Brava to the Prescott girls volleyball team and Head Coach Tracey Budworth on winning the regional championship with a thrilling five-game victory over the #7 ranked Bloomer Blackhawks. It was 1983, 40 years since a Cardinal volleyball team had hoisted the regional title plaque. Prescott now travels to Rice Lake this Thursday to take on the #1 seed Warriors at 7 p.m. who are listed as Honorable Mention in the latest Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association rankings and will enter the sectional semi-final with a game record of 27-8. The Cardinals will cruise into Rice Lake sporting a season record of 32-11. 

Bravo to Prescott senior Breckin Schommer on qualifying for the WIAA Division 2 State Boys Cross Country Championship this Saturday in Wisconsin Rapids. The top runner all season for the Cardinals, Schommer finished with a time of 17.01 good for seventh place last Saturday’s sectional meet in Rice Lake. Schommer and his teammates Jayde Canfield, Nolan Leask, Ian Leask, and Jack Kreager finished sixth in a field of 16 teams. Bloomer took home top team honors. 

Congratulations to Natalie Ptacek on receiving an NCAA Division I Scholarship to play volleyball at San Jose State. Wow. Having two Division I players share the court during the same season is one thing, but having both of them eating breakfast at the same table is even more unique and impressive. With Natalie’s sister heading to the University of Kansas to play volleyball, one can assume this year’s Christmas gifts will include shirts, coffee mugs, and can koozies emblazoned with the Jayhawk and Spartan mascots. Congratulations to both Reese and Natalie Ptacek for all they have accomplished on the volleyball court. And one more thing, these two young people are outstanding school citizens and will be wonderful ambassadors for the community of Prescott. 

The Middle Border Conference went 4-1 in the first round of football playoffs. St. Croix Central and Rice Lake both cruised to victories, and #6 Somerset - traveling 254 miles - dominated #3 Oconto Falls by a score of 38-12. Baldwin-Woodville defeated Ellsworth 23-6. This week Somerset’s Spartans only have to travel 171 miles to play Mosinee in round two, 75 miles less than their previous opponent - Oconto Falls. Once again, the results of the level one playoffs speak to the strength of the Middle Border Conference. 

Retired Wisconsin teacher and coach Karlo Kumpula has written a follow up book to “When All Roads Led to Spooner'' chronicling the Spooner Sectional basketball tournaments from 1943-1971. Kumpala’s second book “Destination Spooner: Sectional Basketball from 1972-1990” is now available to all Wisconsin high school boys basketball aficionados. For decades Spooner’s Antholz Gymnasium served as the mecca of western Wisconsin high school basketball as fans flocked to the 3,700 capacity arena to watch the area's best battle it out for a trip to the Fieldhouse in Madison. Prescott’s two sectional appearances in 1975 and 1976 are summarized in Kumpula’s work. Identified as one of the toughest tickets in town, the Spooner Sectional was said to be the place to be when tournament basketball comes in March. While reading both books it was obvious both players and coaches dreamed of playing in the Spooner’s Antholz Gym. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. Much to the chagrin of longtime cager fans, five divisions and rotating sectional sites are now the norm when it comes to hosting sectional games. The “we want to host too” attitudes of other schools and “sharing tournament sites” approach of the WIAA put the kibosh on grandiose high school events like the Spooner Sectional. Anyone who attended those games can speak to the magical atmosphere of a jam-packed gymnasium filled with the deafening roar of high school cheering sections, coupled with the thunderous pep band music of four competing schools. Those were the days…and now they are long gone.

Returning All Conference Guard Isabella Lenz and her Michigan Tech teammates are readying for their exhibition opener in Wisconsin Dells against Stevens Point. An NCAA Tournament qualifier last year, the Huskies return the bulk of their roster this season and expect to challenge for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title this season. Lenz says Grand Valley State, Kenosha-Parkside and Ferris State will all have good clubs this season. The Huskies finished with an overall record of 25-7 a year ago. 

Headshaker of the week. Despite an extremely successful and well-attended 2023 Prescott Hall of Fame Induction Banquet, there remains an exorbitant amount of misinformation when it comes to the nomination process. Sadly, there have been some typical small town whisper campaigns about the whos, the whats, and whys connected to the Hall of Fame process. There has been some ridiculous commentary from a handful of folks claiming supposed bias for or against past athletes or non-athletes. Absolutely absurd. This unwarranted derision is why some communities do not create Halls of Fame because a handful of people sabotage anything and everything about the process. I suggest those who share such canards with others take a look at the detailed, robust and objective nomination process before they engage in such gossip mongering. Here is an idea. Why not nominate someone you believe is deserving of such recognition instead of your version of screaming at referees from the bleachers? Vice Chairman Jeremy Kerg opened the 2023 banquet urging people to nominate people for Hall of Fame consideration. Nomination forms have been available on the Prescott School District website for four years. So get to work on nominating someone instead of publicly lambasting the process you know very little about. Complaining about people not being in the Hall of Fame without nominating anyone? That’s an enormous headshaker.