First and foremost, the big change in offensive philosophy since I started covering prep football in the early 1970's. By and large, most high school quarterbacks can (and will) throw with precision. Long gone are the days of "three yards and a cloud of dust". Oh, sure, there are still programs at schools that will run-run-run to daylight (Edgar in D-7 and Brookfield East in D-2 come to mind).
I watched the D-6 contest between Fond du Lac St. Mary's Springs and Eau Claire Regis with interest. I ran across Springs starting in 1972 when, as a college freshman, I was given the Lourdes Academy beat while a sportswriter with the Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. Springs was coached then by Bob Hyland, who had been on the job two years -- 49 years later, Springs is STILL coached by Bob Hyland.
Yes, 49 years at one school with a Wisconsin-best 478 victories, plus 26 trips to a state football title game. This year, Springs won 7-0 for a third straight title and ninth WIAA overall (out of 12 appearances) since the WIAA absorbed the teams from the WISAA. Hyland took Springs to 14 title games in WISAA, winning another 8 titles there.
This season resulted not only in a state title for the 72-year-old Hyland, but State Coach of The Year honors.
He was coaching a grandson this year, sophomore QB/DE Isaac Hyland, son of 1991 state player of the year Rob Hyland. Says the elder Hyland, "I'm a lot nicer to (Isaac) than I was to my son. He gets away with a lot more, because Grandma would kill me."
In other thoughts
- Stratford, in D-5 entered the game having outscored opponents 649-7 (yes, you read that right!) and led 13-0 before falling 22-13.
- Deforest knocked off the Menasha Bluejays 8-6 in D-3. Hated the outcome, as Deforest scored with 32 seconds left and then made the 2-pt. conversion. Felt bad for Menasha, a school I covered back in the day -- they had really dominated most of the way.
- Waunakee lost to Brookfield East in D-2, a wild 32-31 game. Waunakee scored with 8 seconds remaining, but on the PAT kick the ball slid off the tee as the holder was spinning it, and the kicker shanked the attempt. STILL not sure why Coach Pat Rice didn't go for the 2-pt attempt. He wasn't having any real success stopping Brookfield East all day.
- The 8-Man title was won last weekend by Luck, beating Wausau Newman Catholic 42-27 behind Levi Jensen, who rushed 25 times for 432 yards, scored five touchdowns and three two-point conversions. Jensen, a 5-10, 195-pound senior, capped a pretty good campaign for unbeaten Luck -- finishing with 175 carries for 2,321 yards (13.26 average) along with 38 touchdowns and 19 conversions for 266 points.
There are 50 schools now playing 8-Man Football in Wisconsin, with five other programs currently inactive. For those schools seeing shrinking enrollment, and maybe those that lack the co-op opportunity with a nearby school district, this seems to be a growing state trend.
