The fast-approaching WIAA football playoff brackets will be set this coming weekend. Playoff prognosticators and bracketologists are waiting to see if Prescott will be placed in the Division 4 or 5 bracket. Playoff brackets will be released at 10 a.m. Saturday with legions of Prescott Cardinals fans waiting with baited breath to see where Prescott lands at tournament time. 

Prescott Cardinal fans were quite impressed with the performance of Baldwin-Woodville Quarterback Gavin Sell. The North Dakota State recruit accounted for 339 yards of total offense, running for two touchdowns and throwing for two more as Baldwin-Woodville took over sole possession of first place. Pre-season conference favorite Somerset dropped to 0-6 on the season after their overtime loss to Altoona on Friday. The Spartans have now lost seven games in a row. 

Private school La Crosse Aquinas bested #1 ranked West Salem by a score of 20-18 last Friday. It appears undefeated Columbus will now take over the top spot in Division 4 with Baldwin-Woodville moving up to a top 5 spot. 

The Prescott volleyball team came storming back to beat the Somerset Spartans last Thursday in Prescott 3-2. After dropping the first two games, the Cardinals, led by San Jose State bound Natalie Ptacek, won the final three games of the match to improve to 4-2 in Middle Border Conference play with one league match to play. Osceola and St. Croix Central are tied atop the conference standings heading into the final week of the regular season. WIAA Seeding meetings will be held this week with tournament action scheduled to begin next Tuesday. Incidentally, Osceola Head Coach Holly Johnson is a Prescott High School alumnus and has skippered her volleyball teams to several conference championships over the course of her coaching career. 

Prescott cross country runner Kyra Dix turned in another impressive performance last Tuesday at the 14-team Amery Invitational. The talented sophomore harrier finished second, continuing her streak of medaling in every race this season. Junior Amber Van Loon also medaled for the Cardinals who finished in third place. For the boys, Nolan Leask was the first to cross the finish line for the Tim Phillips coached Cardinals as the boys also ended the day in third place as well. The Middle Border Conference meet will be held this Thursday in St. Croix Central. 

This week has been named National Sportsmanship and Fan Appreciation week by the National Federation of High Schools and the WIAA. Some fans and athletes need to do a better job of showing some of the former. 

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: The DNR is seeking preliminary public input on proposed modifications to the state’s deer management unit boundaries. The comment period will run from Oct. 11-20, 2024. The DNR reviews deer management units every few years. This review will focus on the management units in the Northern Forest Zone, the Metropolitan subunits and the boundary lines between the Forest and Farmland Zones. The Farmland Zone units are not being reviewed at this time. The purpose of this comment period is to help the DNR gauge public support for these changes.

The DNR celebrated the start of the 2024 elk hunting season on Saturday, Oct. 12. This is Wisconsin's seventh elk hunting season since the reintroduction of elk and will be the first season hunters have the opportunity to hunt in both the Northern and Central Elk Zones. Previous hunts only occurred within the Northern Elk Zone.

For 2024 trout anglers the last day of the general inland trout fishing season ended on Oct. 15.

The Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association will be hosting eight district meetings around the state over the next two weeks. WBCA head coaches will nominate coaches for various statewide coaching awards and also nominate deserving individuals for the WBCA Hall of Fame. 

Speaking of Halls of Fame, don’t forget to nominate deserving individuals for the Prescott Hall of Fame. Nomination forms are available on the Prescott School District website with the next Prescott Hall of Fame induction banquet scheduled for the fall of 2025. 

The WIAA recently held its annual Baseball Coaches Advisory Meetings in Stevens Point. Among the many topics discussed was whether or not schools with artificial turf should be allowed to host a sectional tournament. Currently the WIAA does not assign sectionals on artificial turf fields if they don’t allow metal cleats. Equipment that is legal according to NFHS rules must be allowed. During tournament series, a school cannot host a regional or sectional tournament game if they don’t allow metal cleats. Tim Gotzler requested more emphasis on this with schools. Harvey Knutson commented that using metal cleats on a turf field voids the warranty if problems occur. The question begs, how was Baldwin-Woodville able to host the sectional tournament last year? Stay tuned. 

In this day and age of PJ Fleck crowd surfing, Deion Sanders press conference diatribes, choreographed touchdown celebrations, and thuggish quarterback sack theatrical performances it is always interesting to find evidence of how coaches years ago used to motivate players. Whether it be Vince Lombardi or Bud Grant, Billy Martin or Earl Weaver, or Bear Bryant or Woody Hayes, players always knew who was in charge. When legendary and controversial coach Bobby Knight was asked about motivating his players the acerbic head coach said, “the greatest motivator for any athlete is the bench…plain and simple.” Incidentally, 98% of the players “hard to like” Knight coached at Indiana finished their degrees. However, the vast majority of people say there is absolutely no way Bobby Knight could coach college basketball today. 

Headshaker of the week: A recent survey showed almost 75% of kids quit playing competitive sports at the age of 13. The number one reason the kids stopped playing was “because it wasn’t fun anymore.” Additionally, youngsters also said “riding home from the game with my parents after we lost was so bad.” That’s a headshaker.