Sports

Kellan Schulz might be too young to remember Fran Tarkenton or Randall Cunningham.

Johnny Manziel? That’s more up his alley.

Last Friday night, Schulz looked like a combination of all three, producing the ‘Play of the Year’ for Middleton’s football team.

In a WIAA Division 1 Level 1 playoff game, Schulz — a senior quarterback — had a memorable 55-yard touchdown run that helped Middleton down Sun Prairie, 33-10.

Schulz broke four tackles and made another handful of defenders miss on the memorable touchdown. Schulz’s huge run gave Middleton a 24-7 lead midway through the third quarter and helped put away a Sun Prairie team that was trying to claw back into the game.

“I haven’t had a run like that since sixth grade,” Schulz said. “That was sixth grade stuff.”

No, this was big boy football at its best.

Punting for the coffin corner is a lost art at most levels of football.

Not at Middleton High School, though, where Declan Whinnery and the Cardinals’ special teams units have brought it back with gusto.

Whinnery, Middleton’s senior punter, has become a master at aiming for the corner of the field just in front of the end zone. For this style of kick to be effective, a punter must have terrific hang time and be skilled at aiming the ball for the corner.

Whinnery is both — and last Friday’s WIAA Division 1 Level 1 playoff game against Sun Prairie was proof.

Whinnery pinned Sun Prairie inside the 6-yard line three times with majestic kicks. And Sun Prairie’s average starting field position on its 12 drives was the 20-yard line.

Middleton dominated the field position battle, and eventually the game, on its way to a 33-10 win.

Back in August, Middleton’s boys cross country co-coaches — Isaac Mezera and Cindy Bremser — talked about cracking the top-10 at the WIAA Division 1 state meet.

The Cardinal runners said those goals weren’t lofty enough. Amazingly, everything is still in front of Middleton and anything is still possible.

The Cardinals finished second at the DeForest Sectional last Saturday. And Middleton qualified for Saturday’s state meet at Ridges Golf Course in Wisconsin Rapids starting at 12:50 p.m.

“We get one more week to see if we can all have our best race on the same day,” Mezera said. “If we can do that, a top five finish is possible.”

The Cardinals proved at sectionals that anything is still possible.

Twenty-four hours after it was over, Cindy Bremser was still teary eyed.

And the sting could last for quite a while.

Middleton’s girls cross country team went to the WIAA Division 1 DeForest Sectional last Saturday and fell narrowly short of its dreams.

Sun Prairie won the sectional with 57 points, while Madison Memorial finished second with 60 points and claimed the final state berth. Middleton came as close as you can get to reaching state and not going, finishing in third place with 61 points.

“I have tears in my eyes,” said Bremser, who shares coaching duties with Isaac Mezera. “It is hard not to love these girls for how hard they work, trust in the coaches and themselves, and are the greatest teammates to one another.”

Franco Marcos calls it “bonus week.”

While the majority of the state’s girls volleyball teams are home by now, the few and the proud march on.

Middleton remained part of that elite club, rallying for a thrilling five-set victory over host Waunakee in a WIAA Division 1 regional final last Saturday.

After dropping the first two sets, the fifth-seeded Cardinals bounced back and posted a 19-25, 22-25, 25-9, 25-14, 15-9 win over the fourth-seeded Warriors.

Middleton will now host top-seeded DeForest in a sectional semifinal Thursday at 6 p.m. The winner of that match advances to the sectional finals, which will be held at Sun Prairie High School Saturday at 7 p.m.

“Coming back and beating Waunakee like that gives us a lot of confidence,” Marcos said. “We’ve still got little things to work on, but we’re playing pretty well right now.”

In a perfect world, they would have defended their state championship.

As it was, Middleton’s girls tennis team had itself a nice little weekend — and another memorable season.

The Cardinals reached the semifinals of the WIAA Division 1 state team meet before losing to Neenah last Saturday. Middleton, which won the state title last year, ended the season 18-5.

“It's always so fun to go to state, and even though it didn't go as expected, I'm proud of my team for the great fight, and season,” said Middleton doubles standout Abbey Webber. “Winning a round at team state is really hard, and it was nice getting into the top four. Considering how difficult it is to get to team state, and let alone get to the quarters, I was really proud of my team.”

Middleton junior Kaisey Skibba agreed.

Senior Night is always a special time inside Middleton’s girls swimming program.

And last Tuesday was no different.

The Cardinals rolled past Janesville Parker, 131-39, and finished the Big Eight Conference dual meet season in second place with a 8-1 record.

Middleton also honored its nine seniors, a group that had a huge impact on the Cardinals’ recent successes.

“It has been a tradition of ours to honor our seniors at our final dual meet,” Middleton coach Lauren Cabalka said. “We want to swim our best races of the season as we head into the postseason meets and give the seniors a great send off and thank them for all they have done for our program.”

The Cardinals made the sendoff a thrill for everyone involved.

Excellence.

Consistency.

Brilliance.

This has been the norm inside Middleton’s boys volleyball program for years now. And the 2014 Cardinals certainly did their part in continuing the tradition.

Middleton won a pair of Big Eight Conference matches last week and finished the league season a perfect 10-0. The Cardinals won their third straight conference championship and eighth in nine years. During that stretch, Middleton is an amazing 92-4 in Big Eight matches, a .958 winning percentage.

“Impressive work by all the past and current players we have in the program,” Middleton coach Ben White said. “We are blessed to have athletes who have fallen in love with the game of volleyball and we have great alumni and seniors this year who instill what it means to play for Middleton and the tradition.”

The Cardinals made sure that tradition continued last week.

Editor's Note: Middleton hosts Sun Prairie in a WIAA Division 1 first round playoff game Friday at 7 p.m.

The last time the two schools met in the postseason was Oct. 30, 1999.

That night, Middleton senior wide receiver Ryan Oliversen won the game with a dramatic touchdown catch with just three seconds left. Interestingly, Oliversen is Middleton's wide receivers coach today.

Here's a recap of that memorable game.

Sun Prairie — Ryan Oliversen paused in mid-sentence.

He hunched his exhausted body forward, wiped his eyes momentarily, then decided not to fight the emotion and wept.

After regaining his composure, Oliversen turned apologetic.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

Believe this, Oliversen owed no one an apology.

Not after making one of the most dramatic plays in Middleton football history.

They turned their pain to gain.

Instead of hanging their heads, they responded in memorable fashion.

Middleton girls tennis standouts Allison Ragsdale and Abbey Webber — the No. 2 seed at the WIAA Division 1 state tournament — fell in the quarterfinals last Friday at Nielsen Tennis Stadium. But the Cardinals’ terrific tandem responded with a pair of wins Saturday and finished fifth overall.

No, it wasn’t the finish Webber and Ragsdale wanted. But the pair showed great resiliency and strength after suffering their toughest loss of the season.

“I was honestly really upset when we lost in the quarterfinals,” Ragsdale said after the tournament. “Abbey and I had such a great season, so my expectations were really high.

“It was a real bummer, but I'm proud of how Abbey and I reacted on Saturday. We could've come to Saturday not caring about winning anymore, but Abbey and I showed how we normally play that day.”