They’re still playing

The high school football season is continuing for three local teams, and it may seem like an early Christmas gift that they even completed the regular season.

Covid-19 affected all area sports teams this season, whether it was their own players or their opponents who were ill or quarantined, and in football the WIAA split the playoffs into four-team pods. The winners of this week’s games face off next week. The losers may play each other or have the freedom to schedule another game. State champions will not be crowned.
Ozaukee (4-3) managed to play all of its regular season games. It earned a No. 4 seed and will play at No. 1-seeded Randolph (5-2) on Friday in the Division 6 playoffs.

“It’s just crazy. We played seven games and have a chance to get two more,” Ozaukee coach Michael Schatz said. “How many teams say they get to play a full schedule?”

Grafton came close, going 5-1 and skipping one game because it was missing too many players due to contact tracing.

The Black Hawks earned a No. 4 seed in Division 2 and play at No. 1-seeded West De Pere (3-1) in a rematch of a second-round game last year that Grafton lost.

After last week’s win over Watertown to close the regular season, Grafton coach Jim Norris said he wouldn’t have imagined playing seven games two months ago.

“I’m happy for the seniors, happy for the experience that they’re getting,” he said.

“Our kids, our coaches, our administration, our students, out superintendent, our athletic director and our principal have done an exceptional job keeping this thing running. Yeah, we’ve had some bumps in the road.

We had to miss a game. It’s just been a group effort. I couldn’t be more proud to be here and be part of it.”

Schatz thanked the community and fans for their support as well as praising his athletic director, superintendent and principal for making sure safety procedures were in place and followed.

“When there has been an outbreak, they didn’t take the easy way out and quarantine everyone. They’ve just worked so hard to give every kid at the school the opportunity for as normal a year as possible,” he said.

Schatz has seen bizarre seasons before. While coaching in North Carolina, two hurricanes came through during the season.

“Our field near the end of the year was basically just a mud pit,” he said. “Even then, only one or two games came into question.”

Cedar Grove-Belgium missed two games this season due to opponents’ issues with Covid-19, and the pandemic hit them in a another way as well. They were without their starting quarterback due to contact tracing in a game of Big East Conference favorites and lost at Reedsville, 28-14.

The Rockets (5-1) earned a No. 2 seed in Division 4 and host No. 3-seeded Brookfield Academy (4-1) on Friday.

“As for the playoffs we are just happy to have the opportunity to play some extra games,” Cedar Grove-Belgium coach Dan Schreurs said.

This marks the 18th straight season the Rockets have qualified for the playoffs.

The teams in the opposite bracket of the Rockets are No. 1-seeded Lake Country Lutheran and No. 4-seeded Shoreland Lutheran.

Ozaukee’s opposite bracket include No. 2-seeded Cambria-Friessland and No. 3-seeded Catholic Central.

Grafton’s opposite bracket has No. 2-seeded Plymouth and No. 3-seeded Luxemburg-Casco.

Port Washington finished the season 1-4. It had to cancel its final two games against Freedom and Cedar Grove-Belgium because of contact tracing. It planned to play an extra game against Nicolet on Nov. 13 but that was canceled for the same reason.