Eastern Suburban 2026 Football Preview

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be previewing every conference in the state as part of our preseason preparations.

Check out all of our Football Conference Previews for every league in the state, here.

2025 Recap: Markesan dominated the Eastern Suburban Conference last year, going unbeaten in the regular season and finishing two games ahead of anyone else in the league standings. The Hornets would get upset by eighth-seeded Belleville in Level 2 of the playoffs. There was a three-way tie for second between Marshall, Cambridge, and Poynette, though Poynette is the only one of the trio to win a playoff game. Waterloo also snuck into the postseason out of the Eastern Suburban.

Note: Fall River/Rio and Deerfield move out of the Eastern Suburban and into the Trailways. Belleville joins the Eastern Suburban from the SWAL, while Horicon/Hustisford enters from the Capitol.

2025 Eastern Suburban Season Information:
Standings
Stats
All-Conference

2025 SWAL Season Information:
Standings
Stats
All-Conference

2025 Capitol Season Information:
Standings
Stats
All-Conference

2026 PREVIEW:

Predicted Order of Finish:

1) Belleville
2) Cambridge
3) Markesan
4) Marshall
5) Poynette
6) Pardeeville
7) Horicon/Hustisford
8) Waterloo

Players to Watch:

Aiden Goehring, RB, Markesan: Goehring is the top returning rusher from the Hornets’ powerful ground attack, going for 528 yards and four touchdowns last season.

Evan Harbort, WR, Cambridge: Harbort led the Blue Jays with 22 catches for 473 yards and three touchdowns, averaging 21.5 yards per catch as a Second Team All-Conference pick.

Devin Jerome, WR, Pardeeville: Jerome, who is also a standout in basketball, caught 34 passes for 575 yards and six touchdowns to earn First Team All-Conference recognition.

Rayden Taylor, QB, Belleville: Taylor is a threat with his arm and his legs, throwing for 1,493 yards and 21 touchdowns last year while rushing for 640 and seven scores.

Julian Wells, QB, Pardeeville: Wells threw for 1,128 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, adding 502 yards and six scores on the ground as well.

2026 Team Previews

1) Belleville finished tied for second in the SWAL last year and advanced to a sectional final despite a seven-seed, but the Wildcats make the switch to the Eastern Suburban Conference for 2026. “Our skill positions are going to be a great strength for us,” head coach Mike Nolden said. “A large majority of the returning starters and letterwinners are our skill position players. With that, one of the weaknesses could be our offensive and defensive lines just based on how much we have to replace. We believe we have guys ready to step up and into those roles, but three of our offensive linemen will have to be guys with little to no varsity experience. We have a lot of guys that are very confident and motivated to prove we can make another deep run in the playoffs.” The Wildcats bring back six offensive starters, including dual-threat quarterback Rayden Taylor. Leading tackler Marcus Hebgen heads seven starters back on defense. After defeating undefeated Eastern Suburban champions in the playoffs the last two years, it will be an interesting transition for the Wildcats.

2) Cambridge looked good in the early part of the year, winning the first five games and seven of the first eight, setting up a chance at a share of the conference title in Week 9. However, they’d fall to Markesan and into a tie for second, then go out to Weyauwega-Fremont in a Level 1 home game. Head coach Rob Nelles has eight starters returning on offense as they look to push for a league title in the redesigned Eastern Suburban, with four returning receivers and three offensive linemen included in the group. However, the team has to replace quarterback Jett Horton as well as 1000-yard rusher Owain Nelles. Five starters return on defense, though there’s not a lot of experience in the front seven.

3) Markesan went through the regular season unbeaten and were awarded a two-seed in the Division 6 playoffs. However, they’d go out to Belleville in the first playoff contest. “We expect to be very competitive in every game we play,” head coach John Dunlavy said. “We will lean heavily on our play at the line of scrimmage on both sides. We will have a lot of talented football players who expect to win and know how to win. We have had a good off season in the weight room. I would not be surprised to see us playing late in the year for a chance at a conference championship. A weakness of ours will be a lack of depth, so we will need to stay healthy at certain positions.” Ryan Bock is back up front offensively, but many of the primary ballcarriers in the flexbone attack are gone. While there are just five returning starters on offense, the defense brings back nine starters, including top two tacklers Dawson Kelm and Keaton Jerome.

4) Marshall was among a trio of teams that finished tied for second in the Eastern Suburban Conference, though the Cardinals also dropped the two non-conference games to begin the year. A Level 1 loss to Bangor sent the team home with a 5-5 record. The 2026 season opens with a few more questions than normal. “The Cardinals will have a new quarterback under center for the first time in three years following the graduation of conference athlete of the year Brady Kleinheinz,” said head coach Matt Kleinheinz. “Also gone are the two fullbacks from our triple option offense; between those three graduates Marshall loses 86% of our rushing offense from last season.” The team does bring back four starters on offense, with five returning on defense.

5) Poynette had one of its better seasons in quite a while, finishing 7-2 during the regular season and tied for second in the Eastern Suburban. A Level 1 playoff win over Howards Grove marked the team’s first postseason victory since 2014. Now comes the challenging of following up on that and keeping the momentum going. “We lost a large and talented senior class so our weakness will be inexperience,” said head coach Greg Kallungi. “We have some talented players back who have learned a lot from that group, though, and are ready for their turn.” The Pumas have just two starters back on offense and two on defense this year, with Connor Raymond a two-way standout.

6) Pardeeville had some trying times in 2025, going 2-7, with several losses that could have gone either way. However, it was a very young group, with head coach Robert Harry reporting the return of 11 starters on both offense and defense. The spread Wing-T offense has a chance to put up big numbers, with quarterback Julian Wells back to direct things as well as dynamic receiver Devin Jerome plus leading rusher Karrsen Bussan return this fall.

7) Horicon/Hustisford won just one game last year, as the MarshFalcons competed in the tough, larger Capitol Conference. Moving to the Eastern Suburban isn’t the only change for the program this fall, as former Columbus and Ripon head coach Andrew Selgrad takes over. “New head coach with a new system on offense and defense, so there will be growing pains,” said Selgrad. “The team will be young but there is experience returning from the previous season. There is a good core group of players that are athletic. Playing in the Capital Conference the previous two seasons will help when we join the Eastern Suburban. It's all going to depend on how quickly we can learn the new system.” The MarshFalcons bring back five starters on offense and seven on defense, but none of the players who earned some form of All-Conference.

8) Waterloo put together a solid 2025 campaign, qualifying for the playoffs and finishing 5-5 overall after a Level 1 loss to Manitowoc Lutheran. Joe Jaehnke is replaced by Otto Degler as the team’s head coach this year. “We will have a new head coach this year and we will be replacing almost all of our starters this year, including at quarterback and four offensive lineman,” said Degler. “We were a run-heavy team last year, but had major injuries in the first 1/4 of the season. We return two running backs (Gavin Schroud, Kash Weisensel) we lost to season ending injuries that were on track for big years. We also will be losing most of our starting defense.” The Pirates return 17 letterwinners overall, but just three starters on offense and three on defense.