DAVID VS. GOLITH 1987…PART 1

In my last post on the 1926 Kewaunee vs.  West De Pere, I mentioned that I had received an email from Newspapers .com on May 28 and I was at first excited then disappointed.  The next day, May 29, I received a message from Patrick Foran, currently the Development Executive at Marquette University High School.  As he was preparing for an upcoming MUHS Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony he reminded me, based on my recent articles about the Hilltopper vs. Crusaders 1980’s games, that I may have left out a good story.

FIRST, THE LEADUP TO THE TITLE GAME

I had spent time writing about the Marquette and Waukesha Catholic Memorial matchups during the 1980's, but I didn’t evaluate some of their championship games when the two weren’t playing each other for the title.  One game was 1987 WISAA title game between the “Goliath” school Marquette vs. the “David” school, Chippewa Falls McDonell. I glossed over the game with just a mention of the final score and the fact that Marquette won.  In fact, I didn’t mention the great performance of star Marquette quarterback Jeff Jarecki.  Well, here is my story about Jeff, and his counterpart, quarterback Ben Gardow of McDonell.  

First, a bit about the buildup to the title matchup and later the game itself.

In 1986, Marquette posted an 8-2 record, losing in the first round of the Class A playoffs 10-7 in a classic matchup against rival Waukesha Catholic Memorial.  In 1987 Marquette had a very strong defensive team with six shutouts in their first 12 games. The Hilltoppers had a good rushing attack for the first two games as fullback Brian Belardi led the team with 300-yards and four touchdowns.  Belardi was named to the All-Metro first team as a junior in 1986 and was a player many thought to have a chance as being All-State as a senior.  Marquette didn’t need to pass often in the opening two games, defeating De Pere Pennings 40-7 and Brookfield East 26-0.  Still, junior Jeff Jarecki, stepping into the starting quarterback role, directed the team well.  The run game slowed a bit when Belardi was injured and sat out seven games.  Without Belardi in the lineup the ground game fell to running back T. J. Mickschl and others to carry the rushing load.

It was no surprise that the 10-0 Hilltoppers, going into the playoffs, were the top rated WISAA school and favored to win the Class A title. Marquette returned seven offensive and eight defensive starters from 1986.  The senior laden defensive squad was led by defensive end Al Kasun (Who also earned 1^st Team All-State honors as a punter).  Kasun also started on offense at the end spot.  Defensive linemen Dan Novogrodsky, Alfonso Jones and Ken Anselment along with defensive backs Vince Mc Caffrey and Bill O’Neal were big contributors.  When healthy, Brian Belardi played defensive back as well as leading the team in rushing.  On offense, key players besides running backs Belardi and T.J. Mickschl, were Alfonso Jones at the tackle spot, guard Dave Mc Nally and center Dave Weinfurter. 

McDonell on the other hand had made the playoffs in 1986 ending with a 9-3 record.  In 1987 they returned a great core of receivers, maybe the best the state of Wisconsin had seen up to this time.  Coach Gerry Uchytil had lost quarterback Dave Huffcutt to graduation and to the UW-Eau Claire.  Huffcutt played on the JV as a freshman and as a sophomore but didn’t go out for the varsity as a junior.  His one year of varsity was a great one as Huffcutt finished 1986 holding two national prep passing records (Most total offensive plays in a season with 630 and most passing attempts with 511 while he completed 268, a then state record passes). In 1987, sophomore Ben Gardow, Huffcutt's backup as a freshman, stepped into the spotlight.  Huffcutt had thrown for 3,244 yards and 33 touchdowns (With 25 interceptions) earning All-State honors.  His yardage and touchdowns thrown were state records.  The question was, could Gardow continue the school’s tradition of throwing the ball and do it well?  With returning Associated Press Second Team All-State end Randy Baier (97-1,449-14) and his twin senior brother Rick (70-566-4) along with junior Mitch Steinmetz (66-955-10), Gardow had plenty of good targets.

The team’s defensive problem was, for the most part, stopping the run.  The defensive backs held opponents in the passing department at bay in many games but often had to come up and make many tackles against the run.  While Marquette was going undefeated McDonell lost four times during the regular season.  With a non-existent run game, the offense relied on Gardow and his receivers.  Against De Pere Abbott Pennings Gardow injured his back in the third quarter after collecting 290 yards and three touchdowns (34-21-0). Taken to the hospital, he was declared fit for duty later and would play the next week.  His back-up, Mike Hayes moved from a back-up receiving position (He caught a 30-yard pass from Gardow for the final Mack score) and he was 16-4-1-44-0 to close the game.

McDonell was in the playoffs, barely.  By virtue of defeating Pacelli earlier, McDonell would host the higher seed for round team.  Marquette, the #1 seed would host St. Catherine’s.  Both teams studied the mistakes they had made in their previous encounters with their two playoff opponents and learned how to move past them.  Both teams had to rely on their defense to help move forward and they did move on.  Now it was time for the showdown.  Goliath was bigger, maybe stronger.  David was smaller but quick.

Marquette’s 14-0 round-two win over Waukesha Catholic Memorial was a nail biter.  A game recap on Wednesday, November 11, in the Milwaukee Journal, written by Bob Schwoch the story stated:

“Now Marquette faces a football anomaly: Chippewa Falls McDonell, which has the audacity, the unmitigated gall to build its offense around the pass.”

“A lot of people were saying, under their breaths, that Tuesday’s game at Hart (Park where Marquette played their home games) was for the state title.  The way Marquette’s students charged onto the field, index finger upward, after beating Memorial.  Well, it sure looked like a championship.”

Basham, predictably, will have none of that.  “That’s not the way we approach it, “he said.  “We prepare for each game the same way.”

Schwoch concluded, “For McDonell, that may be the worst news of all.”

With Marquette’s undefeated record McDonell Coach Gerry Uchytil felt the Hilltoppers had a slight advantage going into the championship game.  Uchytil told the Chippewa Falls Herald-Telegram “I know they are big; they have more seniors; they have fewer guys than we do going both ways and they have more depth. “

“But our equalizer is our offense,” he added.  “All we want is an equal chance, and our offense gives us that.” 

Marquette Coach Dick Basham told the UPI “I am sure they’ll complete some passes and gain some yards and score points.  We have to make sure the kids don’t panic.  We have to make sure we do what we do best.” 

“We have to control the football and run out the clock.  I’d like to have two, 10-minute drives.  That’s our game plan.” 

Were these good game plans?  Once the game starts only time would tell who would prevail.  The CWCC was use to defending against the McDonell Air Show and yet many teams couldn’t cope with the four or five receivers the Macks used on a single play.  Conversely, the grinding ground game Marquette and the size of the Hilltopper line was not something McDonell’s defense was used to dealing with.  On the season the Hilltoppers had four runners gain between 300 to 500 yards…Brian Belardi, T.J. Mickschl, Kevin Reilly and Rey Herrera. Each had had some injuries during the first 12-games.  They were going to have to play an error free ballgame.

The matchup was set.  Marquette’s run game and tough defense vs. McDonell’s outstanding passing game and some-times stout, when it counted, defense. 

Both teams played three games in 10-days.  Marquette had problems following the win over Catholic Memorial.  Their practice field was a disaster made unplayable due to the weather.  So, they trooped off three blocks on the Wednesday-Friday before the title game to the old, unused gym at the now closed Concordia College (The school had moved to Mequon).  Coached Basham rearraigned his team’s defensive lineup a bit.  They had scouted McDonell, and he was now priming his defense for battle.  This meant that the offense didn’t get enough pre-title game attention. 

Meanwhile, the weather was fine in Chippewa Falls as McDonell had no problems with their practices.

The game story and postgame stats will be next time.

A NOTE ON A 1926 GAME

I was excited when I read the email on May 28 from Newspapers.com that new papers had been added to the web site.   Would there be some from Wisconsin?  There were 200 new papers from multiple states and Canada that many would be glad to delve into history.  I scrolled down the list and found seven from the Badger State with one LaFarge and a newer Green Bay paper.  BUT there were five from Kewaunee!  Why would I be excited about Kewaunee?  Well, in recent year since the offensive end/defensive back Greg Rabas days (1974-76) and then the late 1990’s their passing attack has been formidable. The school has made it to the playoffs many times and even to a state title game.  Some potentially good stories might be in the various papers.  But nothing recent was on my radar.  What I wanted to look at was how the school and the local Kewaunee newspaper covered the 1926 Kewaunee vs. West De Pere blowout loss.  How bad was it?  It was a 126-0 loss that the STORM took at the hands of the Phantoms.

Sure, there’s a Monday, October 25, 1926, story in The Green Bay Press Gazette story (The games Kewaunee played were on Saturday’s and the Gazette didn’t publish then a Sunday edition).  But this is just one side of the loss that saw many state records being set.  I wanted the Kewaunee side of the loss.  What I found was profoundly disappointing.  Besides the high school not having any yearbooks from that football year (In the 1927 book), The same was with the public library and any local historical society offices.  Nothing there.  Now, I looked at The Kewaunee Enterprise from Newspapapers.com for information.  Published every Friday in 1926 (Later, every Thursday through 2007) I looked in at the October 29 edition.  Nothing.  What do you mean there’s no story?  Not even a score.  No mention.  Crickets. Why?

Well maybe it was the embarrassment of a season that most wanted to forget.  The STORM opened with a 42-0 loss to Manitowoc on September 25.  The next week, October 2, they lost 16-0 to East De Pere, then on October 9 there was a 19-0 defeat at the hands of Two Rivers.  October 16 the team was handed a 56-0 drubbing.  All four games have a one or two short paragraph blurb in the paper about the losses. The October 23 blowout story should have been printed in the October 29 edition, as I wrote above, but there was nothing to give an insight.  The STORM will finally score the next day on October 30, the final game, in the 23-8 defeat to Algoma.  The STORM allowed 282 points in six games.  The Enterprise didn’t even mention the head coaches name in the six game stories and there would of course be no season recap.  There was no pre-season or post season info.  The paper just moved right into the basketball season.  I’m just disappointed that The Enterprise was so spare in reporting the football stories.

You may ask, what did The Press Gazette have to say?  Multiple paragraphs.  Below is a recap of that story now taken from my book, “The Great Teams” along with info on the star of the game, Gilford Skinandore:

"Gilford Skenandore – Oct 23, 1926"

“In a crushing defeat of Kewaunee, West De Pere Nicolet’s Gilford Skenandore set a single game Wisconsin state scoring record as he ran for four touchdowns, returned four punts for scores and kicked all 18 of West De Pere’s extra points for a total of 66 points. He did this all on a water-soaked and very muddy field. Weighing only 136 pounds, “Skinny” and his teammates beat Kewaunee 126-0. All his extra points were dropkicks. 

Green Bay Press-Gazette 25 Oct 1926

The four punt returns for touchdowns and the 18-extra points are also Wisconsin state records. The scoring distances in the game story printed in the Green Bay Press Gazette seems to have been revised several days later but it appears he returned punts of 103, 35, 70 and 70 yards for four scores and rushed for 85, 60, 60, and 55 yards for the other four touchdowns.

He was a star forward on the basketball court and in track, 100- and 200-meter dashes, long jump and high jump. As late as the 1970s, Skinny still held the school record for the 100-meter dash. More remarkable is that he tore a ligament near his right knee in a collision on the basketball court in late January and still was able to set the school dash record several months later”.

Besides the 1926 West De Pere-Kewaunee score of 126-0, the 1928 100-0 defeat of La Crosse Aquinas at the hands of La Forge are the two last games in which a team scored at least 100 points prior to 1919.  My record book includes listings for 30 such 100-point scoring games.  Interestingly enough the highest score by a Wisconsin 11-player football team occurred in 1902 when Stoughton smashed Kewaunee 145-0.  That Kewaunee was Kewaunee Illinois, not the one up along Lake Michigan, north of Manitowoc and Two Rivers previously mentioned. 

To say that the STORM lost heart early in the game and was just going through the motions would probably be correct.  The field was muddy and hard for many to maneuver, but West De Pere could somehow do so.  There were numerous turnovers and poor tackling that led to easy scores.  66 points, 18 extra-point kicks, four punt returns for touchdowns with one for 103-yards are all state records (And highlighted above in BOLD) held to this day by Gilford Skinandore. 

Remarkable.

1959 OCONOMOWOC

In my previous story, “1946…A SEASON WITH VARIOUS NOTES…PART 1” I mentioned that the Associated Press began posting lists of undefeated teams each season from 1945-1954.  The 1946 list included Oconomowoc, a team that had an 8-0-0 record.  Coached by Virgel Licht from 1939-64 the Racoons or as they were nicknamed back then, the “Cooenys or Coon’s”.

Wisconsin State Journal, November 1, 1946

Having posted two previous undefeated seasons, both having 7-0-1 records, 1946 was the first undefeated, untied team for Licht as his men won the Little Ten Conference title outright.  They scored 161 points and allowed only 41 points.

From “The Cooney”, Oconomowoc H. S., 1947 Yearbook

Oconomowoc would have several very good years after 1946 but to most observers, the 1959 team would be their best.

1959

There were many stars on the 1959 squad as the team rolled up 279 points and allowed only 30 with five consecutive shutouts.

The Coaches…Line Coach L. Kroner, Head Coach Virgil Licht and Backfield Coach Wally Reams

After losing an early season game, 19-0 vs. Beaver Dam in 1957 the Cooney’s went 27-1 getting to the last two games of the 1960 season before losing 13-12 to Beaver Dam.  Over the 28-game stretch, Oconomowoc won 25 games and tied.  Overall, the team scored 828 points and allowed 175 in the 28-game run.

After scoring six touchdowns in the first 2 ½ games, star back Bob Monroe was lost for the remainder of the year.  Monroe was the defending Waukesha County 1958 scoring champion with 90 points, 84 in conference play.  Most observers thought that Monroe was one of the school’s best backs ever.  The scoring slack was taken up by quarterback Jim Braatz who had 10 touchdowns on the ground and tossing 12 td’s, end Bill Holden caught seven scores, and John Counsell ran, caught and returned six more.  The Coons scored 19 touchdowns on runs, passed for 14 and had six special team scores.  The special team touchdowns were on an 87-yard kickoff return by Phil Kienast and on five punt returns by various players.  Throughout the season, the team ran a reverse almost every time on the punt returns and this caused problems for their opponents.  Bob Monroe had twoscores of 86 and 75-yards in game two vs. Beaver Dam.  

In the season opener, a 46-18 win over non-conference opponent Monroe High, back Brian Cloutier scored a touchdown but had a hairline fracture in his right leg, just an inch above the fracture he suffered in 1957 as sophomore.  One of the interesting play’s occurred when halfback Pete Jolly, a lineman in 1958, intercepted a pass, sort of.   He snatched the ball out of Monroe quarterback Eave Grams hand as he was throwing.   Jolly stood still for a second, not knowing what to do then ran 35-yards for a score. 

It should be noted that the Little Ten Conference added two teams to the group in 1959 with Hartland Arrowhead and Ripon joining so the league had 12 teams. 

Waukesha County Freeman   November 5, 1959

Junior Mark Cloutier, Brians brother, was one of the mainstays who replaced Bob Monroe.  He was a hard driving fullback who scored several times on the year.  In the season finale, as he carried 20 times against West Bend, he had a slight leg injury on the very last play of the game/season.  Mark would be okey after resting after a few days.

Coach Licht was a supporter of the single -wing offense which was considered “old school” at the time as no one around used that formation.  He also employed, at times, the shotgun which was ahead of his time.  He had a philosophy that every opponent team had to prepare hard every week for his team.  How could you beat the success that Oconomowoc had?   

The defense was outstanding giving up only 413 total yards, 141 rushing.  Opponents were only 24 of 68 passing and allowing the Conney’s to intercept 14 balls.  The team also recovered 14 fumbles.  Phil Kienast was a nearly unstoppable linebacker, using his 210 pounds and his speed to level opponents with over 100 tackles. 

John Counsell, father of future Milwaukee Brewer coach, Craig, was recruited by coach Licht to be a quarterback because of his strong arm after seeing him throw a baseball in from the outfield.  Councell declined as he liked catching passes better than throwing.  He told Licht that it was fun to catch the ball and the coach replied that the idea wasn’t to have fun but to WIN!

So then, Licht talked Jim Braatz, also a baseball player, who didn’t play football as a freshman or as a sophomore to come out and play football.  With a good arm and running ability, Braatz proved to be a fit as the starting quarterback.  Councell would become media specialist with the Milwaukee Brewers.  Braatz later worked for Brownberry Ovens in Oconomowoc. 

Lineman Tom Bartz accepted a football scholarship to Maryland and played two seasons, 1964 and 1965 for the Denver Broncos and later worked for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.  Bob Monroe taught school in Germantown.  Phil Kienast earned a scholarship to Notre Dame, suffered a knee injury and never played again but became a college professor.  Harold Roberts opened an excavating company as well as serving as Delafield’s fire chief.  Bill Holden attended UW-Madison, and at one time held the Big 10 high jump record.  After graduation he became an airline pilot.  These are but a few of the success stories for the teammates of 1959.

Coach Licht coached from 1936- 1961 and posted a career record of 143-49-15 while earning a spot in the WFCA Hall of Fame.  His football teams went undefeated six times and won 10 conference titles.  He also coached the school’s basketball tam winning three Little Ten championships.  He also served as the school’s athletic director for 30 years.