Week 2 Rapid Reaction

The high school football community suffered a pair of shocking tragedies in the last week. Alma Center Lincoln senior Adam Massman passed away after an injury that occurred in the Hornets’ game last Thursday night against Turtle Lake, per WEAU. Massman suffered the injury late in the contest, and the game was called after emergency medical personnel began treatment. Massman was a senior quarterback for Alma Center Lincoln and a multi-sport athlete for the Hornets. The school canceled this week’s game and has already canceled the Week 3 game as well.

On Thursday, Ithaca/Weston freshman Briggs Maxwell was killed in a tragic farm accident. Friday’s football game was canceled, but many in the Ithaca community, including many of the Ithaca/Weston team members as well as Briggs’ family, attended a game in nearby Richland Center, where Briggs was recognized.

Many games around the state featured a moment of silence to honor the memory of the athletes lost too soon this year.

A week after rushing for 458 yards and seven touchdowns on 38 carries in a wild 56-53 victory over Neenah, Notre Dame senior Kingston Allen, a Badger football commit, put up another huge day. In Friday’s 35-28 victory over D2 #4 Kaukauna, Allen carried the ball 46 times for 453 yards and five touchdowns. Through two weeks of the season he has an incredible 911 yards and 12 touchdowns on 84 carries.

Notre Dame will welcome in a winless Manitowoc Lincoln squad in Week 3. In last year’s 42-7 blowout win, Allen had his lowest rushing output of the season (not counting a game he missed with injury) with just 53 yards and a touchdown.

Many top teams, especially in the larger divisions, really challenged themselves in the non-conference season, which led to some outstanding games. However, it also meant some really solid programs had to lose. For some teams, the first two weeks were a bit of a nightmare. The following traditionally strong programs all sit at 0-2 heading into conference action in Week 3.

While some teams who went down in Week 1 continued to struggle (see above), some were able to get back on track in Week 2 of the season.

Mukwonago dropped a close one to Appleton North to open the year, but the Indians got a course correction in a 35-28 win over Badger.

Lake Mills was shutout by Freedom in a Week 1 surprising score, despite returning All-State quarterback Tyler Wollin and a strong group of pass-catchers. The offense got back on track in a big way last night, scoring a 66-38 victory over McFarland.

Defending state champion Grafton rebounded from an opening 14-10 loss to Mount Horeb/Barneveld with a 36-24 win against Slinger on Friday night.

After a loss to Arrowhead to begin the year, the Marquette Hilltoppers took down one of the upstart Week 1 teams, scoring a 31-30 win over Kenosha Bradford in overtime.

Waunakee dropped a tough one to Muskego in Week 1, but the Warriors had to get right back on the horse quickly, facing off against Franklin in Week 2. Things went better this time, as Waunakee handed Franklin a 34-7 defeat.

In a battle of top five teams in their respective divisions, D6 #4 Bonduel took down D7 #3 Coleman 19-7 on Thursday night.

Stevens Point got off to a hot start to the year, beating River Falls 41-18. However, things went differently in Week 2 against another Big Rivers Conference contest, with New Richmond blowing out the Panthers 48-14 Thursday night.

In a border battle matchup of defending state champions, Wisconsin’s D6 winner from last season Darlington had no trouble with Illinois’ 1A (smallest division) winner from last year Lena-Winslow. The Redbirds cruised to a 35-0 win.

In the most Stratford-Edgar score that could Stratford-Edgar, it was the visiting Tigers from Stratford that came out ahead in a 6-3 win over Edgar on Friday night. Kolton Haupt hit Matthew Schoenfuss late in the fourth quarter for the game-winning points.

In a game moved up to 5 pm on Friday due to lightning damage to lights at Union Grove’s field, the Broncos posted an impressive 35-7 win over D3 #4 Whitefish Bay. Senior quarterback Quinn Schultz accounted for 286 yards of offense and four touchdowns.

Lake Country Lutheran took down defending Division 5 state champion Mayville 17-14 on Friday night, despite rushing for just five yards in the game. Junior quarterback Will Molnau threw for 262 yards in the win.

Baldwin-Woodville made the trip all the way across the state to play at Pewaukee, and while it was a tight one at halftime (Pewaukee led 17-14), the host Pirates pulled away for a 31-14 victory, rolling up 306 rushing yards in the win.

Almond-Bancroft suited up just 11 players for their 8-player game vs Marion/Tigerton last night and trailed 34-16 at one point. However, behind 401 rushing yards and six TD’s from Kaden Martinez, Almond-Bancroft rallied for a 54-34 victory.