Mississippi Valley 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.

Disclaimer: I am an assistant coach at Reedsburg and my son is a sophomore in the Reedsburg football program. I will not be including Reedsburg in the predicted order of finish.

2025 Recap: A year after the MVC had a five-way tie for the title, it was another highly competitive season. La Crosse Central had a chance to close out an outright crown in the final regular season game, but fell to Onalaska, allowing Holmen to get back into a share of the title. Central, La Crosse Logan, and Onalaska all won one playoff game before going out, while Holmen dropped its opening game. Despite a tie for fourth in the standings, Reedsburg got hot in the playoffs and advanced to the Division 3 state title game, falling in the final seconds to Grafton.

2025 Season Information:
Standings
Stats
All-Conference

2026 PREVIEW:

Predicted Order of Finish:

1) Holmen
2) La Crosse Logan
3) Onalaska
4) La Crosse Central
5) Sparta
6) Tomah
7) Baraboo
N/A) Reedsburg

Players to Watch:

Tommy Check, QB, La Crosse Logan: Check threw for 793 yards and ran for 1,018 last year, accounting for 20 touchdowns to earn Second Team All-Conference recognition.

Brendan Chenault, WR/DB, Onalaska: Chenault is a dynamic athlete who had 376 yards receiving last year, was a threat in the return game, and earned First Team All-Conference recognition as a defensive back.

Mason Flury, LB, Holmen: Flury took home not only First Team All-Conference recognition but MVC Defensive Player of the Year honors as a junior last year.

Landon Knuth, OL/DL, Reedsburg: Knuth was a two-way First Team All-Conference selection last year and a WFCA All-Region choice on the defensive line.

Rylen Knuth, OL/DL, Reedsburg: Knuth took home Second Team All-Conference recognition on both sides of the ball last year and joins twin brother Landon as one of the top linemen in the state.

Everett Laufenberg, QB, Sparta: Laufenberg threw for 1,301 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Spartans a year ago.

Gabe Servais, QB/DB, La Crosse Central: Servais was a First Team All-Conference defensive back and accounted for more than 1200 yards of offense last year.

Kaeson Stettler, RB, Onalaska: Stettler led the Hilltoppers in rushing last year, going for 636 yards and seven touchdowns despite missing time with injury,

2026 Team Previews

1) Holmen finished in a tie atop the Mississippi Valley Conference, going 8-1 overall in the regular season. They’d get a two-seed in the playoffs, but lost an opening game to Nicolet. A talented senior class departs, but head coach Travis Kowalski does return 12 starters from a year ago. “We will have 28 seniors this year, which is the largest group of seniors in my 18 years at Holmen,” said Kowalski. “Pairing that with 24 juniors, we will have a lot of competition at every position.” They don’t have a lot of carries under their belts, but look for John Faherty and Jaki Ayed to get a lot more chances in the backfield, behind three returning starting offensive linemen. The defense is strong in the backend, including MVC Defensive Player of the Year Mason Flury.

2) La Crosse Logan put together a solid 2025 season, finishing fourth in the very competitive Mississippi Valley Conference, with all of the defeats in close games, and beat Wisconsin Lutheran 42-19 in the first playoff game before seeing a halftime lead go away in a 31-22 loss to Catholic Memorial. 1500-yard rusher Maxim Roberts graduates, but the Rangers to return junior quarterback Thomas Check, who threw for nearly 800 yards and added 1,018 yards on the ground. Jesse Lycke is a standout two-way lineman that is also back for veteran coach Casey Knoble, who always has the Rangers in a very competitive spot.

3) Onalaska qualified for the playoffs for a 16th straight season, finishing third in the Mississippi Valley Conference. They’d defeat Menomonie in level 1, but dropped a heartbreaker to Pewaukee the next week. Head coach Tom Yashinsky will have a young group, with just 11 seniors and only five starters back, but there’s definitely reason to think the playoff streak will continue. “We have a lot of depth at skill positions, but our lines will be tested early,” he said. “Numbers are well over 100 in the program so the long term outlook is good but it's going to take the summer to see how guys fit into positions.” There are some excellent athletes ready to step in, including Kaeson Stettler, who missed a good amount of time but still showed flashes at running back. Brendan Chenault is one of the area’s top all-around athletes and will be an impact player at receiver and defensive back. Wyler Burch was the backup quarterback last season and is another strong run-and-jump athlete will make an impact somewhere. Keep an eye on Adam Kuhn as a breakout player.

4) La Crosse Central dropped non-conference games to Waunakee and Ellsworth, but rallied to win the next six games before falling to Onalaska in the final regular season game. In doing so, the Riverhawks would tie for the Mississippi Valley Conference title. After downing Menasha in Level 1 of the playoffs, they’d drop a road game in Level 2 to River Falls. Head coach Mitch Olson left for Menomonie in the offseason, as Michael Arnold takes over. Quarterback and linebacker standout Christian Rudrud graduates after accounting for more than 2600 yards of offense, though Gabe Servais is a versatile multi-year varsity player who will likely move into that role.

5) Sparta narrowly missed out on the playoffs for a second straight season, as a 4-5 overall mark was not quite enough to get the Spartans in the postseason. With six starters returning on both sides of the ball, there should be improvement this year, though the conference remains highly competitive. There’s a strong group of seniors up front, with some talented skill players back as well, including starting quarterback Everett Laufenberg and versatile Hunter Huntington. “We have a few juniors that are next level talent that will be relied upon heavily,” said head coach Nick Kingeter. “We have a large group of incoming sophomores that had success in the lower levels and will be playing varsity minutes this year.”

6) Tomah won just once last year, a conference victory over Baraboo. Collin Eswein takes over for Joe Protz as head coach this season. The Timberwolves return four starters on offense and six on defense. “We have good depth at our skill positions which will create good competition throughout the year,” said Eswein, a 2015 graduate of Tomah. “We are young and also not very deep on our offensive or defensive line,” he added. Quarterback Quinn Gerke and top receiver Silas Cram are among the returnees for the Timberwolves.

7) Baraboo had some competitive games early in the year, but struggled as the season went along, allowing at least 42 points in the final six games, as the Thunderbirds finished 0-9. Steve Turkington stepped down in the off-season, with B.J. Pryor taking over. Leading rusher Ethan Huelsemann does return this year, and Baraboo will lean heavily on him to carry the load.

N/A) Reedsburg was riding high early but would drop three Mississippi Valley Conference games by a total of 14 points, finishing in a tie for fourth in the league standings. They’d get things on track towards the end of the year, and raced through the playoffs all the way to a state title game, coming up just short in a last second 17-15 loss to Grafton in the D3 championship. The Beavers will need to replace two-way All-State selection Will Mikonowicz, who made the switch to running back midway through the year and rushed for 2,642 yards and 42 touchdowns. Junior Ian McClure is the top returning rusher with 559 yards, when he averaged 12.4 per carry. He’s one of four starters back on offense, with eight returning on defense. Junior twins Rylen and Landon Knuth are among the best linemen in the entire state.

Disclaimer – I am an assistant coach at Reedsburg.