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
It was number one versus number two last week, as top-ranked Gilman welcomed in second-ranked McDonell Central. The Macks led 12-8 after the first quarter, but Gilman reeled off 30 straight points to pull away for a 38-12 victory. The Pirates didn’t put up huge offensive numbers, with 270 total yards, but forced a pair of fumbles and did enough to get the job done en route to the win. Junior quarterback Logan Halida ran for four short touchdowns while Kolby Keepers had 15 tackles and a pair of forced fumbles.
Algoma took down Oakfield to move into the Bound Wisconsin Top Ten a couple weeks ago, but the stay is short lived after the Wolves fell 24-12 to Green Bay NEW Lutheran/Oneida/Providence last Friday. Hayden Schultz had 230 yards of offense and accounted for three scores for the Blazers.
Tri-County stayed undefeated as the Penguins held off rival Almond-Bancroft on Friday. The trio of Jake Makaryk, Aidan Brewer, and Gage Beggs accounted for 320 rushing yards in the 22-14 win.
Fifth-ranked Belmont found itself in a bit more of a battle than anticipated against Wonewoc-Weston on Friday night, as the Braves were deadlocked with Wonewoc-Center/Weston heading into the fourth quarter before scoring a 32-26 win.
Interestingly enough, 13 of the 26 games played Friday night ended in a shutout, as only two games were decided by less than three scores.
Looking Ahead
It’s a good one on Thursday, as seventh-ranked and unbeaten Flambeau will welcome in Phillips, who sits at 3-1 on the field to go with a couple forfeit wins. Flambeau quarterback Cole Schley continues to be one of the top offensive weapons in 8-Player.
There’s a top five matchup in the Ridge & Valley-8 this week, as a pair of undefeated teams will face off at North Crawford High School. The fourth-ranked Trojans will welcome in fifth-ranked Belmont, with the winner holding the cards in the league race heading down the stretch.
The top two teams in the Southeast-8 will meet up on Friday, as undefeated Valley Christian travels to Oakfield, whose only loss this year was a replacement game against Algoma.
Star of the Week: Braylon Mielke, Marion/Tigerton
Marion/Tigerton is a definite upstart this season, sitting at 4-1 in games played after a 48-38 win over Newman Catholic last week. The Thundercatz also defeated Almond-Bancroft earlier this year. Junior running back Braylon Mielke hit on big play after big play, carrying the ball 26 times for 340 yards and five touchdowns, averaging more than 13 yards per carry.
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].