If the Prescott girls golf team was looking for three seniors to carry the Cardinals through a wild WIAA Division 1 regional, Macy Reiter, Layla Salay and Lily Vesperman were happy to oblige. Reiter fired a 77 to finish third, Salay shot an 81 for sixth and Vesperman's 85 put her in 10th, giving Prescott three golfers in the top 10 and the team title with a score of 341 Thursday at Nemadji Golf Course in Superior. That was just enough to hold off Spooner, which finished second at 345. Hudson was third at 346, followed by Superior at 348 in a regional where only seven strokes separated the top four teams. The championship is Prescott's second Division 1 regional title in three years after moving up from Division 2 under the WIAA's competitive-balance formula. Prescott won four consecutive Division 2 state championships before making the jump to Division 1. The Cardinals qualified for the Division 1 sectional at Wisconsin River Golf Course in Stevens Point. Congratulations to Head Coach Chad Salay, Assistant Darren Reiter, and the team for another outstanding season.

It was a tough day at the Altoona Invitational on Saturday for the Prescott cross country teams. The Cardinals were without nine athletes because of injury or illness, while several others who did compete were battling through less-than-ideal conditions. Ellsworth won the boys title, while Altoona captured the girls championship. For Prescott Kyra Dix, who has been battling an illness for more than a week, finished atop the podium winning the girls race by more than a minute. Four other Cardinals, Alina Bauman, Lyla Droher, Lilah Bohlman and Rowan Bauman turned in season and lifetime personal bests. Dawson Langer and Quinn Justen led the way for the Prescott boys finishing 20th and 21st respectively. Saturday’s race marked the end of the regular season for the Cardinal harriers, who will now turn their attention to the Middle Border Conference Championships Thursday, Oct. 15, in Ellsworth.

The annual Firehall Field facelift is well under way with infield edge repairs and the removal of the bullpen mound in foul territory. Acquired from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, the mound served as the warm-up area for opposing teams. No word yet on if the CAB Company plans to replace the decades old warm-up spot. Speaking of baseball, the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association will be holding area district meetings later this month. Additionally, WBCA Committee members will be meeting to consider nominees for induction into the 2027 WBCA Hall of Fame. Somerset Head Baseball Coach Zac Eichten is the District I Representative. 

Middle Border Conference volleyball aficionados could not remember a longer match than the battle between Prescott and Altoona. The evenly matched teams went toe to toe in a marathon match that lasted more than two hours.

Speaking of the Hall of Fame, Committee Chair Yvonne Zarnstorff and Vice Chair Mandy Bernick remind everyone to nominate people for the Prescott Hall of Fame. Nomination forms are available via the Prescott High School website with the 2027 induction banquet scheduled for late September or early October. 

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: The 2026 youth deer hunt runs from Saturday, Oct. 10 through Sunday, Oct. 11. The youth hunt offers hunters 15 years old and younger the chance to learn hunting techniques and develop a connection to nature at a time when deer are less pressured than during the traditional nine-day gun season. Wisconsin residents and nonresidents may participate in the youth hunt. Youth hunters, with or without hunter education certification, are eligible to hunt while under the supervision of a mentor. For all hunters younger than 11 years old or hunters between ages 12-15 who have not completed hunter education, the mentor must be at least 18 years old, be a hunter education graduate, hold a current hunting license and always remain within arm’s reach of the youth hunter. For hunters ages 12-15 who have completed hunter education, the mentor must be at least 18 years old but does not need to be a hunter education graduate or a licensed hunter. The mentor must always be in both visual and voice contact with the youth hunter. 

I recently overheard two veteran high school football fans asking a question that apparently comes with age and experience: Whatever happened to the upset? They remembered when Saturday’s sports section could reveal that a team near the bottom of the standings had knocked off a conference favorite. You didn’t expect it, but you knew it could happen. They wondered if open enrollment, transfers and single-sport specialization have changed the equation. An athlete can choose a nearby school with a supposedly stronger football program, making one team better while weakening another. And some athletes skip football altogether, worried about getting hurt before basketball season. The two football sages believe those trends may have widened the gap between the haves and have-nots, leaving fewer teams in that unpredictable middle ground where anything could happen on Friday night. They weren’t claiming the “good old days” were better. They were simply wondering if, in making high school sports more specialized and mobile, we also made them a little more predictable. Because there was something fun about Friday night when nobody was quite sure who was going to win, including the favorite.

Headshaker of the Week. The 2026 Duck Season opened last week. Area hunters, including high school senior and student council member Miles Malm traveled south near Diamond Bluff in hopes of harvesting some Mallards or Wood Ducks. I am glad to report he and his hunting party did have reasonable success. However, Malm, like so many other hunters, had to deal with one of the migratory bird hunt’s version of idiot - The sky blaster. You’re sitting in a blind. It’s quiet. Everyone is waiting patiently for ducks or geese to get into a reasonable range. Then, from somewhere down the line BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! You look up to discover someone is shooting at birds so high you need binoculars to see what they are. Seriously? Veteran hunters understand that waterfowl hunting requires patience and a little common sense. Sky blasters apparently believe neither is necessary and if a bird is visible it’s time to empty the shotgun. The sky is a pretty big place but that doesn’t mean every duck flying through it is your target. Now that’s a headshaker.