Week 6 High School Football Thoughts

Hey everyone...

I just wanted to drop in a few thoughts this morning on Friday night's high school football action in our area.

First off congrats to Fond du Lac for earning a trip to the post season with a 10-7 win at Oshkosh West last night. Fondy just keeps finding a way to win ball games and they've turned it into a 5-1 start to the year. I would be even Coach Koz couldn't have envisioned a start like this to the season. At 5-1, and the playoff secure, now you start looking at the team above you Kimberly, and thinking maybe you have a shot at the FVA Title. Kimberly beat Menasha 28-21 last night but their starting tailback Mike Sewall to a hip pointer. The Appleton Post-Crescent said he was questionable for next week's matchup with Oshkosh West. I do think Kimberly has enough talent to overcome the loss of the FVAs top rusher, but it is a blow to the powerful offense. You never know, if Fondy continues to create their own breaks, they could be standing on top of the FVA mountain in about a month.

As for last night's game it was a cold rainy night at Titan Stadium and once again the offense did what they had to do and the defense made plays in clutch moments.

First off, give it up to Coach Koz for guttsy play calling. Fondy could have been content by trailing 7-0 at the end of the first half with his team pinned inside their own five yard line by taking a knee and heading to the locker room. Coach Koz called a reverse to Paul Biolo who took it around the left end and then cut it back across the middle for 73 yards. That set up a 28 yard Kyle Senn field goal to make it 7-3.

Fondy came out in the 2nd half and had an impressive time consuming drive that was capped by a Mike Shea TD run and the Cardinals took the 10-7 lead.

The defense then took over for Fondy. As always they seemed on the verge of folding up the tent again but they made a few big plays to secure the win. Chris Agrell got his yards and West moved the football, but couldn't punch it in the end zone. Late in the 3rd quarter, Agrell looked like he would walk into the end zone for a score, but Josh Korb made a great open field tackle at the 1....that was big because...on first and goal, another West running back fumbled the ball into the end zone and Fondy recovered for the touchback. After the teams traded possessions Paul Biolo sealed the deal with an INT off of a tipped ball late in the game.

Kyle Senn didn't have the big day catching the football last night, but his punting is by far the best I have seen in a long time. Late in the game, Senn pinned West inside the one and on another kick, angled it away from Agrell and left it inside the 20 with no chance for a return. Senn will be the All-FVA First Team Punter this year.

Fondy also has another weapon emerging in receiver Kyle Duqaine. The birthday boy just turned 18 this week and is maturing into a great compliment to Senn. Team's can't key on Senn or Duqaine will burn you as well.

Another guy I want to give props to is Paul Biolo. He doesn't get a ton of carries on offense, and on defense you may not hear his name alot, which mean's he's doing his job. Biolo has been a guy that has made the big play when Fondy needs it this year. Whether it's knocking down a late pass against Neenah, or the big run at the end of the first half last night, or the game clinching INT, or just haveing a great seal block from his slot back position. He is just one heck of a football player.

Here are some quick Oshkosh West thoughts....this team is as talented as any team in the FVA, but something seems missing. They just didn't all seem on the same page on Friday night, or they got a penalty at bad time. Agrell is as good as a back as you'll see at the high school level, Wegner has as good of an arm as anyone in high school football and his receivers seem to be decent, even though they did have a few drops last night. Something just didn't seem right watching them play. West has the talent to beat FVA leader Kimberly next week, but lets see if they can put it together and not be as sloppy as they were against Fondy.

Here are some quick hitters from other games on Friday...

Congrats to North Fond du Lac for their 36-7 win at Princeton last night ending a long victory drought. October of 2002 was the Orioles last win. I'm happy to see these young men rewarded for their hard work. Coach Lehman and his staff have been working hard to bring back the program and there is no better pay-off than a "W!"

If there was another game besides the Fondy game I wish I could have been at on Friday it would have been the WLA-Ripon game. It sounds like that was a wild one...as much as a 9-7 game could be. WLA with the 9-0 lead late, and Ripon nearly pulling off the comeback with a score and an onside kick recovery. It would have been great to see. The atmosphere at Ripon is always a great one for high school football. I hope this win can springboard WLA to a run at the conference title.

One other note before I get out of here today. I've heard rumblings from other coaches and officials that a certain team in the area that has a lot of talent may not be making many friends this year around their conference. Most of the time you can chalk that up as sour grapes when a team is good, but in this case I'm not so sure. We'll leave it at that...let's see how it all plays out.

Again...great wins last night for Fondy, WLA and North Fondy!

Next week it's Homecoming for Fond du Lac as they host Kaukauna. As always if you can't make it to Fruth you can hear the game on News-Talk 1450 KFIZ. Bob Hoffmaster has the weekend off to celebrate his anniversary with his lovely bride Kate, so Justin Hull will be joining me in the broadcast booth. Covearge begins Friday night at 6pm with the Trepanier's Backyard Grill Friday Night Kickoff Show live from Fruth. Fondy and the Ghosts will tee it up at 7pm. If you head to the game, bring your headset along and listen to the broadcast!

As always if you're at the game, please stop up to the broadcast booth before the game or at halftime and say hi! You can always email me with any comments or questions you may have about prep sports or anything in general. My email is wade@kfiz.com.

Have a great week everyone!

Operation Welcome Home

I'd like to thank Fond du Lac City Manager Tom Herre for being a "guest host" of The Breakfast Club on Friday. It was a good time.

Mr. Herre mentioned that the city is getting ready to welcome home Charlie Company from Iraq with an Operation Welcome Home celebration on November 4th at 10am with the parade and then a ceremony at the Fond du Lac County Fairgrounds at 11am.

If you would like to donate to the cause you can contribute by sending a donation to

Operation Welcome Home
P.O. Box 2121
Fond du Lac, WI 54936


Thanks.

Bestor Named Head Boys BBall Coach at KMHS

I had this come across my desk today....Congrats to Brad getting the head boys basketball job at Kettle Moraine High school! Brad's a quality guy, with a strong basketball background and I"m sure he'll do a great job at KMHS!

Anyone want to see a non-conference game scheduled with Fondy?

KMHS ATHLETIC DIRECTOR ANNOUNCES
NEW HEAD BOYS’ BASKETBALL COACH TODAY

The Kettle Moraine Board of Education unanimously approved Athletic Director Mike Fink’s top choice for the head boys’ basketball coach position at Kettle Moraine High School. Brad Bestor will join the Kettle Moraine High School coaching staff for the 2006-2007 school year succeeding Mark Ritter. Mr. Bestor brings a wealth of experience to the table. He is currently a high school social studies teacher in the Milwaukee Public School system at Vincent High School. Mr. Bestor has been assistant basketball coach for four years at Vincent High School and Germantown High School. He has also held the assistant coaches position at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore – a Division 1 school.

Brad Bestor’s playing career at the collegiate level featured four years of Division 1 basketball at Northeastern Illinois and New Mexico State University. “My experiences have truly contributed to my passion and understanding of the game as well as my interest in teaching and working with young adults,” explains Brad Bestor in an e-mail to KMHS Athletic Director Mike Fink.

Flip Flops for #4!

Packer quarterback Brett Favre is famous for wearing flip flops to postgame or midweek press conferences during his time in Green Bay. Recently as Brett has been pressed about his future, those flip flops have been a real symbol of his words.

With Green Bay going nowhere but back to the top of the NFL Draft, questions have risen about the three-time MVP possibly finishing his career with another team. In the past, Brett has said that he wanted to finish his career in Green Bay and wouldn't consider playing elsewhere. Then Bob Costas asked Favre a few weeks ago that if the Packers told him they wanted to go with Aaron Rodger, would he go play for another team. Favre said that YES, he would consider playing for another team after the season if Green Bay didn't want him and he still wanted to play. That caused a huge uproar with people in Wisconsin and nationally.

Now Wednesday at Favre's Bye-Weekly Press Conference, Favre was asked by a writer, "If John Gruden or Joe Gibbs would call and offer a fair trade that would send Favre to the Bucs or Redskins would he go?" Favre said "No." That sort of counter-acts what he said to Costas in a way. Favre went on to say that he is committed to being a Packer for the rest of his career and he didn't think he alone could be the difference for one of those teams going to the Super Bowl. And if he went some where and didn't win it, people would be upset.

He wants to stay...he wants to go...he would go to another team....he wants to retire a Packer.

With all of these flip-flops all Favre needs is some sun screen and he'd be ready for the beach! He would have also fit in well with John Kerry in the 2004 Presidental election. Ha! Just kidding my Democratic friends!

Prep Football: Cards Find A Way

Here are some thoughts from last night's high school football action in the area as I get ready to head to Camp Randall....pardon any typos! ha!

First lets start with the game I was at up in Appleton. The Fondy Cardinals squeaked out a 14-9 victory over now 0-4 Appleton East. It hasn't been pretty this year for the Cardinals but they have found ways to win games....which I like. The offense did just enough last night to get the win and it was their defense came through in the end to make a play to earn the victory. Appleton East isn't as bad as their 0-4 record shows. Their QB Mike Mullins is pretty good with the football, but has missed time with injuries. He's got some zip on the ball and does a nice job of hiding the rock on play fakes.

Fondy's defense seems to always have me on edge, with a feeling like the other team is ready to make a big play, but it doesn't happen. The Cards got four INTs last night including one late in the came, by Josh Korb that sealed the deal and the win. On offense,

Fondy struggled to get the ground game going, but again it was QB Ben Anderson who made things happen through the air. Anderson coming off of a shoulder injury, was involved in two big time plays. On Fondy's first score he threw a nice pass to Kyle Duquaine that threaded the needle between three defenders for a 26 yard score. On TD #2, Andeson and WR Kyle Senn improvised on a broken play to create a 31 yard scord which saw Senn weave his way through traffic across the field into the end zone. Efficient is the best way to characterize Fondy's passing game....9-11 for 110 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT were Andreson's numbers by my broadcast parterner Bob Hoffmaster's stat book. That is pretty impressive.

This was another big win for the Cards who are now 3-1 on the season. They sit tied with Oshkosh West at 3-1, a game behind Kimberly in the FVA race. Four teams are log jammed a game back behind the Cardinals and Wildcats so it looks like another wild race to the finish. I think this race may be for 2nd place as Kimberly is GOOD! With games against Menasha and Oshkosh West on the horizon, it was good to get win #3 as Fondy has to get 5 to make the playoffs.

Here's a couple of other Fondy notes....FONDY PRIDE is a term that is thrown around quite a bit with those associated with the high school, but sometimes I wonder if those words ring true or if they are just that words. Cardinal coach Brad Kozaczuk has done something I like. Teachers around Fondy high will be wearing Cardinal jersey's on game days. You're so used to seeing a players girlfriend or just the player wearing their jersey on gameday, but the teachers....great idea coach!

One other Fondy Pride note, that came about at the Neenah game last week and it was pointed out by Bob Hoffmaster. The Rocket pep band played the Fondy fight song as part of their pregame, a unique song by the way, and the Fondy fans just sat there on their hands. The cheerleaders did their thing, as they always do, but come on Fondy fans. Show that Fondy Pride! When your pep band plays the song....stand and be proud...and when the visiting teams pep band does it show them some respect and appreciation for their efforts and stand as well!

Elsewhere around the area...

WLA got a big win last night at Brown Deer as they bounced back from last week's loss to Springs. The Vikes will finally jump into conference play next week after 4 non-conference games...sheesh.

One another WLA note, my co-worker Justin Hull tells me that former Viking star Josh McCormick, who is currently a redshirt freshman at Northern Illinois has been moved from quarterback to linebacker.

As for Springs, they are 1-3 after getting spanked by Mayville last night at Fruth. Now, I'm not pushing the panic button yet, and I'm confident the Ledgers will rally and make the playoffs, but there's not much room for error here now, and the injuries are starting to mount for Springs. I believe a couple more players got hurt last night.

Charter Sports is also a good thing, being at the Fondy game on football Friday nights, its always nice to come home and catch a game at 10:30pm on Channel 25. I wanted to see Mayville's Matt Haas play and that's the only real way to do it if you can't see other teams during the football season if you cover one team, like I do covering Fondy for KFIZ.

North Fondy is still looking for a win this season after losing to Laconia last night. The Orioles still have kept a positive attitude as they try and rebuild the program. That effort got a little recognition as they were the featured team last night on the Football Friday Night postgame show on News-Talk 1450 KFIZ. It airs on about 30 stations in Wisconsin and features scores and highlights from high school games around the state. Host Bill Scott interviewd Oriole coach Nate Lehman this week and his interview led off the show. Yes, the team is still searching for their first win of the year, but people around the state have noticed that good things are happening in North Fondy.

OK...I gotta get to Camp Randall....and I have a bad feeling about today's game against San Diego State...I think UW will win, but I dont' think it will be easy.

Next week, Fondy is back home against a tough Menasha team. The Blue Jays are coming off an upset loss to rival Neenah last night, so they'll be ready to go. You can hear all the action on News-Talk 1450 KFIZ. Coverage begins at 6pm with the Trepanier's Backyard Grill Friday Night Kickoff Show.

As always if you're at the game, stop up to the press box and say hi!

We'll see you at the games!

Fondy Heads to Appleton East

It's amazing how fast the high school football season flys by. We are at week #4 of the season, which is in fact the so-called "halfway" point of the Friday night games as the final game of the regular season is on either Wednesday or Thursday. It also amazes me that you can go through almost half a season and final have the first "normal" week of practice...meaning that the kids are in school for the full week with the normal practice schedule after school. With teams starting so early now and school starting later and later...and then the Labor Day holiday, it took this long to get to a "normal" week.

Last week Fondy picked up a HUGE win on the road at Neenah. I look at Fondy, Neenah, Menasha, and Oshkosh North as so called "middle of the pack teams." or teams that may not have enough to win a conference title, but have enough to make the playoffs. Getting a road win at Neenah was big for Fondy to take another step to getting that 5th win of the season and qualifying for the post-season.

The way Fondy did it was also impressive. The Cards were rolling in the first half, when QB Ben Anderson went down with an injury. Sophomore Joe Bertram came in and as coach Koz said "managed" the game well and didn't do anything to put the Cards in danger of losing the lead.

On defense, it got scary for the Cards. Neenah went to a Power-I in the 3rd quarter and ran all over Fondy, and it looked like they would score at will and run away from the Cards. That didn't happen though. After two TDs, Fondy made some adjustments on defense and shut down the Rockets and held on for the win after a big play by Paul Biolo in the secondary to secure the win.

The Cards showed great character in picking up the win. In fact both of their wins this season have been close, which should bode well for them down the stretch of the season.

This week its off to winless Appleton East. The Patriots are 0-3 but a few mistakes have cost them games, so it won't be a cake-walk for the Cardinals. Fondy would love to have Ben Anderson back at QB on Friday night, but if not, I'm sure Joe Bertram will do fine.

Let's face it, this game on Friday night is a game Fond du Lac should win, leaving them at 3-1 on the season. With two tough games coming up, at home against Menasha and at Oshkosh West, a win would be big for momentum, and keep them on track for the playoffs.

If you can't make it to Appleton East, you can hear the game on News-Talk 1450 KFIZ. The kickoff is set for 7pm. Our high school coverage begins at 6pm with the Trepanier's Backyard Grill Friday Night Kickoff Show. That show will broadcast live from Fruth Field as Springs gets set to host Mayville.

I'll see you at the game!

PS...Thanks for the hat! (You know who you are!)