1976: A LOOK AT THE START OF THE WIAA FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS

The WIAA gave in to pressure from coaches to formulate a football playoff program that would start in 1976. It was a two-year baby step approach to see if the playoffs would stay. Now, if you look at my book, The Great Teams, you will see a listing of the Associated Press and United Press football poll results for the seasons 1947 and 1958-1975 (There were no polls between 1948-57). What you won’t see is the final press poll that was presented in 1976 because it really didn’t mean anything. The playoffs would determine the state champion, not in three groups of teams as the polls did (Big, Middle and Small schools) but in four classes (AA, A. B and C). Sounds easy, doesn’t it? It wasn’t. Choosing who would play and in what class was a problem that the WIAA would have to address. First, let’s look the final polls:

Big Schools:

1) Racine Horlick 9-0

2) Antigo 9-0

3) South Milwaukee 9-0 AND Madison West 8-1

5) Milwaukee Madison 9-0

6) Plymouth 9-0

Middle Schools:

1) Clintonville 9-0

2) Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs 9-0

3) Stevens Point Pacelli 10-0

4) Prairie du Chien 10-0

5) Wisconsin Dells 9-0

6) Ripon 8-0

7) Westfield 9-0

Small Schools:

1) Spring Valley 9-0

2) DeSoto 9-0

3) Fall Creek 9-0

4) Wild Rose 9-0

For the most part, setting teams up into three classes would have been easy. Just take the top four schools in the AP poll and be done with it but the WIAA went with four classes and that presented some problems. The WIAA spent $5,000 on a computer program to determine teams using a complex point system based on won-loss records, opponents schedule and overall strength of schedules. What they got was:

Class AA:

• Antigo (#2 in the AP poll) vs. Milwaukee Madison (#5 in the AP poll)

• Racine Horlick (# 1 in the AP poll) vs. South Milwaukee (#3 in the AP poll)

• No Madison West.

Class A:

• Clintonville (#1 in the Middle School AP poll) vs. Wisconsin Dells (#5 in the Middle School AP poll)

• Hartland Arrowhead (#12 in the Big School AP poll) vs. Menomonee Falls East (#20 in the Big School AP poll with an 8-2 record)

Class B

• Mondovi (#8 in the Middle School AP poll with an 9-0 record) vs Plymouth (#6 in the Big School AP poll)

• Iowa-Grant (#11 in the Middle School AP poll with an 9-0 record) vs. Prairie de Chien (#4 in the Middle School AP poll).

Class C

• Spring Valley (#1 in the Small School AP poll and sporting a 43-game winning streak) vs. DeSoto (#2 in the Small School AP poll)

• Westfield (#7 in the Middle School AP poll) vs. Wild Rose (#4 in the Small School AP poll)

• No Fall Creek.

Antigo would rule in Class AA, defeating Racine Horlick 6-0. Menomonee Falls East defeated Clintonville 12-7 to become the Class A champions despite two regular season losses. Plymouth overpowered Iowa-Grant 42-12 to win the Class B title. In Class C DeSoto beat Wild Rose 32-14.

Schools were not happy with the placement or exclusion of several schools in the playoff roster. To say the least, Madison West and Fall Creek were not happy with being excluded while others protested that moving Plymouth down to Class B wasn’t right. What has to be remembered is that the WIAA football playoffs were an experiment. The association wasn’t sure that the playoffs would work so they took small steps, inviting 16 schools to the playoffs. The field would be expanded to five divisions in 1978-80 and to six divisions from 1981-2001. Since 2002 there have been seven divisions and the number of teams allowed to participate has grown from that total of 16 schools in 1976 to 224 schools in 2019. 8-player teams have developed and that has expanded playoff pools even more. The seasons have gotten longer and have started earlier to accommodate the season ending on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. After the completion of 1976 WIAA championships, what had been an experiment, with all its flaws, was now a reality. The expanded games were a money maker. Fans and schools wanted more and there was no going back.

What those fans and school’s got was also a lot more controversy in 1977...

What's the Call?

A recent post was an excerpt from my book. It featured the section describing the 1966 Elmwood vs. St. Croix Central game. The strangeness of that game reminded me of something I saw in high school…yes, 50+ years ago. I have seen some very strange plays and official calls over the years but if someone were to ask me what the craziest thing I ever saw was, it would have to be this. And I don't even know how it ended.

As a sophomore in 1967 I was on the Delafield St. John’s Military Academy JV team. The JV had played on Thursday and I was free to watch the varsity play on Saturday afternoon. It was very late October or very early November. You know how the weather can change around here. The game started off cloudy and about 45 degrees. Most of the cadets were dressed like myself with our uniform jacket. Not a heavy winter coat. As the game progressed so did the weather and not in a nice way. The wind picked up, gusting in the range of 30 miles per hour and it got colder. The field ran along atop a hill from east to west. By halftime the temperature had dropped considerably and the wind was even stronger as the gusts must have been in the low 50s. Then it started to snow. I remember telling a couple of the guys around me that I was going back to the barracks. It was just too cold to stay. As I walked along the sideline to leave our opponent punted and the ball really flew and was downed on our two-yard line. We were facing the wind. I paused to watch the game and we ran three rushing plays but only got to the 11-yard line. I walked a few more steps when our punter came onto the field. I stopped to watch some more. The snow was now flying sideways as the wind was really blowing hard. From the sidelines it was hard to watch but I did. The ball was snapped and the punter, standing just inside the goal line, took the ball and really put his foot into it. Just then, the wind came crashing in from the west and the ball was lifted high into the air and went no further than the five- or six-yard line then blew back, over the punter and through the goal post. It was like a reverse field goal. I was pelted with heavy snow and I turned and left the field BUT I never learned how the officials ruled the play.

How would you have ruled it? Down the ball on the 11-yard line and turn it over to our opponent? Was it a safety as the ball went through the back of the endzone? Help me out, please. Let me know by e-mail or the Contact section of the blog.

Other teams and Belmont 2020

One of the questions I've been getting asked is “Why isn’t my team mentioned in the book?” “Did you ever look at TEAM X?”

Well, the answer is maybe I never discovered enough information on a school to be able to consider the team. Prior to the radio interview last week, I went to Muskego High School and dropped off a copy for the co-host, Ryan McMillon, to look over. He asked me if Muskego was in the book and I said, no, but the reason for that is their story hasn’t ended. They are still going strong and that chapter will be added in the future. There is plenty of information about Muskego. Yet, some chapters are yet to be discovered.

Another person who purchased my book, Cameron of Hudson, asked me about the Belmont teams of the late 1970s. Their parents had attended the school back then and it was a fair question. I replied that I had heard a little something about the teams but in truth I never spent time researching the school’s teams. Cameron said that information on their end would be coming to me soon and I look forward to seeing things. Belmont, a small town near Platteville, doesn’t have their own newspaper and I would have to rely on the Platteville Journal newspaper for the facts. After Cameron wrote me, I tried finding information online and there were just some game scores with almost no story in the Wisconsin State Journal or The Capitol Times. I’m sad to say that like several other key Wisconsin newspapers (The Milwaukee Journal, the Milwaukee Sentinel and the Waukesha Freeman) the Platteville paper isn’t listed on newspapers.com.

This all got me thinking about the 2020 season and I ran across a series of stories written by Travis Wilson on WisSports.Net. Travis is the General Manager and the principal football writer for the web site. One story I referenced is his season ending recap of the 2020 fall football season. As usual he wrote a very solid and informative recap covering a lot of material for the 2020 season this past week. Check it out here:

In the recap Travis mentions that Belmont in 2020 was the top 8-player team even though the playoffs were cancelled for the season. Now there isn’t a lot online from other sources about the 2020 Belmont football team but I did catch a story or two and I’ve been able to put the following together.

With only a 2018-19 school enrollment of 99 students, coach Brandon Wiese felt that the football team would be better served by moving to 8-player football. The Braves started 8-player ball last season and this year things really paid off. In 2019 the team finished with a 9-3 record, losing their final game to Wausau Newman Catholic, 49-16 in the semi-finals. Because of covid-19 they were only able to play six regular season games and an unofficial title game against Gilman, the only other undefeated 8-player team. The Braves came out on top 24-20 in a hard-fought game played in Mauston on November 8th.

The big star for Belmont the past two seasons was Riley Christensen who some colleges are taking a look at. Riley played quarterback and linebacker for Belmont and is 6’2", 220. In 2019 as a junior, Riley played all 12 games and passed for 854 yards and 11 touchdowns and ran for 1,960 yards and 30 scores. This year he passed for 478 yards and 9 touchdowns and ran for 1,372 yards and 26 more touchdowns. Remember, these stats were in just seven games. In the battle against Gilman Riley, he carried the ball 43 times for 347 yards and all four of his team’s touchdowns.

Before the season kicked off, Belmont was getting statewide recognition. Early on, coach Wiese had been named the Green Bay Packers High School Coach of the Week and with all the problems covid-19 gave their schedule, Wiese kept his team focused on the next game and staying healthy. Born and raised in Fennimore, coach Wiese played football, basketball, golf and baseball for his high school and went on to attend UW-Platteville. He spent 2014 as an assistant at Potosi for one season before moving to Belmont, first as an assistant and then being promoted in 2016 to the head coaching job. When accepting the award from the Packers, Coach Wiese, as usual, passed a lot of praise on to his assistants for their hard work. I’m sure the success will continue.

So, if you have other coaches, teams or players that you feel should get some mention, don’t hesitate to send me a note and maybe send me some information as well. Thanks, and Cameron, I can’t wait to see what information about the 1970s Belmont teams you have for me!