February 2019

There’s an axiom in sports about how hard it is to beat a team three straight times.

Truth is, that’s a total myth.

In the National Football League, for example, 20 teams have had to face a divisional opponent in the playoffs after beating them twice in the regular season since the 1970 merger. Thirteen of those teams won the third matchup (65.0%).

A study in women’s college volleyball showed that the team winning the first two matches also won the third match 75% of the time.

Middleton’s girls basketball team certainly hopes this long-standing adage proves to be a fable.

The second-seeded Cardinals meet third-seeded Madison Memorial in a WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal Thursday at 7 p.m. at Verona High School. The winner advances to the sectional final Saturday at 1 p.m. at Janesville Craig against either top-seeded Sun Prairie or fifth-seeded Madison East.

Casey Hellenbrand surveyed the damage.

He looked at what’s coming next.

And Middleton’s senior guard gave a fitting description of where Middleton’s boys basketball team currently sits.

“We get to start over, and that’s a good thing,” Hellenbrand said. “We’ve had a six-game winning streak this season and now we’re in a little bit of a rough patch. So I think we’re all excited to start over.”

The Cardinals ended the regular season losing three of their final four games, including their last two. Middleton dropped a 69-51 decision to visiting Madison La Follette on Senior Night last Thursday to wrap up the regular season.

Middleton fell to 13-9 overall, finished in sole possession of fifth place in the Big Eight Conference (10-8), and now gets a chance at new life. The Cardinals, the No. 6 seed in their sectional, host 11^th-seeded Janesville Craig (10-12) in a WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal Friday at 7 p.m.

The Middleton faithful that traveled to La Crosse were crunching the numbers.

And as the WIAA Division 1 La Crosse Logan Sectional unfolded last Friday, the Cardinals’ fans began to buzz.

Down on the floor, though, things were different.

Middleton’s upstart gymnastics team knew they had just finished one of their top meets of the season. But the Cardinals weren’t sure how that shaped up against the rest of the field.

“A lot of the adults knew what was going on,” Middleton’s Taylor Engelkes said. “But we didn’t know until they started reading off the scores.”

The Cardinals were pleasantly surprised.

Middleton gave one of its finest performances of the year and qualified for the WIAA Division 1 state team competition for the eighth straight year. Madison Memorial won the Logan Sectional with a 136.6250 team score, while the Cardinals were second at 135.50.

MIDDLETON–Hubbard Ave. Diner general manager and part-owner José Garcia will receive the regional Champion in Restaurant Entrepreneurship award from the Wisconsin Restaurant Association next month. Garcia along with winners from the state’s other five regions will be honored at an award gala March 12 at the Marcus Center for Performing Arts in Milwaukee.

Garcia says he wasn’t expecting an award or even aware that he had been nominated but being recognized feels nice.

“Sometimes you get caught up in the day to day, keeping up the equipment, snow removal, customer complaints and you kind of forget what it’s really for that we are doing this,” Garcia says. “So it is kind of nice to get a recognition to remind you what you are doing here.”