Grafton running back Jack Nelson
DIVISION 2 | BRACKET
Toughest Road So Far
West Bend West is full of storylines this year. The team moved to a new conference, going from the North Shore to the newly formed Glacier Trails. It was voted on by the district that West and East would consolidate next year, meaning the final season as a standalone program. And after never winning a WIAA playoff game in school history coming into the season, the Spartans are into the Sectional Finals with wins over a pair of former North Shore rivals, first dispatching Slinger easily before a 35-21 road win over perennial power Homestead.
Cinderella
Division 2 features a couple of the biggest Cinderella teams still alive in the playoffs: #7 Brookfield Central and #6 Grafton. Brookfield Central is probably the most surprising, as the Lancers went just 3-6 during the regular season, including losses in six of the final seven games to barely qualify for the postseason. There were definitely some glimpses that they were better than their record, with four of the defeats by a single score and another by two scores. Still, to go on the road and defeat second-seeded Beaver Dam, in overtime no less, and then all the way across the state to beat River Falls is very impressive.
Most Impressive
Hard not to go with Notre Dame here, as the Tritons have dominating wins over an eighth-seeded Germantown team that definitely punched above its seed weight and fourth-seeded Menasha. Senior Kingston Allen continued his monster season with back-to-back 251-yard rushing performances, accounting for a total of 11 rushing scores in the two games.
The Match-Ups
#7 Brookfield Central (5-6) at #1 New Richmond (11-0)
Brookfield Central is the Cinderella story of the playoffs so far, and the Lancers will again make a lengthy trip across the state to take on undefeated New Richmond. The Lancers have loads of confidence, deservedly so, and have shown they can compete and now beat top-tier teams. New Richmond enters unbeaten, with North Dakota State running back commit Austyn Wittek providing a dependable and explosive option in the backfield. The Tigers are trying to advance to the state semifinals for the first time since 2015.
My Pick: New Richmond
#6 Grafton (7-4) at #1 Monona Grove (10-1)
Grafton lost almost its entire starting lineup from last year’s Division 3 state championship squad, and it has definitely taken the Black Hawks a bit to get things figured out, going 5-4 in the regular season, though all four losses were very competitive. Grafton has gone on the road to defeat third-seeded Greenfield and second-seeded Elkhorn in the playoffs. Now they travel to top-seeded Monona Grove, who has dominated outside of a 7-3 loss to Waunakee. The Silver Eagles have a dominating defense led by Deangelo Clay, while junior quarterback Jaxon Zukowski has really come into his own this year with 1,514 passing yards and 1,124 rushing yards.
My Pick: Monona Grove
#3 Pulaski (9-2) at #1 Notre Dame (11-0)
These teams are in opposite divisions of the FRCC and used to face off in conference play regularly. If you’re a fan of running the football, buckle in for this one. Pulaski runs the single-wing, orchestrated by Bohdan Schmidt, who has rushed for 1,192 yards while passing for 603. Of course Notre Dame features all-world running back Kingston Allen, who already has more than 3000 rushing yards.
My Pick: Notre Dame
#3 West Bend West (9-2) at #1 Union Grove (11-0)
West Bend West has been one of the stories of the playoffs, not only winning the first two playoff games in program history, but doing so in its final year as a standalone program before combining with West Bend East next year. The Spartans defense has been spectacular this year. On the other side is a Union Grove team that has been among the most dominant in the state this season, going unbeaten to the point. The Broncos are big and physical, and feature brothers JJ and Bennett Fletcher, who each have 97 tackles on defense.
My Pick: Union Grove
My Picks:
(5-3 last week; 19-5, 79.17% overall in Division 2)
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 as Communications and Website Director. 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].
