Spring Valley is taking care of business as many expected in the playoffs as a No. 1 seed in Division 7 with a 27-10 win over Glenwood City on Friday in level two.

“We started off a little bit slow,” Spring Valley Head Coach Ryan Kapping said. “We settled in on defense and kept getting some stops and our offense became more efficient.”

Spring Valley was down 3-0 after the first quarter. In the second quarter, Trevor Forster and Cade Stasiek each ran one in and Forster and Charlie Hollstadt ran in second half touchdowns to secure the win.

The Spring Valley defense is as good as it gets, allowing 20 or less points in all 11 games this season.

“Just trying to be consistent, trying to make sure that we aren’t getting ourselves out of position, trying to make sure our guys have their eyes correct when the play starts,” Kapping said.

The win lines the undefeated Cardinals up with Boyceville. The two faced off in the penultimate week of the season and it was a game to remember. Boyceville came out of the gates swinging, but Spring Valley fired back to win 19-18 on the road in a matchup that decided the conference champion.

“I think it’s going to take an even better effort than it did last time,” Kapping said. “We made some mistakes that hurt us and I think we were fortunate to get out of there with a win last time.”

In the Wisconsin Sports Network ranking, Spring Valley is ranked No. 5 in Division 7 and Boyceville is right behind at No. 6.

The winner of Friday’s game at Spring Valley will find themselves in the top four of Division 7 and a game away from the State Championship.

Spring Valley is in an interesting scenario, as the last two regular season games came against Glenwood City and Boyceville, making it four of five weeks that they have played one of the two squads. Kapping said teams are going to keep some things the same but also make changes for a competitive edge. The key is finding the right competitive edge for your squad while predicting their next move.

“Obviously some familiarity with things that they’ve done, but also knowing that, since the time we played them, that they’ve grown and done things differently,” Kapping said.

Division 4 No. 4 seed Prescott was no match for top-seeded, undefeated Freedom, losing 43-14 Saturday, Nov. 2. Freedom got up 29-0 at the half, and even with successful second half adjustments it was too little, too late.

“We kept fighting through, I thought we played hard, just didn’t make some plays,” Prescott Head Coach Jordan Hansen said. “Tip your cap to Freedom, they made more plays than us.”

Hansen mentioned the team was battling some injuries to key players and it was too much to overcome.

Senior Will Packard racked up 135 receiving yards; however, the run game was shut down. Prescott averaged 2.2 yards per carry as a team on 35 rushing attempts.

This senior class was a loaded one for Prescott, and while they will be tough to replace, they established a culture for the next generation to follow.

“[We talk about] leaving the program better than when you got here and our seniors did that,” Hansen said. “There were kids that didn’t miss any days in the weight room since eighth grade.”

Prescott’s 2024 squad took massive strides including fighting for a conference title, placing second behind Baldwin-Woodville, and winning a level one playoff game.

“You’ve gotta be in those situations,” Hansen said. “That’s huge experience for our younger guys.”