Student sections return to roar in playoffs

Something noticeably missing during the high school sports seasons made a roaring return in the playoffs.

Student sections, albeit limited in size, came back to basketball games to cheer on fellow classmates and jeer players from opposing schools.

The Covid-19 pandemic had kept crowds down all year. Football games had some small student sections and soccer games drew a number of fans as well, although many lined fences outside the fields since attendance inside was limited.

Basketball, since it’s played in an enclosed space and the fans are in closer proximity to players than in most other sports, is one in which crowds can make a difference.

But most tickets this season were only available to family members of players. Many conferences limited tickets to two per player, so crowds were small.

The once-vibrant entity known as the student section had seemingly become an endangered species headed toward extinction for the 2020-21 prep sports season.

The basketball postseason arrived in the nick of time to save the day.

Come postseason, those rules were relaxed and small groups of students, some with homemade signs and photos of their favorite players’ heads, retook their spots on the bleachers.

They helped turn what sometimes seemed to be well-attended scrimmages into actual basketball games again.

“I really wish we had that the whole season but to have it for the playoffs and changing things up a bit, especially having the home court, it’s great,” Grafton High School forward Brock Heffner said after the Black

Hawks beat Kewaskum on Feb. 26.

“That was great,” Grafton coach Damon James said. “I thought it gave us some energy and it was outstanding. Our students did an outstanding job.”

Grafton High School Athletic Director Kevin Moore said districts had been looking for ways to get seniors into games safely. Grafton allowed four tickets per player during the playoffs instead of the two agreed upon by the North Shore Conference during the regular season.

“I think it was done in an orderly and safe fashion,” Moore said.

“I think people appreciated coming to the gym. I think it brought a little more energy. It livened up the atmosphere.”

Grafton hosted one girls’ and two boys’ playoff games, the final one a hotly contested 70-64 overtime loss to Brown Deer during which fans of all ages helped create an atmosphere of a single-elimination tournament.

The Hawk girls lost, 57-41, on the road to Kettle Moraine Lutheran in the Town of Jackson. The school allowed six tickets per player and did temperature checks before fans entered.

It was by far the best attended and loudest game for the Hawks all season. Grafton coach Matt D’Amato said it brought memories of last season.

“It makes it a lot more exciting, I’ll you that for sure. I’m looking forward to next season where we’ll have some crowds and some noise and student sections again,” he said.

The Cedar Grove-Belgium boys had a healthy crowd for and against the Rockets in their 59-50 playoff loss to New Holstein.

The Huskies brought a blaring bunch that only once had to be reminded by Cedar Grove-Belgium Principal Josh Ketterhagen to keep their masks all the way on the faces.

Rocket coach Derek Wimmer said it almost sounded like “New Holstein had more people than we did.”

Cedar Grove-Belgium Athletic Director Scott Parsons appreciated the audience.

“For the tournament, the WIAA wanted schools to do four (tickets) per player, which we were fine doing, as was New Holstein, and the atmosphere was noticeably different. There was more of a ‘real game feel’ than we’d had. The fact that we got to the point of playing tournament basketball was something I sure didn’t take for granted,” he said.

In the Ozaukee boys’ home playoff game, a 52-40 loss to Kohler, Ozaukee Athletic Director Andy McKee allowed six tickets per player, which he said resulted in a “decent sized student section on both sides.”

He said Kohler Athletic Director Matt Zavada took notice.

“Matt and I were talking that it felt great to have a noisy gym again,” McKee said.