Defending state champions on brink of giving Jerry Sinz career victory No. 400
EDGAR - Edgar beat Auburndale on Friday with the same dominant defensive style that worked for the defending WIAA Division 7 state football champions over the previous three weeks of the season.
The Wildcats allowed just 52 offensive yards on the way to a 43-0 win over its Marawood Conference foe, the fourth straight shutout the Wildcats have recorded to open the season.
The performance is no real surprise. Defense has been a calling card for the Wildcats for decades under Jerry Sinz. It is why the veteran coach was able to build Edgar into a state powerhouse since his rookie season in 1975, one which captured a seventh state title last November at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
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Defense is a reason why Sinz sits on the cusp of career victory No. 400 — a milestone that the Wildcats can deliver him next Friday at home against Chequamegon. Sinz, who was inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2003, enters the game with a career mark of 399-80 with the Wildcats program.
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St. Mary's Springs' Bob Hyland is the only other individual in the state's history to have 400 wins as a prep football coach. Hyland, who started at the Fond du Lac school in 1971, has a record of 441-105-2.
Springs and Edgar were ranked first and second, respectively, in the Small Division in the latest Associated Press state prep football poll.
Nearly half of Sinz's wins have come over the past 17 seasons. He has a 183-33 mark since 2000 and led the Wildcats to four titles in that span — 2001, '09, '10 and '16.
VFA West race getting interesting
Speaking of wins, both Wausau West and D.C. Everest picked up their first ones of the year Friday against Hortonville and Appleton East, respectively. Now the two teams meet at Stiehm Stadium in which the winner will be in the mix in what has become a log jam atop the Valley Football Association-West Division standings.
Wisconsin Rapids suffered a lopsided loss to Neenah but still leads the VFA-West with a 2-2 record. Marshfield, which snapped a two-game losing streak with a win over Kaukauna, is just a half-game back, and West and Everest are a full game behind the Raiders.
Stevens Point Area Senior High was edged 21-14 by Appleton North and is 1-3 overall and 0-3 in conference play. The Panthers are just a 1½ games out of first and host Marshfield next Friday.
Rapids faces Wausau East in a nonconference game at Thom Field.
Then there were four
Colby, Edgar, Newman Catholic and Pittsville are the four local programs still undefeated through four weeks of the regular season. Both Iola-Scandinavia and Pacelli suffered their first loss of the season Friday to Bonduel and Wittenberg-Birnamwood, respectively.
Colby might be the most surprising team in that group. The Hornets were expected to finish in the bottom third of the Cloverbelt Conference this year with just four starters on both sides of the ball back from last season's team. But the Hornets have 13 seniors on the roster and have averaged 39.5 points per game so far in wins over Neillsville/Granton, Altoona, Ithaca and Fall Creek.
The schedule picks up this week as Colby faces Spencer/Columbus Catholic (3-1) in what is the fourth straight road game for the Hornets. Things don't get any easier as Colby hosts Regis, the defending WIAA Division 6 state champions, in Week 6 followed by a home game against Cadott and then a matchup with Stanley-Boyd on the road.
Pittsville and Newman Catholic have thrived in new settings. The Panthers are averaging 35.8 points this fall after making the jump from the Marawood Conference to the Central Wisconsin Conference-Small. Pittsville hosts Wild Rose on Sept. 29, which could potentially be a showdown for first place in the conference.
Newman Catholic is in its inaugural season as an 8-man program and 4-0 for the first time since 2009. Jeremy Damask returned the opening kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown to set the tone as the Cardinals rolled to a 42-13 win over Gillett at Stiehm Stadium.
The Cardinals held Gillett to 63 total yards.