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!