WIAA Level 2 football playoffs preview: Fox Valley Lutheran, Xavier look to extend season
By Paul Lecker
AppletonSportsPage.com
The 2023 WIAA football playoffs continue Friday night with Level 2 matchups across seven divisions.
Winners will move on to Level 3 divisional quarterfinal contests next Friday, Nov. 3, and the playoffs will conclude with the 2023 WIAA State Football Championships at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison on Nov. 16-17.
Two local teams survived first-round matchups last week to continue their quest toward Madison. Here is a look at this week’s games:
Division 3
No. 3 Fox Valley Lutheran (7-3) at No. 2 Green Bay Notre Dame (9-1)
When and where: Friday, Oct. 27, 7 p.m., at Notre Dame High School.
About Fox Valley Lutheran: FVL advanced to Level 2 with a 42-14 home win over Antigo last Friday…The Foxes scored five touchdowns in the first half to roll out to a 35-0 lead…Quarterback Liam Heiges threw for 205 yards and three touchdown passes, two to Lucas Papendorf, who hauled in five passes for 121 yards. Heiges also had 98 yards rushing and Jack Egan added 70 yards on the ground and three TDs…Egan (780) and Heiges (763) each surpassed the 700-yard mark in rushing yards.
About Notre Dame: Notre Dame won its eighth-straight game, rolling past Ashwaubenon 56-7 in a Level 1 match on Oct. 20…Running back Christian Collins ran for 228 yards and just 14 carries and scored five touchdowns in the Tritons’ victory. Collins has racked up 1,833 yards rushing and scored 32 touchdowns in 10 games this season, averaging 12.6 yards per carry…Quarterback Carson Glosny has attempted only 66 passes, with 10 of his 37 completions going for touchdowns…Senior lineman Stanley Smith leads the Notre Dame defense with 12 tackles for loss…Notre Dame has outscored its 10 opponents 487-87.
Next up: The winner moves into a Division 3 quarterfinal against the winner of No. 1 Mount Horeb/Barneveld (10-0) and Baraboo (6-4) on Nov. 3.
Division 4
No. 6 Winneconne (7-3) at No. 2 Xavier (9-1)
When and where: Friday, Oct. 27, 7 p.m., at Rocky Bleier Field, Xavier High School.
About Winneconne: The Wolves overcame a 14-7 deficit to upset No. 3 seed Berlin 35-20 in a Level 1 game last Friday…Winneconne racked up 383 yards in the victory, 238 passing and another 63 rushing by quarterback Brady Immel, who threw three touchdown passes in the victory…Immel has thrown for 1,660 yards and 15 touchdowns, while rushing for another 584 yards…Senior running back Ethan Mathe leads the team with 847 rushing yards and 18 TDs.
About Xavier: Xavier won the matchup between the Bay Conference rivals 45-19 at Xavier three weeks ago. As has been the case most the season, the Hawks had a dominating first-half performance in the win, scoring 31-straight points after Winneconne had closed to within 14-7 early in the second quarter…That continued again in the Hawks’ 42-7 Level 1 playoff win over Wisconsin Dells last Friday as they ran out to a 35-0 lead by halftime…Matthew Potter (107), Isaiah Des Jardins (106) and Reid Hietpas (104) each rushed for more than 100 yards as Xavier pounded out 395 rushing yards on 34 carries (11.6 average).
Next up: The winner will play the winner of No. 1 seed Lodi (10-0) and No. 4 West Salem (7-3) in a D-4 Level 3 quarterfinal on Nov. 3.