After Northwestern defeated Prescott in the 2025 football opener at Laney Field in August, Cardinal Head Football Coach Jordan Hansen reportedly said, “That’s a state championship team right there.” Well, this Thursday Northwestern will get the opportunity. The Tigers will play the Mayville Cardinals on Thursday in the WIAA Division 5 State Title Game at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. This is third trip to the title game for the Heart of the North Conference team. The Tigers won the state championship in 1988 and finished as the runner up in 1993. Middle Border Conference Champion Baldwin-Woodville saw their season come to an end last week as they fell to Winneconne in the Division 4 semi-finals by a score of 28-8. Additionally, in Division 7, tiny private school Kenosha-St. Joseph will advance to this week’s state title game after their 28-0 victory over consolidated public school behemoth Potosi/Cassville. 

The Prescott Cardinal girls basketball team opens its season at home this Thursday when they host Chippewa Falls McDonnell Catholic. Area girls basketball prognosticators have labeled St. Croix Central as the team to beat in the Middle Border Conference with Baldwin-Woodville, Amery, and Prescott expected to also finish in the top of half of the conference. 

Basketball fans will notice the addition of Dave Swanson to the 1,000-point club banner at Prescott High School. During the mid-1970’s, the talented power forward led the Cardinals to the 1976 Class C Sectional Final. After upsetting #6 ranked Frederic in the semi-finals, Prescott squared off with #3 ranked Washburn, losing in the title game by a score of 75-73. Swanson, a two-time All Conference selection, was a three-year letterwinner for then Head Coach Tim Cerni.  

Wisconsin gun deer hunting: Tens of thousands of hunters around the state will traipse into the wild hoping to harvest Wisconsin’s State Wildlife Animal. The history of the hunt goes back to 1851 and analyzing the chronological history of the tradition brings feelings of intrigue, fascination, and tragedy. Here are tidbits from Wisconsin’s historic hunt. In 1892 it was lawful to kill any dog chasing deer. Salt licks were prohibited in 1905. In 1910, Wisconsin deer populations dropped to historic lows leading to the DNR to close the season in alternating years - 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933. There were 24 hunters killed and 26 injured during the 1914 season. Back tags were required in 1942. Blaze orange was added in 1951 to the required red clothing hunting law. 

And speaking of deer hunting, best of luck to all those heading to the woods this coming weekend. As you make your way to the stand Friday morning don’t forget all the essentials. Hand warmers, binoculars, extra bullets, knives, and a snack or two. And of course, today’s imperatives include cell phone, iPad, pillow, window scraper (to scrape frost on the windows of your four-sided, enclosed stand) charging cord, harmonica, boot blankets, Sudoku book, a fidget spinner, and an extension cord. Everyone have a safe frontier hunting experience. 

The No. 4-ranked UW-River Falls football team closed out the 2025 regular season with a 29-19 win over UW-Stout on Saturday afternoon at Williams Stadium. The Falcons finish the regular season with a 9-1 overall record to match a program record for wins in a season and clinching the WIAC title outright with a 6-1 record, the team’s first outright title since 1985. Prescott grad Jack Olson had one of four quarterback sacks and another tackle for loss in the win over the Bluedevils. 

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: The DNR announced that Delavan-Darien High School graduated senior Jaelyn Logterman is the winner of the 2026 Wisconsin State Park and Forest vehicle admission pass design contest. The DNR-sponsored design contest is open to artwork submissions from high school-age students attending Wisconsin's public, private or parochial schools or homeschools. The annual contest, now in its 35th year, received more than 150 submissions for the 2026 pass design. The second-place winner is Adalynn Zahurance of Rice Lake High School, and the third-place recipient is Elizabeth Bornick of Princeton High School.

Headshaker of the Week. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes yes, yes. I know it’s 2025 and not 1975. Today the marketing of professional sports goes well beyond trading cards, CBS Sportscaster Phyllis George, Jimmy the Greek, or the voice of John Facenda narrating the slow-motion highlights of the 1967 Ice Bowl. And when it comes to television, seemingly every kind of possible sport gets some airtime. Darts? Cornhole? Full contact trampoline basketball? Yep, it’s on the tube. But what literally caught my eye was the color of the court in a recent basketball game. It was lime green. What? A lime green basketball court? It resembled a stockpile of enriched uranium. This kind of “marketing trend” is becoming commonplace in the NBA. What? Is the attention span of fans that short? Apparently the game is not enough to hold the attention of both those in the stands and those at home eating a bag of Doritos on the couch.  A lime green basketball court? Now that’s a headshaker.