SHOTS from the Hip

The Prescott boys and girls cross country teams will be running in the WIAA Division 2 Sectional meet in Rice Lake this Saturday._And congratulations to Cardinal harriers Tyler Loucks, Ryan Zerneke, and Ella Johnson on being named Middle Border All Conference and to Breckin Schommer for being named Honorable Mention. _ The Prescott boys finished second to Osceola in the Middle Border Conference meet last week and the girls finished fourth behind St. Croix Central, Osceola, and meet champion Amery._ The Prescott Cardinal football team will travel over 100 miles to play their playoff opener in West Salem._ The Panthers finished second in the Mississippi Valley Conference and with an enrollment of 539 are the smallest school in the conference._Conference champion River Falls, Holmen, and La Crosse Central all boast high school enrollments over 1,000 students.__ Cardinal Aiden Russell has now rushed for 1,242 yards this season and has scored 18 on the ground this season.

Heart of the North Conference Champion and #5 ranked Northwestern will host Mauston with the winner squaring off with the winner of the game between Prescott and West Salem._Some area fans were shocked that #2 ranked Ellsworth was given the #2 seed in the eight-team regional. _ Over 30 football teams that qualified for the WIAA playoffs have losing records. In the Division VI bracket seven teams have overall records below .500. The reason, there simply were not enough winning teams to fill the 32-team brackets in each of the seven divisions._ WIAA football playoffs began in 1976 and for the first two years there were four divisions with qualifying based primarily on statewide rankings. In 1978, the WIAA expanded the tournament field to five divisions, moved to six divisions in 1981, and finally to the current seven-division tournament format that began in 2002. Remember, there also are a significant number of teams playing 8-man football as well. Perhaps it is time to consider allowing everyone to make the football playoffs and for the WIAA to expand to 10 or 12 divisions._ This Friday will be the 11th time Prescott has qualified for WIAA post season play._The Cardinals have an overall tournament record of 9-10. Prescott’s best playoff run was in 2000 when the Cardinals_finished as the Division 4 Runner Up, losing 14-7 to Lancaster in the title game._West Salem has qualified for the 21st time in their football history and sport an overall playoff record of 2819. The Panthers finished as the Division 4 State Runner Up in both 2002 and 2005 and won the Division 4 State Championship in 2007 with a victory over Kettle Moraine Lutheran._ This will be the first time Prescott and West Salem teams will meet on the gridiron._Cardinal boys and girls basketball teams along with baseball teams have squared off with West Salem in tournament play. The Prescott boys basketball team defeated the Panthers back in 2015 to advance to the WIAA State Tournament for the first time in school history._ Hats off to volunteers Dallas Eggers, Jim Johnson, Matt Monteith, Dennis Gagnier, Duane Miller, and Charlie Block for wrapping up field work at Firehall Field this past weekend. Aside from the dismantling and storage of the batting practice nets, Firehall Field is ready to be put to bed until next March. According to CAB Company President Dallas Eggers, Firehall Field hosted over 80 games this season. __ The Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association’s final poll has Middle Border Conference champion St. Croix Central listed as Honorable Mention in the last regular season state rankings._ Perennial power River Falls is ranked #5 in Division 1 and in Division 3 St. Croix Falls and Unity are ranked in the top 10. On Thursday, #1 seeded St. Croix Central will host the winner of Tuesday’s Elk Mound-Prescott match that was played on Tuesday.__ The Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association will be hosting seven area district meetings this week._ District coaches will select an Assistant Coach of the Year, Umpire of the Year, and Distinguished Service Awards at the annual fall meetings. District winners will then be submitted to the WBCA Executive Board for state award consideration._This year’s president of the WBCA is Westby Head Coach John Hamilton._The WBCA website can be found at www.baseballwisconsin. com.

Peter Brookshaw and the North Dakota State Bison wrapped up their fall baseball season this past weekend._The 2018 Prescott High School alumnus will be entering his junior season for the Bison next spring as new Head Coach Tyler Oakes and his club hope to repeat their NCAA tournament qualifying season this past June._ From the Department of Natural Resources: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wishes hunters luck and safety during the upcoming 2021 pheasant hunting season. The season opened statewide at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 16 and runs through Jan. 9, 2022._Several other seasons also open Oct. 16, including bobwhite quail and Hungarian partridge statewide, and ruffed grouse in Zone B. Like pheasant, the bobwhite quail and Hungarian partridge seasons open at 9 a.m. on the first day of the season. The ruffed grouse season opens with the start of legal shooting hours. Pheasants are one of the most sought-after game birds in North America, and populations do best in the agricultural landscape of southern and western Wisconsin, provided there is grassland habitat present in sufficient quantities to meet their food and cover needs throughout the year. During the 2020-21 pheasant hunting season, an estimated 42,532 hunters went out in search of pheasants and reported harvesting approximately 272,000 birds.

Headshaker of the week: Although I have never viewed myself as being any kind of a mathematics whiz, I did learn arithmetic basics at Alcott Elementary School in Hastings, Neb. I learned less than, greater than, and equal to and I was taught to use “FOIL” when multiplying equations._In this day and age of conference realignment at seemingly all levels of college athletics, it is time to realize there are no longer 10 teams in the Big 10._There are now 14 teams competing and it is identified as one of the “Power Five” conferences._It is time to come up with a new name._ Sorry folks, 14 is not 10 and 10 is not 14. Calling a 14-team conference the Big 10 is comical._In fact, it’s a headshaker._