The Division 7 sixth-ranked Almond-Bancroft High School football team is the only Conference Champion in its eight-team playoff group. (John Kemmeter photo)

Portage County Gazette

By John Kemmeter

The 2019 WIAA high school football playoff qualifiers have been announced, along with the four playoff groupings for each division that lead into the State Semifinals.

Seeding meetings will take place Saturday, Oct. 19, for each of the eight-team groupings, with playoff brackets and first-round matchups expected to be announced Saturday afternoon.

Amherst was placed in Group D for Division 5, Almond-Bancroft is in Group B for Division 7, and Rosholt is in Group D for Division 7.

The 224-team playoff field, which did not include Pacelli Catholic High School (3-6, 2-3), was set after the Week 9 games Friday, Oct. 18. The playoff teams were split into seven divisions based on enrollment, with 32 teams in each division, and four groupings for each division.

In Division 5, second-ranked Amherst (8-0, 6-0) was placed in Group B, along with 10th-ranked Kewaunee (8-1), ninth-ranked Chilton (7-2), New Holstein (6-3), Wittenberg-Birnamwood (6-3), Peshtigo (5-4), Laconia (5-4) and Omro (3-6).

Based on the enrollment of teams that qualified for the playoffs, defending Division 5 State Champion and Division 5 fifth-ranked Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs (7-2) ended up in Division 6 as the team with the largest enrollment in Division 6, while Division 5 third-ranked Lancaster (8-1) and Division 5 sixth-ranked Mondovi (9-0) also moved down to Division 6.

Meanwhile, Division 4 third-ranked Racine St. Catherine’s, Division 4 fourth-ranked Northwestern and Division 4 eighth-ranked Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau ended up in Division 5.

Northwestern (9-0) was placed in Group A with Division 5 top-ranked Stratford (9-0), Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau (8-1) is the only ranked team in Group C, and Racine St. Catherine’s (8-1) is in Group D with Division 5 fourth-ranked Lake Country Lutheran (8-1) and Division 5 seventh-ranked Cedar Grove-Belgium (8-1).

In Division 7, sixth-ranked Almond-Bancroft (9-0) was placed in Group B, along with third-ranked Edgar (8-1), ninth-ranked Hurley (7-2), 10th-ranked Gilman (7-2), Greenwood (6-3), Pittsville (5-3), Loyal (5-4) and Athens (5-4).

Rosholt (4-5, 3-2) was placed in Group D for Division 7, along with fourth-ranked Hilbert (9-0), fifth-ranked Oshkosh Lourdes (9-0), Brookwood (7-2), Randolph (7-2), Burlington Catholic Central (5-4), Hillsboro (5-4) and Reedsville (5-4).

Also in Division 7, Group A includes second-ranked Bangor (9-0), while Group C has top-ranked defending State Champion Black Hawk/Warren (Ill.) (9-0) and eighth-ranked Potosi/Cassville (7-2).

Division 7 seventh-ranked Johnson Creek (7-2), which lost 34-28 at Almond Friday, Oct. 18, ended up in Division 6.