kid, so I try not to judge when I see that behavior today -- fans specifically singling out one or two players in an attempt to garner their team the advantage.

But I have to admit, it makes me wince. It's hard enough being a high school kid, let alone one subjected to public humiliation, trying to succeed in a difficult game while enduring (or trying to shut out) the taunting simultaneously. Without trying to sound like an aloof sportswriter hollowly preaching the moral high ground, I often just wish the student sections would let it go.

Which brings me to St. John's Northwestern Military Academy. I battled last Tuesday's snow storm to watch the Lancers battle Milwaukee Hamilton, one of the best teams in the state with probably the best junior class in the state. Hamilton won the contest, but it served as a reminder of how unique and awesome the St. John's experience can be.

A sidebar: I'm not all that familiar with the St. John's campus, having attended only two games at the fieldhouse before, so trying to find parking (where there is no lot) in the dark and driving snow storm proved to be a challenge. That's saying more about my challenged directional ability than the campus parking situation -- but in my twisting and turning to get to the fieldhouse once I stashed my car in a (hopefully legal) parking spot, I wound up smack dab in the middle of a cemetery. I felt pretty irreverent and ridiculous, thinking how strange that despite the high-profile nature of the game, the setting wasn't really typical for a high school contest.

And that's true in more ways than one. There isn't much seating to speak of at the St. John's fieldhouse, and there certainly wasn't a crowd that would befit a clash between two teams figuring prominently in the state-title discussion. But the building has a tremendous amount of character, with a gigantic American flag on one end ... and the wall of cadets on one sideline.

It's intimidating enough playing in that building, with all its history, let alone with a student section filled with young men in military uniform and the rest in matching red shirts that proclaim their importance as "The 6th Man." I was told by one fellow onlooker that all cadets not on duty are required to attend the game, which would explain the sizable turnout in the middle of the wintry chaos.

Like your average student section, there are premeditated chants, choreographed antics and lots of volume. But the cadets do not latch onto opposing players, do not often criticize the officiating and manage to turn the place upside down with an entirely positive vibe.

It's partly the discipline that comes with the academy lifestyle, and it's partly the leadership of those on staff who insist on this level of behavior, and it's comforting to know that it can happen that way. It's hard to imagine a wall of 100-some teenage boys screaming in unison and not having something negative to say, but these guys truly know how to give their team an advantage without being brutal to the opponent.

When Pewaukee eliminated St. John's from the playoffs last year, the lasting image in my head is the enormous traveling party of cadets rumbling in the stands, providing the same high-road enthusiasm. St. John's is awfully good this year, and it would be something else to see those cadets on TV again with the Lancers playing at the Kohl Center in Madison.

(Pictured: St. John's fans cheer on the Lancers at last March's regional contest at Pewaukee).

Local angles

Kettle Moraine girls 38, Divine Savior Holy Angels 34. DSHA is 0-3, but their losses had come against state behemoths Milwaukee Vincent and Milwaukee Pius before running into the Lasers. The Dashers perpetually have one of the best teams in the area, making this an early signature win for the Lasers. The Classic 8 should be an incredible showdown this year, with at least five teams (Mukwonago, Waukesha South, Kettle Moraine, Pius, Arrowhead) showing potential to knock off anyone else.

Pewaukee girls 50, Greendale 43. Mary Merg's hot shooting nearly rallied the Panthers late, but the Pirates landed an early conference confidence-boost against a team that brings back a lot of experience and expectations. Starting three sophomores, Pewaukee has jumped out to an unbeaten start and will clearly be a factor in the run for the Woodland Blue title. Jordyn Swan (pictured) has led the team in scoring.

Milwaukee Hamilton boys 64, St. John's 53. The young Lancers challenged a pair of strong City Conference schools and came up short both times, losing to Bay View on Thursday after falling to state-ranked Hamilton in the St. John's gym Tuesday. Coach Brian Richert is hoping for as many challenges as possible prior to the WIAA Division 2 postseason. Sophomore guard Isaiah Gray is starting to show his immense potential.

Big games

New Berlin Eisenhower girls 63, Wisconsin Lutheran 50. Anna Hahn (junior) and Nicole Bauman (sophomore) will make Ike a state-title favorite next year, if not this year. Wisco is a good team, entering the year in the D2 top ten along with the Lions, and the resounding outcome is a sign that the Lions mean business.

Menomonee Falls boys 56, Marquette 36. Possibly a conference-title game in the Greater Metro, JP Tokoto broke out of an early-season mini-slump with 19 points, helping his team dominate last year's conference champs. The GMC doesn't appear as strong as usual on paper, so if Marquette can't hang with Falls in league play ... will anyone?

Whitefish Bay Dominican boys 38, Milwaukee King 35. Coach Paul Wollersheim obviously has another Knighs team capable of making a run in the Division 3 tournament, with the defensive battle going to the little guy over the perennially awesome Generals.

Surprises

Greendale girls 39, Cudahy 32. It hasn't been the easiest schedule for the Packers in the Woodland, but an 0-3 start is definitely surprising. The door is open for local team Pewaukee, despite an inexperienced roster, to take control of the Woodland Blue Division.

Racine Horlick boys 59, Kenosha Tremper 58. Sure, the defending state runners-up have lost four starters, but the overtime win over a team with at least two pretty talented seniors shows Horlick won't go away quietly, even when missing its top player with disciplinary suspension.

Buzzer beaters

Racine Horlick boys 59, Kenosha Tremper 58, OT. Terrence Anderson tied the game in regulation for Tremper, but Eric Papelbon was fouled and hit a free throw in the final seconds to win it for Horlick.

Homestead 43 girls, Kenosha Tremper 41. Siena Mitman hits a layup with 2.5 seconds left to lift the Highlanders.

Union Grove 57 boys, Burlington 54, OT. Nathan Radke's 3-pointer in the final seconds of regulation forced overtime for Union Grove, and the Broncos never trailed in overtime.