Every Wednesday during the regular season we will highlight the 8-Player Football game with a spotlight article on boundwisconsin.com. We'll look back at the action and big stories from the previous week, look ahead at the coming week's big match-ups, and select a Star of the Week.
8-Player coaches, please enter player stats on Bound Wisconsin so that we can continue having the necessary information to produce this weekly spotlight of your game, and feel free to send any news or information to us as well.
Looking Back
The Kickapoo/La Farge co-op team picked up its first win of the season, going on the road to take down Monticello 56-32 last Thursday. Junior Jackson Stoikes ran for 254 yards and four touchdowns while sophomore backfield-mate Rhonan Culver went for 125 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Number six Almond-Bancroft rallied from a halftime deficit to take down fifth-ranked Newman Catholic 20-13 in the rare low-scoring, competitive 8-player game between two top teams. Emmitt Stiles struggled throwing the football but did plenty of damage on the ground, carrying the ball 39 times for 212 yards and two touchdowns. He also had eight solo tackles, three tackles for loss, and a sack.
In another top ten showdown, Clayton pulled away from Siren for a 52-32 win on Friday night, as the Bears ran for 370 yards. The majority of that was done by Cain Casarez, who wears number 56, as he carried it 31 times for 228 yards and two touchdowns.
Flambeau is one of the surprise teams of the early going, getting out to a 3-0 start with a trio of dominating victories, including a 48-12 win against former eighth-ranked Athens last Friday. The Falcons had 475 rushing yards, led by 190 from quarterback Cole Schley along with 186 by Chanse Ludescher, each rushing for three touchdowns in the win.
Unfortunately Menominee Nation has canceled the remainder of its varsity games for this year, coming off a 94-0 loss to Tri-County last week that saw the Penguins score five defensive touchdowns, two via fumble and three via interception return.
Looking Ahead
McDonell Central is ranked second in this week’s Bound Wisconsin Football Coaches Poll, the Macks only lost two games last year. Unfortunately both were to eventual state champion Owen-Withee, once during the regular season and then again in the second playoff game. The teams will meet up on Thursday night at McDonell.
A ranked 8-Player matchup on Friday will feature a pair of unbeaten teams going at it. Hurley, the seventh-ranked squad, will travel to Flambeau in a Northwoods-East 8 Conference game.
In another ranked battle, eighth-ranked Sevastopol will make the trip to Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas for control of the Across the Bay-8 Conference. Quarterback Logan Schuh has been hard to stop for Sevastopol, with nearly 1000 total yards in three wins and 15 total touchdowns.
In a replacement game, third-ranked Oakfield will host Algoma, who is 2-1 with a couple nice wins over Gibraltar and Green Bay NEW Lutheran sandwiched around a loss to Lena/St. Thomas.
Star of the Week: Emmitt Stiles, Almond-Bancroft
Almond-Bancroft took down Newman Catholic 20-13 in a tough comeback victory last week. Emmitt Stiles struggled throwing the football but did plenty of damage on the ground, carrying the ball 39 times for 212 yards and two touchdowns. He also had eight solo tackles, three tackles for loss, and a sack.
Travis Wilson serves as the Bound Wisconsin Manager. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisBound or reach him at [email protected].