Prescott’s thrilling 19-14 victory over St. Croix Central on Friday kept the Cardinals playoff hopes very alive. Quarterback Kobe Russell hit a streaking Reese Stanton down the left sideline for a 76 yards touchdown with just under two minutes to go in the game. Prescott travels to Amery this Friday to take on the Warriors. Amery lost a heartbreaker to Osceola 36-35 and entered this week with their playoff hopes hanging by a thread. A Prescott victory will assure the Cardinals a berth in the WIAA Division 5 Playoffs. 

That’s three in a row. Girls cross country runner Kyra Dix took home top honors at the Spring Valley Invitational last Thursday. The talented junior harrier crossed the finish line with a time of 19.30, 12 seconds ahead of second place finisher Jaycie Oberle of Boyceville. Dix also previously won the Marshfield and Osceola invitationals. In Spring Valley on Thursday, Amber Van Loon ran strong and finished fourth, and Addy Allsop continued her solid senior season with a fifth-place finish. Prescott finished second to Boyceville, who is ranked #8 in Division 3. For the boys, freshman Dawson Langer continues to impress as he finished seventh to pace Cardinal runners. Junior Quinn Justen finished ninth and senior Nolan Leask 10th as the boys also finished second to Durand-Arkansaw in the overall team standings. 

The Prescott girls’ golf team finished second in the WIAA regional golf tournament last Thursday in Chippewa Falls. Junior Lalay Salay finished third with a score of 80 as the Cardinals finished second to River Falls. Juniors Macy Reiter and Lily Vesperman also finished in the top 10 for the Cardinals. This week the Cardinals will compete in the team sectional tournament in Stevens Point hoping for another trip to the WIAA State Tournament in Madison. 

The Northwestern Tigers remain the #1 ranked team in Division 5 and pummeled Bloomer last week by a score of 63-0. The undefeated Tigers have outscored their opponents 316-42 this season. Undefeated Grantsburg has climbed to #3 and Durand-Arkansaw will enter the week at #10. In Division 4, Baldwin-Woodville enters the week at #3 after escaping Altoona with a 40-38 victory. 

An army of volunteers met at Firehall Field this past weekend preparing one of the best natural grass playing surfaces in the area for the long winter months. Hats off to all the volunteers. Speaking of volunteers, congratulations to long-term CAB Company volunteer Dennis Gagnier on his induction into the Prescott Hall of Fame. 

We are entering a Shangri la time of the year for sports junkies. With the NFL regular season and Major League Baseball playoffs in full swing, network and cable television stations will soon add NHL and NBA games to their prime-time schedules. While cheering on their heroes, adult fans can choose to wear one of their five or six professionally licensed jerseys plopped on the couch with their favorite snack and beverage. And don’t forget, professional cornhole season also starts later this month. Wow.

The defending WIAA Division 3 State Champion Barron Bears have climbed to #2 in the most recent Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association Statewide poll. Grantsburg is the only team ranked in the top 10 heading into the week at #9. 

No. 18 Kansas earned its first five-set victory of the season Friday night, knocking off No. 15 Baylor, 3-2 (25-19, 25-19, 25-13, 25-27, 15-13) to hand the Bears their first conference loss of the year. The Jayhawks recorded a season-high 17.5 blocks and leaned on a standout performance from Reese Ptacek in the win. Ptacek finished with 14 kills and a season-high nine block assists in the crucial road victory. Ptacek is a 2024 Prescott alumnus. 

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: The 2025 youth hunt runs from Saturday, Oct. 11 through Sunday, Oct. 12. 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 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 remain within arm’s reach of the youth hunter at all times.

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 be in both visual and voice contact with the youth hunter at all times.

Headshaker of the Week: Finally Major League Baseball without the foolish, idiotic, and stupid regular season rule of putting a base runner at second base if the game goes into extra innings. I applaud a couple changes that have been made over the last 10 years. The pitching clock, a limit on pitching changes, and curtailing the number of times a hitter can call timeout. But, putting a runner at second base in extra innings caters too much to the “lazy, I’ve got to get home fan.” Growing up, a trip to the ballpark was a rare occasion and if the game went into extra innings it was viewed as a treat. Thank goodness Major League Baseball does not use the half-witted extra inning rule in the playoffs. Because during the regular season, it’s a headshaker.