Playoff pairings to be released, will anyone from Tri-County make it?
The one certainty is the WIAA Prep Football Playoff Pairings will be released by noon at least on Saturday, Oct. 17 and the playoff field already determined beforehand.
Uncertain is if any team from the Tri-County Area will make it.
A team is automatically in if they win they are above .500 in their league and overall
And judging by that criteria only no teams in the Area will make it.
The problem is, as witnessed in the recent past, there aren't enough prep football teams that meet that criteria.
So a team like Fall Creek which is 2-4 in the Cloverbetl Conference, could get in if, IF, they can get a win Friday, Oct. 16 at home vs. Stevens Point Pacelli, a conference crossover game with the Marawood. A win would put them at 5-4 overall giving the Crickets the best shot possible.
But they've got to win first and that's been a problem the past few weeks as they have been mired in a three-game losing streak, especially last week's 42-6 beatdown by undefeated and No. 4 ranked Durand-Arkansaw in Durand.
FC running back Ethan Westrate scored on a big-play run from scrimmage for 41 yards for a 6-0 lead in the first quarter on FC's .
Westrate rushed for 126 yards on 13 carries and is one of the top backs in the Cloverbelt Conference. But that TD was his only one and the only big play Fall Creek had as Durand-Arkansaw rolled over the Crickets 42-6 to stay unbeaten . The Panthers play Mondovi this Friday, Oct. 16 for the Cloverbelt Conference title.
D-A held Fall Creek to just 37 yards passing and 130 yards rushing. Meanwhile Panther QB Luke Weber, in his final regular season home game, was a near-perfect 14-for-16 for 206 yards and three touchdowns. Weber also ran one in from two-yards out which proved to be a crucial TD as it was only a one score game for much of the second quarter. But Weber's TD made it 21-6 at halftime thanks to Avery Kallstrom's made extra points and D-A took control in the third quarter with back-to-back TDs on their first two drives on offense. By the fourth it was running clock.
Pacelli is 5-3 overall and playoff bound but the Cardinals were shutout by Loyal/Greenwood 35-0 last week.
Augusta has a similar situation in that at 2-6 they would not be going anywhere for the postseason but at 2-4 in the Dairyland Conference with a chance to go 3-4 if they can win at home vs. Blair-Taylor this week, it might open the possibility for a sneak-in. Considering their past few seasons before this fall, that's actually pretty good. Their chances are good too as B-T has to forfeit last week vs. Whitehall due to lack of healthy players.
Actually, the Beavers accounted themselves well going up against the No. 3 ranked team in the state in D-7, 7-1 Alma/Pepin last week in Pepin. Although A/P basically took control of the game in the third quarter, the Beavers were able to score just before halftime as Owen Lee hauled in an 18-yard TD pass and Rylee Mickelson added a two-point conversion to cut P-A’s lead to 21-8. Unfortunately the Eagles gained the momentum back in the first half's final 52 seconds. Connor Moskwa recovered an errant kickoff and Pepin/Alma would march far enough into Beavers' territory to allow Kevin Bauer to boot a 35-yard field goal with one-second left in the half, for a 24-8 Eagles' halftime lead on their way to a 45-16 win. Augusta would close out the scoring when Lee would plunge in for a QB keeper TD with under a minute remaining. Mickelson finished with 79 yards rushing and Lee caught four passes for 49 yards. Lee also had a team-best 15 tackles.
Osseo-Fairchild could be in the same boat as well, IF, as with all things this week, they can close their regular season with a win at Spring Valley. The Thunder are 3-5 overall and 2-4 in the D-SC and win, especially over an SV squad tied for first in the conference with No. 10 Glenwood City at 5-1 (6-2 overall) would be a nice boost for O-F to get in. The Thunder played competitively against the Hilltoppers last week in their final regular season game at Ward Field last week, losing 26-8 after being smashed by GC the season before. Drew Hanson had Osseo-Fairchild's lone TD. He rushed for 49 yards and had a 139 yards in receptions from QB Ty Skoyen who threw for over 200 yards. Brooks Koxlien led O-F in tackles with 10, two for loss. GC only had 35 yards passing but simply dominated on the ground with 329 yards to O-F's 83 led by Brock Wood's 143 yards and a TD.
Eleva-Strum winds up its regular season at home against Melrose-Mindoro. The Cardinal too, like Augusta, can use an extra win at 3-4 for a possible sneak into the playoff field even at 3-6 overall, if they can beat the 6-2 Mustangs. E-S topped Independence/Gilmanton 48-21 at Indy last week giving them that chance.
