Other teams and Belmont 2020

One of the questions I've been getting asked is “Why isn’t my team mentioned in the book?” “Did you ever look at TEAM X?”

Well, the answer is maybe I never discovered enough information on a school to be able to consider the team. Prior to the radio interview last week, I went to Muskego High School and dropped off a copy for the co-host, Ryan McMillon, to look over. He asked me if Muskego was in the book and I said, no, but the reason for that is their story hasn’t ended. They are still going strong and that chapter will be added in the future. There is plenty of information about Muskego. Yet, some chapters are yet to be discovered.

Another person who purchased my book, Cameron of Hudson, asked me about the Belmont teams of the late 1970s. Their parents had attended the school back then and it was a fair question. I replied that I had heard a little something about the teams but in truth I never spent time researching the school’s teams. Cameron said that information on their end would be coming to me soon and I look forward to seeing things. Belmont, a small town near Platteville, doesn’t have their own newspaper and I would have to rely on the Platteville Journal newspaper for the facts. After Cameron wrote me, I tried finding information online and there were just some game scores with almost no story in the Wisconsin State Journal or The Capitol Times. I’m sad to say that like several other key Wisconsin newspapers (The Milwaukee Journal, the Milwaukee Sentinel and the Waukesha Freeman) the Platteville paper isn’t listed on newspapers.com.

This all got me thinking about the 2020 season and I ran across a series of stories written by Travis Wilson on WisSports.Net. Travis is the General Manager and the principal football writer for the web site. One story I referenced is his season ending recap of the 2020 fall football season. As usual he wrote a very solid and informative recap covering a lot of material for the 2020 season this past week. Check it out here:

In the recap Travis mentions that Belmont in 2020 was the top 8-player team even though the playoffs were cancelled for the season. Now there isn’t a lot online from other sources about the 2020 Belmont football team but I did catch a story or two and I’ve been able to put the following together.

With only a 2018-19 school enrollment of 99 students, coach Brandon Wiese felt that the football team would be better served by moving to 8-player football. The Braves started 8-player ball last season and this year things really paid off. In 2019 the team finished with a 9-3 record, losing their final game to Wausau Newman Catholic, 49-16 in the semi-finals. Because of covid-19 they were only able to play six regular season games and an unofficial title game against Gilman, the only other undefeated 8-player team. The Braves came out on top 24-20 in a hard-fought game played in Mauston on November 8th.

The big star for Belmont the past two seasons was Riley Christensen who some colleges are taking a look at. Riley played quarterback and linebacker for Belmont and is 6’2", 220. In 2019 as a junior, Riley played all 12 games and passed for 854 yards and 11 touchdowns and ran for 1,960 yards and 30 scores. This year he passed for 478 yards and 9 touchdowns and ran for 1,372 yards and 26 more touchdowns. Remember, these stats were in just seven games. In the battle against Gilman Riley, he carried the ball 43 times for 347 yards and all four of his team’s touchdowns.

Before the season kicked off, Belmont was getting statewide recognition. Early on, coach Wiese had been named the Green Bay Packers High School Coach of the Week and with all the problems covid-19 gave their schedule, Wiese kept his team focused on the next game and staying healthy. Born and raised in Fennimore, coach Wiese played football, basketball, golf and baseball for his high school and went on to attend UW-Platteville. He spent 2014 as an assistant at Potosi for one season before moving to Belmont, first as an assistant and then being promoted in 2016 to the head coaching job. When accepting the award from the Packers, Coach Wiese, as usual, passed a lot of praise on to his assistants for their hard work. I’m sure the success will continue.

So, if you have other coaches, teams or players that you feel should get some mention, don’t hesitate to send me a note and maybe send me some information as well. Thanks, and Cameron, I can’t wait to see what information about the 1970s Belmont teams you have for me!

Varsity Blitz and Elmwood vs St Croix Central

I recently appeared on the Varsity Blitz High School Coaches Show with Mike McGivern and Ryan McMillan. You can listen to that show here. I appear in their first segment.

On the show, I discussed one of the stories from my book and I wanted to share that story here. This is taken directly from my book The Great Teams: A History of Wisconsin High School Football.

Elmwood vs St. Croix Central 1966

It was Friday, September 30, 1966. The ball was on Elmwood’s 22 or 23-yard line with about six minutes left in the third period. It was fourth down. The ball was snapped and shot through the legs of the Elmwood punter. Don Riley of St. Croix Central picked the ball up on the 15-yard line and ran it in for a touchdown. The extra point attempt failed and the score stood 6-0. That’s how the game ended. The first time.

It looked like St. Croix Central would go undefeated again in 1966 and win the Dunn-St. Croix Conference championship but the ball that had been picked up for the touchdown was technically a muffed punt and by the rules it could not be advanced. The touchdown resulted in the ref’s making an oversight interpreting the muff rule. The game was appealed to the WIAA and it was ordered that the game be replayed from the time of the ball being muffed. No one at the time could recall a similar ruling.

Nearly five weeks later, they would play again. On Thursday, November 3 at 1:45 pm the streets of Elmwood were nearly empty as it seemed the whole town was at the football field for a replay of the final part of the third quarter and on. The season was supposed to be over but the conference title had to be determined. St. Croix Central stood 7-0, 5-0 in conference play while Elmwood was 5-2 with a 4-1 conference record.

First, there was a minor controversy that had to be resolved. One referee thought the ball should be placed on Elmwood’s 22-yard line while another pointed to the 23. It was finally settled with a compromise on the 22 ½ yard line. With six minutes on the clock in the third quarter the game resumed. St. Croix Central had the ball and it took them seven plays to score on a one-yard run by fullback Norman Ross. He was given the ball again for the extra point try and junior, Jerry Sinz, rushed in and stopped him short of the goal. The two teams exchanged the ball several times until, with about four minutes left in the fourth, Elmwood quarterback Jim Nelson began a drive. With just under two minutes remaining he fired a bomb to Greg Nelson who, with two defenders around him, made a finger-tip catch as he fell into the endzone to tie the game. Fullback Jim Bock then bulled his way over the line for the conversion and the win. A few minutes later the final whistle blew for the second time.

Central ended the season 7-1 and fell from the top-10 of the AP final Little Ten poll. Elmwood ended with a 6-2 record and tied Central for the conference title. Jerry Sinz, who made the game saving tackle, preventing Central’s conversion would go on to play ball at UW-Stout before becoming a hall of fame high school football coach at Edgar.

The First Forward Pass?

About three weeks ago Dave Poltrock first contacted me asking about what high school threw the first forward pass back when the it became legal in 1906. Yes, the forward pass wasn’t legal until that year (read the section in my book entitled “Father of the Forward Pass” for more details). Dave was helping out at Delafield St. John’s for his friend Mike Fink who is the school’s athletic director and football coach. Since the Milwaukee Public Schools were not playing fall football, Dave, whom is an assistant at Milwaukee Ronald Reagan pitched in to help out at St. John’s. Dave had been trying to learn if St. John’s had thrown the first high school pass as well as getting more information on the Carroll College (now Carroll University) game against St. Louis University in 1906. Why did he ask if St. John’s had been the first school to introduce the forward pass to the state? Well, let’s get into the question.

St. John’s has a rich high school sports history. In 1906 Eddie Cochems, who was born in Sturgeon Bay, was the head coach at St. Louis University. After practicing in St. Louis for a few weeks Cochems brought his players north to play Carroll College in Waukesha on Wednesday, September 5. First, the early date of the game played was unusual. Most colleges didn’t start their season until late September and high schools most often didn’t play until the first Thursday-Sunday in October. Why so late for high schools? Well, the school year for many rural schools didn’t begin until after harvest season, late September or early October. In that game against Carroll College, St. Louis threw the first legal forward pass. It went incomplete and as the rules at that time stated the ball was turned over to Carroll College. The next time St. louis got the ball they tried passing again and it was complete for a first down. Passes that season had to go more than 10-yards to be legal. The passing in the game opened up the St. Louis running game.

St. Louis would win the game 22-0. The team stayed in Wisconsin waiting for their next game against Lawrence College (now Lawrence University) in Appleton which they won 6-0 on Saturday, September 29. Still sticking around in Wisconsin near Lake Glenbeulah, which is near Elkhart Lake, St. Louis prepped for their third contest of the season against Delafield St. John’s. In 1904 St. John’s shared the mythical state title with Eau Claire. Both schools were undefeated, untied and unscored upon. Eau Claire was 6-0-0 and St. John’s was 9-0-0 that year and neither team could agree on a final showdown to determine who was best. In 1905 St. John’s earned the mythical state title by going 7-0-1. Again, they were undefeated, unscored upon and only a 0-0 tie against Morgan Park Academy, a school near Chicago, marred their record. Now, in 1906 they won their first game of the season against Milwaukee West Side High School (Later to become West Division High School), 45-0 for their state record 18th consecutive shutout. The game was played on Wednesday, September 26, an unusually early date to start the season for both schools.

The next Thursday, October 4, 1906, St. Louis beat St. John’s 27-0, thus ending the school’s shutout streak. St. Louis would play Marquette University two days later on October 6 and win 33-0 before heading home to Missouri. St. John’s would beat the second team of Lawrence College the next week, 62-0. The question that Dave posed to me was “Did St. John’s throw any passes against Milwaukee West or St. Louis”? The only answer I can give is that they very well may have tossed the first Wisconsin high school pass against West. The St. John’s yearbook stated that the game was close in the first half but the cadets took control in the second period. No mention of a pass was made in the book but two things happened to lead me to believe they did throw the ball. First, in the game against Carroll College, St. Louis was getting nowhere on the ground and throwing the ball opened the field up. St. John’s would have learned about this development and because the first half against West was close, they may have experimented with the pass. And second, if not in that game they surely would have tried a pass or two against St. Louis in an attempt to come back. No game information is mentioned in the Waukesha newspaper sports pages but there was a brief mention in the Society section about how a festive afternoon to view a game was had that day. In truth we may never officially nail down who threw the first Wisconsin high school forward pass or the player who tossed the ball but my money is on a player from St. John’s.