from the Hip

BY CRIPE OLSON The Prescott football team will participate in a five-team scrimmage at 10 a.m. this Friday in Osceola. The Cardinals will lock horns with New Richmond, St. Croix Central, Osceola, and River Falls as Prescott gears up for their opener on Saturday, Aug. 20 at Eau Claire Regis. Speaking of Regis, Xander Rockow, a University of Minnesota commit and a star two-way player for the Ramblers, will miss the entire season due to a torn labrum. According to the Wisconsin Golf website, the Prescott girls golf team has three Cardinals listed among the top 40 golfers in the class of 2023: Ava Salay, Rhianna Stutz, and Maddie Reiter. No other high school has more than two listed in the top 40. Ross Wargula will be the next wrestling head coach at Prescott High School. The UW-River Falls alumnus previously taught special education and coached football and wrestling at St. James High School in Minnesota. Previously, Wargula was a member of Bruce Larson's Somerset football sta from 2013-2016.

Former Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association Volunteer of the Year Dallas Eggers plans to step down, or "step o" the lawn mower after the 2022 summer baseball season concludes. A member of the Prescott Hall of Fame, Eggers has been more than a field maintenance figure at Firehall Field. Coaching, concessions, field work, announcing, cable broadcast, garbage collection, irrigation system monitor, outfield sign installer, fundraiser, mechanic, historian, program creator, volunteer recruiter, scheduler, sod cutter, gardener, rock picker, grant writer, sponsor solicitor, cheerleader. Rest assured when it comes to Prescott High School, summer, or town team baseball there is a connection to Dallas Eggers. Although Eggers admits he will "be around next year," the CAB Company will be looking for volunteers to mow the outfield at Firehall Field next season. If interested, contact the Prescott CAB Company as they hope to fill a void when Eggers, a volunteer extraordinaire, begins to further enjoy retirement with his wife Debbie. Certainly time well deserved. Prescott basketball's all-time leading scorer Isabella Lenz is wrapping up her pre-season workouts as she prepares for her second season with the Michigan Tech Huskies. Last season, Lenz helped the Huskies finish 12-7 in conference play and 18-11 overall. The Huskies will return next the bulk of their roster this year and are expected to challenge for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title. "If we can stay healthy, I think we have a great shot at the conference title and qualifying for the NCAA tournament this year," said Lenz. Speaking of baseball, the Prescott High School coaching sta is in the process of gathering pictures of Cardinal alumni who played collegiately at the NCAA or NAIA level. Anyone with pictures of former Prescott alumni are encouraged to send such images to Je Ryan at the high school. The coaching sta plans to add this information to the ever-improving high school athletics website. Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association President John Hamilton plans to propose a plan for a four-day state baseball tournament to the WIAA this fall. The current three-day format requires some games to begin at 8 a.m. and end with semi-final games that finish well past midnight. The WBCA for many years has proposed changes to the current schedule that resembles weekend double elimination slow or fast pitch tournaments. In the past the WBCA has proposed adding venues, providing additional volunteers, and other incentives to bring about much needed changes to the tournament schedule. Let's see if Hamilton's proposal will get through to the often hard-headed decision makers of the WIAA. Stay tuned. From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: The DNR announced that bonus antlerless harvest authorizations will be available for purchase starting at 10 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 15 online through the Go Wild license portal and at license sales locations. Deer population levels vary throughout the state, and antlerless harvest opportunities vary by management zone. This allows for greater harvest opportunities where deer are abundant and a more conservative harvest where deer are fewer in number. Bonus antler-less harvest authorizations, formerly known as tags, are available for purchase in all deer management units (DMUs) for the 2022 season. Bonus authorizations are sold at a rate of one per person per day until sold out or until the 2022 deer hunting season ends. Bonus authorizations are $12 each for Wisconsin residents, $20 each for non-residents and $5 each for youth ages 11 and under.

Hall of Fame Chairman Tanya Sponholz and other committee members would like to remind everyone that nominations for next year's Prescott Hall of Fame induction are being accepted. Hall of Fame nomination forms for 2023 can be found at https://www. prescott.k12.wi.us/community/hall-of-fame. cfm and are due by May 1, 2023. Headshaker of the week. As we approach the 2022 high school football season, chances are scores of Prescott youth will don Aaron Rodgers or Justin Jeerson jerseys and engage in heated games of touch football during recess. A while back, the Ford/NFL sponsored Punt, Pass, and Kick competitions brought thousands of youngsters ages 8-13 to high school football fields across the country to participate in the popular youth football competition. For years kids would practice the three skills in front yards, playgrounds, or farm fields around the country. Sadly, in 2017 the NFL ended its sponsorship of the wildly successful and popular competition. Sure, there are local communities and organizations that have tried their best to revive PPK competitions. However, they pale in comparison to the NFL sponsored event that culminated with national finalists competing in the throwing part of the Punt, Pass, and Kick competition during nationally televised games. No more. The NFL ending its sponsorship of the Punt, Pass, and Kick competition…it's a headshaker.