Sports

The Wisconsin Heights/Barneveld boys’ soccer team received the No. 3 seed for the playoffs, which start on Oct. 24. The Vanguards will take on the winner of the Prairie Du Chien/Dodgeland Hustisford play-in match.

A smash-mouth defense. A freight train offense. An all-around quality performance. It didn’t matter what the flavor was, Sauk Prairie’s football team was dishing it up last Friday. The Eagles played arguably their best game of the season and snapped a three-game losing skid, defeating host Portage, 19-0, in a Badger North Conference game.

There are weeks you can gameplan, scheme and study film until you can’t keep your eyes open — and it might just not matter. The guy lining up across from you is just flat out better. Wisconsin Heights’ football team had a week like that, falling to mighty Newman Catholic, 48-20 last Friday.

This is how championship matches should be. Tight. Loud. Dramatic. The battle between Wisconsin Heights’ girls volleyball team and McFarland for the title at the Lodi Invite Saturday had all of the above. And even though the Spartans prevailed, 28-26, 25-27, 17-15, the Vanguards knew there was no shame in second on this day.

When Lodi came to Wisconsin Heights on Tuesday, it was undefeated in conference play. The L-Cats didn’t leave that way. Heights/Barneveld stunned Lodi by building a 4-0 halftime lead and rolling to an impressive 4-1 win. The Vanguards moved into a second-place tie in the Capitol Conference behind league-leading Sugar River.

Picturesque Veterans’ Park on the University of Wisconsin-Platteville campus is the perfect setting for the annual Dick McKichan Platteville Invitational. Flooding a year ago, though, forced the competitive cross country meet to be held at Platteville High School, to the disappointment of coaches and athletes alike.

It was a unique span of five days for Sauk Prairie’s boys soccer team last week with one game postponed due to inclement weather and two other matches being moved from the football stadium to a nearby practice field.

It was a rough week for Sauk Prairie’s girls volleyball team. But there were several encouraging moments, as well. Northern Badger Conference leader Waunakee downed Sauk Prairie, 21-25, 26-24, 25-15, 25-19, last Tuesday. DeForest then edged the Eagles, 25-21, 9-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-9 last Thursday.

Conference realignment for high school football in Wisconsin goes into effect beginning in 2020. So what about the other sports that area schools like Mount Horeb and Sauk Prairie are currently offering? Their turn will come sooner than you might think.

What’s a defensive coordinator to do? When it comes to stopping Wisconsin Heights’ high-powered offenses, no foe has come up with a good plan yet this year.