HILLTOPPERS VS CRUSADERS…1980’S… PART 1

This story features, in two parts, two great teams who year in year out played in maybe the toughest conference in the state during the 1980’s.  The teams were directed by two Hall of Fame coaches who are representative of the most outstanding members in their profession.

In picking the top game of for the story concerning “THE 1980’s GREATS”, I ran across a series of usually close and exciting encounters between the two great ball clubs:  Milwaukee Marquette Academy and Waukesha Catholic Memorial.  The two schools played each other 16 times during the decade…once each during the regular season and six times in the WISAA playoffs.  Often, the regular season game was for bragging rights in winning the Catholic Metro Conference.  And often their games were classic battles known for terrific defense.  Only a few were blowouts.

Marquette played their first ever game in 1909, tying Milwaukee Pio Nono 0-0.  The Fighting Hilltoppers have won more games than any other school in Wisconsin football history with 775 all-time wins.  In the 1980’s the school was coached by Dick Basham who, from 1972-2012 had an 350-87 record, currently #5 on the state’s all-time win list.

Memorial with 527 career victories as of 2024, opened in 1949, played a freshman and junior varsity schedule in it’s first two years.  In 1951 they played an independent schedule before formally joining the Catholic Conference at the varsity level in 1952.  One of those games in 1951 was against future Catholic Conference powerhouse, Milwaukee Don Bosco, an upset tie, yes, tie, 6-6. 

The Hilltoppers and the Crusaders first played on September 21, 1952 with Marquette winning 31-0.  From 1952-79, 28-years, Marquette dominated the series 18-5-1.  The Catholic Conference, because of adding new schools in the 1940’s and 1950’s growing from six teams to 10 (11 teams in the 1960’s).  The Conference split into two divisions for the 1960 and 1961 seasons before reverting back to 10-11 teams in a round robin schedule so the two schools didn’t play five times in the 1952-79 period.  Currently, Bill Young has coached Waukesha Catholic Memorial since 1978 and is #3 on the state’s all-time coaching win list with a record of 413-127.

1980 was Dick Basham’s 9th season at the school and he had a then career 59-21 record at the school.  In 1979, Bill Youngs 2nd at Memorial was a very good one as he led his Crusaders to a 10-1 record and the WISAA state title.

1980

The two schools met on Saturday, October 11 at Waukesha South’s home field which they shared with Memorial.  The Crusaders was hoping for a win after losing earlier to Thomas More.  If they lost, they would probably be out of the race for the conference title.  The team had two goals going into the season.  One was to beat Marquette and the other was to win the conference title.  Memorial outgained Marquette 319-76 yet they lost 21-13.  How could that be?  First, a 31-yard punt return in the first quarter, an 88-yard kickoff return following a Crusader score and a third quarter run for a touchdown after making their only drive of the game gave Marquette the win.  Six times Waukesha had the ball inside the 20-yard line but could only score twice.  Marquette would stumble and end up with a 6-3 record for 3rd place in the Metro, but Memorial would make the playoffs and end with an 8-3 record and second place, losing to Marshfield Columbus 19-12.

1981

With a 2-2 record Memorial was facing their third WISAA top ranked team in four weeks.  Marquette was undefeated, 4-0 and headed to a second place showing in the conference after pulling out a 14-7 victory.  Memorial scored late to pull close but failed to put up another drive.  It was a tough defensive battle for each school.  The Hilltoppers would lose the next week to Thomas More and then again in the playoffs to the Cavaliers and finish with a 8-2 record.  The Crusaders would end with a 5-4 record.

1982

Both schools were undefeated early in the season when the two met and the Waukesha Freeman newspaper declared the match up as the most exciting game of the season.  Marquette had posted four consecutive shutouts to start the year while Memorial had only allowed 11 points in their first four games.  It looked to be a defensive battle, and it was.  Memorial scored first and then Marquette replied with a score in the second period and the game was tied 7-7.  Neither team generated a lot of offense, in fact, the Crusaders held the Hilltoppers to one first down and 26 yards in the second half.  After regulation the two were still all even.  Memorial got the ball first in overtime and had to settle for a 28-yard field goal by kicker Bob Vitale.  Marquette next took the ball to the 1-foot line.  On fourth down nose-guard Pat Rankin broke through the line and stopped Marquette’s Tom Klar for a two-yard loss to seal the win, 10-7.  Memorial would finish the year with a 9-1 record, win the Metro title but lose to Marquette 19-7 in the WISAA semi-finals. 

Tom Klar got his revenge in the second matchup as he led the Fighting Hilltoppers with 138 rushing yards on 25 carries and his team’s final score.  Memorial dominated in the first half taking a 7-0 lead but they couldn’t hold back Marquette.  The Crusaders fumbled on two of their first second half possessions and along with adjustments made by Dick Basham with his offensive line that allowed his quarterback, Chris Rolof, to have more time to pass and that opened up the run game.  Memorials offense was non-existent in the second half as Marquette dominated defensively.  The Hilltoppers would finish 10-1, finish 2nd to Memorial in the Metro and take the state title a few days later with a 7-0 win over Marshfield Columbus.  

1983

Waukesha Memorial again had major goals for the season, 1983.  First was to take down Milwaukee Marquette, second was to win the Metro Conference and third, go deep in the playoffs.  Marquette’s goals were similar (But of course to beat Memorial).  The Hilltoppers didn’t return a strong squad and as a result when the two schools met, even though they had a 5-2 record they were not strong offensively.  A close 3-0 defeat at the hands of Milwaukee Pius in game two and later a 21-6 loss to Thomas More the week before they would meet Memorial.  The Hilltoppers were looking to change things around.  With a goal of winning, Marquette however had again issues with moving the ball against a stubborn Memorial defense gaining only 9-yards rushing vs. Memorials 290 and in holding Marquette’s offense back Waukesha took advantage, winning 20-0.  Marquette would end the year in 4th place in the Metro with a 6-3 record.  Memorial was undefeated during the regular season, won the Metro and end up losing in the second round of the playoffs to Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs (The eventual champion) 9-2 to end the year with a 10-1 record.

1984

The two schools met early in the season on September 15th and Memorial again had Marquette’s number.  The Crusaders outgained the Hilltoppers 287-129 and despite having five turnovers Memorial won 14-0.  Waukesha would have scored at least three more times if they hadn’t handed the ball over.  In the end, this meeting was not one of their classic battles.  Marquette placed 2nd in the Metro, made the playoffs, losing to St. Mary’s Springs 15-6 in the first round and finished with an 8-2 record.  Memorial again won the Metro, going undefeated until the second round of the playoffs, losing to Springs, 19-7 to finish 10-1.

1985

1985 was the first season of five consecutive years where the two schools played each other twice.  The roles were reversed from 1984 as Marquette waltzed to a 27-0 victory in their first meeting and this time, even though they only led 3-0 at halftime.  Their offense showed up in the second half gaining 355 yards to Memorials 108.  This was the Hilltoppers year as they would go 12-0 and win the WISAA title.  Memorial had a down year going 5-5 but they did make the playoffs. 

After opening the season with three consecutive losses, one to Marquette, Memorial won five of their next six games and surprised many as being named to fill a spot in the playoffs.  However, Marquette coach Dick Basham felt that Bill Youngs Crusaders earned their spot.  Unfortunately for the Crusaders, Memorials first playoff game would be against Marquette. 

What turned things around for Youngs team during the regular season was the fact that they were passing the ball much more than in the past and generally more effectivly.  Both coaches expected a close game.  However, it became the Chris Wagner show as Marquette won 24-7.  Wagner, a first team all-stater, took the opening kickoff back as he zig-zagged 85-yards for the score.  Wagner, who also played wide receiver and defensive back caught three passes for 79 yards and two scores…38 and 30 yards all from all-state quarterback Dan Novotny. As it turned out Marquette barely won the offensive statistical battle as they gained 109 yards on the ground and 127 (7-14-1) through the air for a total of 236 yards.  Because the run game wasn’t going for Memorial, gaining only 61 yards, they reverted to throwing the ball on 17-35-2-169-0 for a team total of 230 yards.  The 35 passing attempts was the most, up to this time, in the Bill Young era.  The 1985 team for Marquette was rated by me as #7 on my story entitled “THE 1980’S GREATS…PART 1”.

More on these two teams’ next time.

DEWAYNE JOHNSON…FROM PLYMOUTH AND BEYOND

While doing some research on teams from the 1980’s I noticed, looking at the WIAA web site (FOOT Playoff Scores), that Plymouth had won the 1976 first Class B WIAA state title, beating Iowa-Grant 42-12.  In 1977 the Panthers lost in the opening round of the Class B playoffs to the eventual champion, Iowa Grant 21-7.  The next year, 1978, Plymouth was back in the playoffs and won the Division 3 title for a second time, beating Prairie du Chien 34-14. (Don’t be confused …the WIAA changed the titles of the playoffs from Class to Division).  These were terrific teams.

Looking at another WIAA page…Team Champs…I noticed the name of the Plymouth coach, DeWayne Johnson.  Investigating the records further I noticed that the school didn’t make the playoffs for another 13-years (1991).  So, what happened to Johnson?  I was afraid of a tragedy.

At Plymouth   The Sheboygan Press March 29, 1979

While researching the 1979 Two Rivers regular season ending game, I noticed that Johnson wasn’t listed in the game story as being the Plymouth coach.  I then checked the WFCA Hall of Fame where I expected to find his name and get more information.  Not there.  How could a coach just drop out of sight after developing a good program?  Where did he go?  From the mid-season of 1975 the school won 35 of 36 games.  6-3- in 1975, 11-0 in 1976, 9-1 in 1977 and 11-0 in 1978.  I found a story dated March 29, 1979 in The Sheboygan Press that Told what and where he was going.  The story stated that he was resigning to take another coaching position at Anoka High School, about 25-miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He was taking over at a school that had 2,000+ students, grades 10-12 vs. 650+ students, grades 9-12 at Plymouth.  Anoka came calling, Johnson listened and moved on.  But like a lot of coaching moves there is additional information about the new landing spot.

DeWayne Johnson graduated from Cameron High School in 1961 who earned 11 letters playing four sports.  He went on to UW-River Falls where he co-captained the 1966 football team as he earned honors as a defensive end and center.  While at River Falls, he also played on two conference championship baseball teams.  Following graduation DeWayne took a math teaching position and a coaching job at New Richmond.  He was the head baseball coach at New Richmond and assisted with football and basketball.  His baseball teams won two conference titles.  The New Richmond Tigers football squads had a 10-8 record during his two years there.

In 1969 he took the head football position at Plymouth and taught math as well.  Things started slow as the school won only five games the first three years but in 1972 things began to change.  Creating what many thought was the best off-season weight-training program in the state was a start.  The Plymouth Panthers began to quickly improve as a result of the training.  The school won their last two games in 1971 and the won the 10-team Packerland Conference title in 1972 by ending with a 9-0 record.  beginning in 1972 Plymouth won 53 conference games and four titles. 

DeWayne Johnson and his family, wife Sharon who was also a teacher at the Riverview Middle School in Plymouth, and two young boys moved to Anoka in June of 1979.  The Minnesota program he was taking over was a good one. 

Under the previous Coach Stan Nelson, who retired, Anoka had posted a career 154-70-8 record in 26-seasons.  The 1978 season the school had gone 6-3.  Nelson would be inducted into the Minnesota State Football Coaches Hall of Fame.  His team, playing in one of the state’s toughest conferences in Minnesota was the state runner-up in 1963 and then won the 1964 state title.  He also coached three players who went on to play in the NFL, including his son, Steve.  As a linebacker who played 14-seasons with the New England Patriots Steve totaled 207 career tackles.

Johnson at Anoka from the school profile page

Johnson coached and taught for 24-years at Anoka, posting a 212-122-2 record. His Tornado teams won the 1990 and 1994 state titles. In 1996 he was named the state Coach of the Year and was inducted into the Minnesota State Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2009. DeWayne coached 14 first team All-State players and two who eventually played in the NFL.

Coach Johnson instituted several practices that became staples of the Tornado football program such as a player-parent mixer on the first day of fall camp; an annual team pig roast; a spaghetti dinner the day before a game and a team party following the game. There is an annual community clean-up day during which players volunteer for various tasks to improve the local community. All events that have continued after his coaching days. Anoka's success and team spirit continued after DeWayne Johnson retired in 2002.

He sadly passed in 2019 at age 76.

As I mentioned in the start of this story, it took Plymouth 13 years to make it back to the playoffs. While there have not been any additional state championships the Panthers have made the post season every year, 32 consecutive seasons (Except for the non-playoff 2020 COVID year) since 1991.

A TALE OF TWO RIVERS…PART 3…THE TITLE YEARS

The success of the 1940’s unfortunately, did not continue after the work that coaches, Hall, O’Mealy and Wiersig had performed.  Ray Wiersig left coaching and teaching in 1952.  The 1951 season had gone 3-5-0. After having winning seasons in 1947 (5-2-0) and 1948 (7-1-0) things went south as The Raiders played an independent season in 1949 and then moved to a revamped NEW as they moved to the western division of the conference.  Things got tougher in the new part of the conference and the teams went 2-5-1 and 3-5-0.  Wiersig finished his stint at Two Rivers with an overall 21-17-2 record, winning the conference titles in 1947 and 1948.

After the Wiersig years the Raiders posted four winning seasons between 1952 and 1976.  Three of those records were 1967-69, including an undefeated 8-0 year in 1968.  The team had a 6-3 record in 1969.  Following a 34-7 victory over Shawano the team then had a 6-2 record at that point.   Against Shawano running back John Hoffman carried the ball 30-times for a school record 319-yards, three touchdowns on runs of 42, 60 and eight yards plus a 62-yarder that was called back.  The Milwaukee Pius Popes (7-1-1), on their way to the first WISAA playoffs, invaded Two Rivers on November 1, 1969, and shellacked the Raiders 28-0.  This loss was the start of a 27-game losing streak.  A reversal of their 29-game unbeaten streak from the 1940’s. 

A 22-7 victory over Milwaukee Custer on September 15, 1973, led to a 2-7 season and the losing streak ended.  Their next winning season was 1976 when the team posted a 5-4 record.  Over time led the school to many coaches taking the head position.  Russ Wirnsberger had coached the team to a 13-31 five-year record (1972-76).  Russ, who also was the school wrestling coach, stepped away on his own accord and in came Jerry Bonino. 

Manitowoc Herald-Times-Reporter April 19, 1977

Bonino was no stranger to the Two Rivers football program.  He began coaching as a varsity assistant at Appleton Xavier and then he moved to Iola-Scandinavia for four seasons and in 1965 he became the head varsity coach, directing the team to a 2-7 record.  He moved to Two Rivers and served as the junior varsity coach in his first two seasons at Two Rivers 1966-67 and then became the freshman coach from 1969-76 when his teams had a 33-7-4 record.  He also served as the varsity basketball coach from 1968-80.  Bonino applied for and got the position.  Jerry found himself coaching the smallest school in the Fox Valley Association with an attendance of 1,125 students.  Neenah, a former regular 1940’s opponent, had the largest league student population of 2,716 as city itself grew.  As it turned out in the 1977 season opener, it was Two Rivers vs. Neenah.  Despite losing 14-13, the Raiders felt confident that they could compete with the “big boys” of the FVA.  Neenah was to be the conference champion in 1977.

Following the Neenah game the “injury bug” hit the Raiders and lasted for two years. Because of the large number of crucial injuries Bonino’s first two seasons didn’t go well, going 3-6 in 1977 and 2-7 in 1978 but things were starting to move forward.  Two Rivers only spent two years in the FVA before the WIAA re-aligned them into the Eastern Wisconsin Conference.  By moving to the new conference, they were now the “big kids on the block” among the new group.  The team stayed healthy with 14 lettermen returning for 1979.  

Led by running back Jeff Gospodarek, who gained 1,379 yards and scored 22 touchdowns while gaining over 2,300 all-purpose yards in 1979.  Senior quarterback Todd Wojta passed for 777 yards and on defense intercepted five passes.  Gospodarek went on to play for UW-Eau Claire, tight end Todd Schweigert went to Northern Michigan University and lineman/kicker Wayne Meyer accepted a scholarship to Mankato State.  These were just some of the 1979 stars.

The season highlight was winning the conference title in a showdown against undefeated Plymouth by a 25-14 score.  Plymouth had won the WIAA Class B title in 1976 (11-0), by beating Iowa-Grant 42-12.  The school then lost in the first round of the playoffs in 1977 (9-1) to eventual champion Iowa-Grant 31-8 and came back to win the D-3 title in 1978 (11-0) by beating Prairie du Chien 34-14.  With a 8-1 record in 1979, the school had a 4-year 39-2 record.  The matchup between the two conference title contenders was a true battle.  The next week the opening round of the playoffs Two Rivers were stopped cold by a tough Edgerton defense.  The season closed but the school was primed for the future.

With a lot of experience gained in the 1979 season Two Rivers returned 18 lettermen and the 1980 team was primed to repeat as the EWC champion.  They blended together so well that the team went 11-0 and won the D-3 state title.  Many observers felt that the team was so strong that the Raiders could have won the FRV title if they were still a member of that conference.  They beat Plymouth again in the regular season final by a convincing manner, 20-0 and then battled their two playoff opponents in hard fought games.  Six players made the 1980 Herald-Times-Reporter All-Area team. 

So many seniors started in 1980 that when the next season rolled around there were no full-time returning starters.  Coach Bonino observed before the season that Sheboygan Falls returned a lot of starters and was the probable front runner for the conference title.  He was incorrect as the Raiders blew them out 39-0 in game four.  But in game two the Raiders faced a non-conference opponent that was a much more powerful squad. 

Despite being outgained 100-248 yards on the ground by the Marshfield Columbus, the Dons could eke out only a 10-6 win over Two Rivers.  Columbus had been the 1980 WISAA Class A champion and would end up with a 9-3 record and earned a second-place plaque in the 1981 WISSA championship.  The loss to Columbus ended a 12-game Two Rivers win streak.  It would take a lot for Bonino and his staff to shore up the defense as well as working to improve the offense and they would win 9 of the 10 remaining games.  However, a 22-0 loss to the Kiel Raiders, which put Two Rivers, with their first ever EWC loss put them into second place in the conference.  Two crucial fumbles and two interceptions stymied the offense but the defense was unable to hold Kiel back.

The 20-14 win over Plymouth was in two-overtime periods.  Kiel was upset 7-0 by Kewaskum that weekend and that loss pushed their conference record to 4-2 while Two Rivers was now 4-1 with one game to play.  The Raiders took the title the next week with a 27-20 defeat of Chilton.  TR was able to overcome Mishicot in the first round of the playoffs and then easily defeated Reedsburg in round two.  The Raiders had to overcome a 14-9 deficit in the title game to beat Baldwin-Woodville 23-14 for the title. 

Going into the 1982 season felt that he had to tighten the defense.  The previous season the opponents averaged 10 or 11 more plays on offense.  They also had to cut back on turnovers. With two non-conference games to start the season…Madison East, a school with 1,982 students and again, Marshfield Columbus, a much smaller school with strong WISAA playoff record and a winning tradition…Bonino hoped to minimize the injury bug as well.  One of the strong points on the offense was returning players like quarterback Jeff Peterson, who was 141-73-9-973-10.  Tight end Bruce Jacobs caught 24 passes for 367 yards.  Running back/linebacker Dan Laurent was All-Area who carried the ball 106 times for 466 yards and contributed with 11 receptions for 98 yards. On defense, Laurent posted 82 solo tackles, 39 assists, seven fumble recoveries and three interceptions.  Paul VanLaarhoven was a running back with 300+ yards and as a defensive back he had four interceptions.  Both place kicker Stu Fronk and punter Steve Zunker were All-Area members.

With 18 lettermen returning in 1982, but only three being defensive starters, the key again was to be the defense.  As a team Two Rivers allowed 177 points, and the offense put up 347 points. 

Considered by many to sweep to their third straight WIAA title the Raiders opened against Madison East.  Down 7-6 at halftime the team roared back against the bigger school to win 27-13.  Next was a return match against Marshfield Columbus and it would be a loss.  Yet, Jerry Bonino wasn’t totally disappointed with the team’s performance.  The Dons were now 3-0 after beating the Raiders and on their way to the WISAA Class A finals for the third consecutive year.  They would lose to a much bigger school, Milwaukee Marquette, 7-0.

Down 27-24 with 1:12 to go and facing a fourth and one on the Sheboygan Falls nine-yard line, Bonino elected to not kick a field goal to tie the game.  Instead, he had Jeff Peterson toss a slant over the middle to Bruce Jacobs for a six-yard gain and then Dan Laurent ran around the right side for the winning score.  Stu Fonk kicked the extra point and the game ended with a Raider 31-27 victory.  After this it was pretty much clear sailing for Two Rivers to take their third straight WIAA title, the first Wisconsin high school to do so. 

Bonino would earn his second consecutive All-Area Coach of the Year award.  Jeff Peterson would earn All-State honors with passing stats of 224-126-13-2,030-28.  Bruce Jacobs also earned All-State honors as he caught 48 passes for 841 yards.  Other offensive contributors were: Paul VanLaarhoven carried the ball 167 times for 994 yards to earn first team All-Area as an RB/DB and Kick Returner and Dan Laurent who gained 988 yards on 148 carries.  Seniors Frank Svacina, Larry Feest, Lenny Sleger, Bill Rehrauer, Steve Zunker, Stu Fonk and Tim Luckow were major players in the team’s success along with juniors Rick Peterson and Scott Kintopf.

From 1980-82 Two Rivers Won three consecutive state D-3 titles and three EWC titles.  Jerry Bonino would have a very good decade in the 1980’s.  He posted a 79-23 record, one of the best records by any coach during the period.  Two Rivers won six conference titles and made the playoffs three more times from 1983-89.  His team had only one losing season as well, that was a 4-5 record in 1985.  Jerry would spend 18 years as the school’s head coach ending with a 127-58 record and earn a spot in the WFCA Hall of Fame.