This story is sponsored by: Trudeau Construction and The Tile Guys
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
The WIAA announced the brackets for the upcoming football playoffs on Friday afternoon.
A total of 224 teams have been broken down into seven 32-team divisions.
Three local teams in the MarshfieldAreaSports.com coverage area will take to the field in Level 1 games on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Winners move on to Level 2 on Saturday, Oct. 30. State quarterfinal games will be played Nov. 5-6, semifinals on Nov. 12-13 and the WIAA State Football Championships will be held at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison No. 18-19.
In Division 2, Marshfield (5-3, 4-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference) will play at La Crosse Logan, the No. 1 seed in the Northwest Region Group A. Logan (7-2) was the champion of the Mississippi Valley Conference standings with a 6-0 record.
Marawood Conference rivals Stratford (7-2, 7-1 Marawood) and Auburndale (6-3, 5-3 Marawood) will participate in Division 5.
Stratford was unseeded and will play at No. 4 seed Poynette (7-2), while Auburndale will take on No. 2 seed Pardeeville (7-2) in the same Southwest Region Group C bracket.
Poynette tied with Lakeside Lutheran for the Capitol Conference North Division title at 4-1.
Pardeeville won the Trailways Conference Large Division with a perfect 6-0 record.
Marshfield is in the postseason for the 15th straight season, a streak that started in former coach Len Luedtke’s second season at the school in 1996. The Tigers reached the Division 2 semifinals in 2008, losing to eventual state champion Kimberly, and lost in the quarterfinals last season to Merrill.
It is the sixth straight year Marshfield will play in Division 2 after reaching the Division 1 state finals five times in an eight-year stretch from 1997-2004. The Tigers won Division 1 state titles in 1997, 2001 and 2002, and lost in the championship game in 1999 and 2004. Marshfield also competed in Division 2 in 2003.
Stratford coach Cal Tackes was disappointed in where the Tigers ended up in the Division 5 field, but he said his team is ready to embrace the challenge ahead.
“I was thinking we would be in the Northeast or Northwest bracket, but it looks like they stacked some of the more traditional powers into one (Southwest) bracket,” Tackes said, referring to teams like No. 1 seed Darlington, who could be the Tigers’ next opponent should both teams win their Level 1 matches.
Tackes said he also was disappointed that with only one conference loss the Tigers were not one of the top four seeds and will have to play on the road in their opening. To compound matters, should Stratford and Darlington win in the first round, more than likely Stratford will have to go on the road again, since Darlington is not hosting its Level 1 matchup.
In the WIAA football playoffs, the higher seed hosts Level 1 and 2 games, unless one of the opponents has not already played at home.
For Auburndale, it is the program’s first appearance in the WIAA playoffs since 2005, and first for head coach Dean McFarlane, who took over the team in 2006. Overall, it is the Apaches’ sixth trip to the WIAA playoffs – all coming since 2000.
“I keep telling the kids, ‘These Friday nights go by quick,” McFarlane said. “There’s nothing like it, but the playoffs, you can take this and 10-fold it. It’s the playoffs, it’s a great atmosphere. Our guys really step up to challenges and really handle pressure well. In the playoffs, there’s a lot of pressure there, so I think our guys will be OK.
“We’re going to be new to the playoffs, but I feel like we are a dangerous team. I really do.”
Left out of the playoffs was Spencer/Marshfield Columbus Catholic, which finished 4-5 overall and 4-4 in the Cloverbelt Conference. Teams that finish at .500 in its conference are considered for a playoff berth, but not all of them make the cut.
The Rockets had won three Cloverbelt games in a row before losing 39-0 to undefeated Colby on Thursday. Four of the five Spencer/Columbus losses came by at least 20 points and it was shutout twice, including in the season opener to undefeated Edgar, 29-0.
Stratford had its streak of six straight WIAA Division 6 state championships snapped last season. Playing in Division 5 for the first time since 2001, the Tigers lost 34-7 to Colby in the opening round.
The Tigers will be making their 19th straight postseason appearance. Only once in the last 25 years, in 1991, has Stratford missed the playoffs.