Pacelli Catholic High School sophomore running back Brycen Cashin prepares to stiff arm a defender during the Cardinals’ 36-18 loss at Pittsville Friday, Sept. 6. (Julie Schooley photo)

Portage County Gazette

By John Kemmeter

In a battle for the lead in the Central Wisconsin Conference (CWC) Small, the eighth-ranked Almond-Bancroft High School football team will host Pittsville at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, while Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH) will be at home to take on second-ranked Kimberly.

Rosholt will host seventh-ranked Oshkosh Lourdes, while Pacelli will travel to face Fall River/Rio, and second-ranked Amherst will be on the road at Shiocton in Week 4 of the high school football season.

Almond-Bancroft

Almond (3-0, 1-0) and Pittsville (2-1, 1-0) will square off Friday night, after the Eagles won 34-7 at Pittsville in the regular season on the way to winning the CWC Small Title, while Pittsville won 17-7 at Almond in Level 2 of the WIAA Division 7 Playoffs.

“It’s a big game,” said Almond-Bancroft football head coach Andrew Bradley. “We’re going to have to play well, and there’s a lot of familiarity with the two teams here, so I think we both know what to expect out of each other.

“But we’re definitely looking forward to getting back at them after they got us last time,” he said.

Pittsville opened this season with a 38-0 loss at Auburndale, then won 50-0 over Rib Lake/Prentice in Week 2 and won 36-18 over Pacelli last week.

“They’re a very balanced team, just like they were last year, and that brings a challenge defensively, to stop both,” said Bradley. “And then they’re very sound defensively, they’re very physical and come after you.

“We definitely have to limit the turnovers and penalties, that was a big focus this past week and it will continue to be this week, and then execution,” he said. “They know what we’re going to do, we know what they’re going to do, and it just comes down to executing, without making those mental mistakes.”

SPASH

SPASH (0-3, 0-3) will be at home Friday for its final Valley Football Association (VFA) crossover game, when it hosts reigning Division 1 State Runner-up Kimberly (3-0).

“They’re a phenomenal team,” said SPASH football head coach Pete McAdams. “They’re extremely well coached, and they’ve got some great athletes with a great mindset, and they’re going to come and give us everything that they have.

“With that all being said, I really don’t care who we play,” he said. “We’re at a point right now in our season, where we have to improve.”

Guided by Stevens Point native and former SPASH and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) alum Steve Jones, Kimberly won five State Titles in a row from 2013 through 2017, before it lost 24-21 to Muskego in the State Championship Game last year.

Kimberly opened this season with wins over Oshkosh West (31-12) and Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln (55-21), and then won 34-31 in overtime over third-ranked Fond du Lac last week.

“I’m excited about another opportunity to get out on the field, and it doesn’t matter if you’re playing a team that’s got the tradition and history going like they do have right now, or if you’re playing a team that hasn’t won a game in three years,” said McAdams, whose team lost 21-0 to Kimberly last year. “We’ve got to worry about us and we’ve got to find ways to improve in every facet of the game.”

Rosholt

Coming off its first loss of the season at Hurley, Rosholt will return home for a nonconference game against Division 7 seventh-ranked Oshkosh Lourdes (3-0).

“It’s going to be fun,” said Rosholt football co-head coach Mark McHugh. “After a three-hour bus ride the week before, it’s going to be nice getting back on our home field, and Lourdes presents a challenge to us.

“They’re very explosive, they’ve got a quarterback that likes to run the football, and he can definitely pass the football, and they put a lot of points up in their three games,” he said. “Defensively, they’re stout; they have held their opponents quite well in their three wins, so we’re going to have our hands full.”

Lourdes finished 8-2 last year after it lost to Markesan in Level 1 of the Division 6 Playoffs, and is off to a 3-0 start this season after it beat North Fond du Lac (37-0), Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (55-20) and Fall River/Rio (53-6).

“We need to be consistent with our offense,” said McHugh. “We did some great things last Friday in our passing game, it was nice to be able to execute some of our stuff that we’ve been working on, and we want to continue that.

“Our strong suit offensively has been our running game so far this year, and of course we want to continue that,” he said. “We want to stay balanced on offense and stay strong against the run on defense, the boys have worked hard on that, and want to continue that also.”

Pacelli

Following a loss to Pittsville in its CWC Small opener last week, Pacelli (1-2, 0-1) will be on the road Friday for a nonconference game at Fall River/Rio (1-2).

“We’ve never played them as far as I know, but we’re looking forward to it,” said Pacelli football head coach Drew Nelson. “They try to spread you out a little bit and use some of their speed and some of their athletic ability, so we’ve got to make better plays in space.

“And hopefully if we can do that, things will be successful for us,” he said.

Fall River/Rio opened the season with a 26-14 loss at Almond-Bancroft, then won 56-6 over Independence/Gilmanton, before it lost 53-6 at Oshkosh Lourdes last week.

“We’ve got to play sound defense and do our job defensively,” said Nelson. “We can’t freelance, we can’t go outside the script of what’s called, we’ve just got to do our job and do our responsibilities, and I think we’ll be OK.”

Amherst

In its final game on the road before debuting its new field next week, second-ranked Amherst (3-0, 1-0) will travel to play at Shiocton (1-2) Friday night.

“It’s a chance to go 2-0 in conference,” said Amherst football head coach Mark Lusic. “It’s a tough place to play, Amherst has not had much success there, and we’ll be on the road again for the fourth time this year.”

The Falcons won 31-7 at home last year over Shiocton, which opened this season with a 21-6 win over Ashland, then lost to 12-9 to Two Rivers and 35-14 to Kingsford, Mich., the last two weeks.

“They’ve got a nice team, and they’ve got some nice players,” said Lusic. “And the key part for us, we’re going to have to start fast, and we’re going to have to tackle.

“Against Wittenberg, I don’t know how many times they had third down, and we gave them extra plays,” he said. “Great teams will kill you with those extra plays, so we’ve got to get off the field, and offensively, we’ve got to do the simple things right. When guys are open, catch the ball, make the plays, make the block, and just keep getting better every week.”