The Ellsworth Panthers (6-0) nonconference football game, scheduled at New Richmond last Friday night, had to be cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns.

The Panthers unbeaten squad moved up a spot in the rankings to second in Division 4, behind only Catholic Memorial (4-2) in the wissports.net Coaches’ Poll. Catholic Memorial’s two losses came from outside of their conference to Germantown and Menomonee Falls, the two top teams in the Greater Metro Conference.

Recently, St. Croix Central moved up the rankings in the Coach’s Poll to eighth. In a strange year with lots of questions and concerns, the Middle Border Conference is as strong as ever.

“We let the kids know that they did something really special, I think it’s only the fifth one that Ellsworth has won. Any time you can compete for a Middle Border Conference Championship, much less win it, you’re probably a pretty good football team,” Coach Rob Heller said about the top conference in Division 4.

Ellsworth hopes to be back in action this Friday, with their first game of the postseason scheduled to be played at Fuller-Symes Field against Somerset at 7:00 p.m.

The Panthers earned the top seed in their region and have a rematch against the Somerset Spartans scheduled. The last time the Panthers played a game, they defeated the Spartans 33-8 in their first win at Somerset. The Spartans will be looking for revenge after the Panthers ran just eight plays of offense in the first half, but still went into halftime leading 13-0.

“I don’t expect them to change much. Coach Larson and his team are going to lay their cards on the table and come at us with what they do best, and that’s their triple option,” Heller said in an interview by phone Monday afternoon.

The Panthers will be ready when they take the field to give their four seniors another opportunity to put their pads on and lace up their cleats one last time.