Congratulations to the Prescott boys basketball team and Head Coach Nick Johnson on winning a share of the Middle Border Conference championship after their 61-46 victory over Baldwin-Woodville last Thursday. The Cardinals, St. Croix Central, and Osceola will all add hardware to their respective trophy cases. It is the 10th Middle Border Conference title for Johnson. Prescott will open the tournament this Friday when they take on the winner of the game between Amery and Somerset. Prescott swept the two-game series and split with Somerset this season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. 

Hats off to Cardinal basketball player Kobe Russell on becoming the newest member of the 1,000-point club. The senior guard drained a three pointer late in the second half to ensure his name will be stenciled onto the 1,000-point board in the high school gym. The affable and multi-talented Russell has accepted a scholarship to play football at North Dakota State next year. 

Speaking of scoring, congratulations to Violet Otto on becoming the first girls basketball player in Prescott history to 600 points in a season. The St. Cloud State bound sharpshooter finished the season with 625 points and wrapped up an impressive prep career with 1,751 points, second only to Bella Lenz who scored 1,811 points in her four years at Prescott. 

What an impressive year for freshmen Cardinal wrestler Bryce Feran. The talented ninth grader finished the season with better than 40 wins and capped a tremendous season by competing in the WIAA State Tournament. Senior wrestler Addyson Allsop made history becoming the first Prescott girls wrestler to advance to the state tournament. A high honors student, Allsop also finished with more than 40 wins as she advanced to the biggest high school wrestling stage in Wisconsin. 

St. Croix Central will play Baldwin-Woodville in one sectional semi-final this Thursday at Hudson with tip-off scheduled for 7 p.m. Baldwin-Woodville won both games during the season. Top seed and #4 ranked Wittenberg-Birnamwood will play #3 seed Mosinee in the other semi-final. The sectional final is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Eau Claire North High School. 

Speaking of Prescott grads, a number of Cardinal track and field alumni were quite busy over the weekend as teams all over the Midwest wrapped up their indoor seasons. UW-Stout sprinter Ava Budworth helped her 400-meter relay to a sixth-place finish at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference meet last weekend. Budworth ran the fastest 400-meter split of the team. Addison Huppert of Carthage College, a member of College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, competed in the pentathlon and finished eighth in the conference meet. UW-Superior distance runner Jayde Canfield ran in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference and finished seventh in 5,000 meters and also competed in the 3,000 meters. The Yellowjackets went on to win the conference meet. Minnesota State-Mankato distance runner Madison Matzek ran a personal best 10:05 in the 3,000 meters to place fifth overall and helped the Mavericks win the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championship. Wartburg College (Iowa) mid-distance runner Ella Johnson finished first in the 4x800 meter relay and helped the Knights go on to win the American Rivers Conference Indoor Title. 

And when it comes to Prescott Cardinal Track and Field, Head Coach Emily Calabrese expects anywhere from 80 to 90 boys and girls competing this spring. Wow! The 2026 thinclad seasons begin on Monday, March 9. 

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: The DNR announced last week the application period for Wisconsin's 2026 elk hunt will open Sunday, March 1, and close on Sunday, May 31. Applicants and selected hunters will see increased opportunities again in 2026. These include increased application options and license availability, coupled with a longer hunting season. For the third year in a row, there will be increased opportunity to pursue elk within the Central Elk Management Zone (formerly Black River Elk Range), as additional bull elk and antlerless harvest authorizations will be available through the state licensing system. The 2026 elk quota for the Central Elk Management Zone is six bull elk and six antlerless elk, up from a quota of four bull and five antlerless in 2025.

Headshaker of the Week. We have all seen videos of fans in the stands checking their phones during games, completely oblivious to the action, being hit by basketballs, pucks, or baseballs. Fans saw this up close and personal on Saturday in the regional championship game between Baldwin-Woodville and Prescott. A young, baseball cap wearing fan was fixated on their mobile device when an errant pass thrown over the scorers’ table grazed the top of their baseball cap. Unfazed, the youngster failed to even realize what had happened and allowed the fans behind her to toss the ball back into play. I hope the text she was sending to her buddy was an important one. But it’s not just youngsters, take a look in the stands at the next competitive event you attend. All ages are guilty. That young kid Saturday night didn’t realize how close they were to a broken nose. But at least they were able to share that funny video of that dog playing with a pig with their friends. Being completely unaware of the action because you have your nose buried in your mobile phone? Now that’s a headshaker.