The first high school football games of the fall are tonight and Friday. Here are Five Things You Should Know about the high school football season:
‘Friday Night Lights’ is a big deal in Wisconsin: There are 406 high schools in Wisconsin that will field football teams this season. They range from big schools like Arrowhead, Fond du Lac and Oak Creek (with student bodies of more than 2,000) to tiny Belmont, Highland and Cassville (with enrollments of under 100).
Around the state 27,000 kids will be suiting up for football this year, although those numbers have been dropping in recent years. Many schools have other sports choices in the fall like soccer, and other kids and families are taking a pass because of safety concerns.
Kimberly High School is playing for the record books: Kimberly begins the season with a 42 game winning streak. Their last loss, on November 2, 2012, was to Arrowhead in the state championship game. Since then they’ve had three undefeated seasons and three state championships (Div 2 champions in 2013, and Div 1 champions in 2014 and 2015).
Kimberly is six victories away from setting the all-time state record for consecutive wins. They can tie the record when they play Appleton North (8-3 last year) on September 16th, and can break the record when they host Wausau-West on September 23rd.
Last year’s state championship game was an all-time classic. Kimberly trailed by 28 points in the second half and rallied to beat Arrowhead, 49-42. The winning touchdown came with 11-seconds remaining on a snow-covered field.
High school football supporters say the sport is safer than ever before: There’s a rule change this year that’s designed to cut down on knee and leg injuries. Clipping (blocking an opposing player from behind below the knees) is no longer allowed in any circumstances. “Chop blocks” were legal until now in the so-called free blocking zone immediately along the line of scrimmage.Concussion protocol has been much stricter for high school athletes in recent years. High school football players take a baseline pre-season concussion test, and it’s used to evaluate them in case of a possible head injury during the season. Players who are thought to have a concussion are required to be removed from the game, and are not cleared to play or practice again until they’ve completed the concussion protocol.
High school football practices are also more regulated than ever before. The WIAA, which oversees high school sports in the state, sets rules for when practices can begin, how long the practices last, how long the water/cool off period there is, and what level of player-on-player contact is allowed.
Some of the smallest high schools still manage to field teams: Schools with enrollment under 200 can play 8-on-8 football. Last year there were 22 small high schools that were eligible for the state’s end-of-the-year 8-on-8 jamboree.
8-on-8 football is usually played on a smaller field – 80 yards instead of 100 yards, and 120-feet wide instead of 160-feet.
There’s a strange but true story about cheerleaders who saved a high school’s football season: Megan Klema and Selena Giddings, cheerleaders at Wauzeka-Steuben High School, suited up for the football when the team was short of players. At the start of the 2013 season the school had only 12 players, one over the minimum. One injury or drop-out would have forfeited the season. So Megan and Selena played football. Neither had any playing experience, but both learned the plays and stuck with it. Selena got significant playing time at defensive back during the season.
In Wisconsin female athletes are eligible to play any sport where their school doesn’t offer a corresponding girls team, including football. Although the number are unofficial, the WIAA believes there were 24 females athletes who played football in Wisconsin last year. Madeleine Northern went to the Football USA development camp in Milwaukee earlier this year, and says she’s trying out as quarterback at Badger High School in Lake Geneva this season. She played on her school’s freshman team last season.
Chris Conley8.18.16
