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Points to ponder

Dennis Semrau  —  8/27/2008 1:35 pm

Following are 10 points to ponder for the 2008 prep football season:

1. Friday night's opening kickoff brings a renewal of the first of a pair of match-ups involving city teams that have grown in stature over the past decade. Those are the annual battles at Lussier Stadium between East and La Follette ndsh which vie for the Lussier Cup -- and at Mansfield Stadium between West and Memorial -- which duel for the Burt Hable Traveling Clipboard.

Friday night will be the 14th annual game in the Memorial-West series since a trophy was created to honor Hable, the late Hall of Fame Madison West coach.

Former Madison Memorial football coach Wally Schoessow created the "Burt Hable Traveling Clipboard Award" in 1994 to be presented to the winner of the annual game between Memorial and West. Hable spent 40 years coaching football at West before retiring in 1993.

Hable compiled a 199-113-5 record, winning 10 Big Eight Conference titles and a WIAA state championship in 1977. The Regents also finished second at state in 1981.

West holds a 7-6 lead and has a two-game winning streak in the series heading into Friday's matchup. Madison West's Leighton Settle rushed for 272 yards and three TDs to lead the Regents to a 42-20 victory over Memorial last season.

Following is a list of the game-by-game results in the series.

1995 -- West 22, Memorial 0

1996 -- West 7, Memorial 0

1997 -- Memorial 23, West 13

1998 -- West 19, Memorial 6

1999 -- West 26, Memorial 21

2000 -- Memorial 16, West 3

2001 -- Memorial 28, West 0

2002 -- Memorial 25, West 13

2003 -- Memorial 35, West 22

2004 -- West 28, Memorial 19

2005 -- Memorial 17, West 7

2006 -- West 14, Memorial 7

2007 -- West 42, Memorial 20

2. Madison La Follette will host the annual Lussier Cup game with east side rival Madison East on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. The Lussier Cup is named in honor of John H. "Jack" Lussier, whose $1.1 million in gifts funded construction of the stadium and locker rooms.

Located on the La Follette campus, Lussier Stadium serves as a home field for both the Lancers and Purgolders, just like Mansfield Stadium located at Memorial does for the Spartans and Regents.

La Follette holds a 4-2 lead in the series and has a three-game winning steak after blanking the Purgolders 35-0 last season behind RB D.J. Fuller, who rushed for 112 yards and a TD.

Following is a list of the game-by-game results in the series.

2002 -- La Follette 24, East 6

2003 ---- East 41, La Follette 20

2004 -- East 13, La Follette 7

2005 -- La Follette 19, East 0 

2006 -- La Follette 28, East 14

2007 -- La Follette 35, East 0

3. The first Associated Press prep football poll of the season will be released Monday, when the news service surveys sportswriters across the state for their opinions on who is No. 1.

Although there are seven divisions for the WIAA playoffs, for the second straight season the AP will split the state's football-playing schools into just three divisions: small, medium and large.

4. Returning all-state players from last season include: DeForest DE Drew Barman and Mount Horeb-Barneveld WR Riley Koval, who earned Associated Press second team honors and DeForest RB Tyler Lengfeld, who earned AP honorable mention honors and Evansville ILB Derek Cashore and DB Andrew Keister, DeForest OL Richard Skaife and Waunakee PK Andrew Weber, who earned Wisconsin Football Coaches Association honorable mention recognition.

5. After two years of frustration, the Big Eight Conference finally won a playoff game last season. The league went winless in the first round of the WIAA Division 1 playoffs in 2005 and 2006 before league co-champions Madison La Follette and Sun Prairie each won first-round games a year ago.

The league, though, finished 2-5 overall in the 2007 playoffs with La Follette and Sun Prairie both losing in the second round and Janesville Craig, Janesville Parker and Middleton all losing first-round games.

6. New Big Eight Conference member Verona finished 3-1 in the 2007 Division 1 playoffs, surpassing the overall win total of its new league rivals combined.

The Wildcats are expected to be competitive immediately in the Big Eight beginning Friday when they make their conference debut against Madison La Follette at Lussier Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

Verona earned at least a share of the last three Badger South Conference titles. The Wildcats will try to become the eighth team in the Big Eight to win or share the league title over the past six years. In that span, there has been only one unbeaten champion -- Janesville Parker in 2006.

7. Waunakee coach Pat Rice has led the Warriors to a 128-13 record for a .908 winning percentage spanning the past 11 years. That includes eight trips to the WIAA state semifinals, four berths in the state finals and two state championships. Waunakee has also won nine conference titles in the last 11 years.

8. Mount Horeb/Barneveld, which won the 2002 Badger North title, is the last team to beat Waunakee in conference play. The Warriors, who have won the past five Badger North Conference titles, have posted a sterling 71-4 (.947) conference mark spanning the last 11 seasons.

However, Waunakee is not the preseason favorite in the Badger North this season. That honor goes to DeForest, which suffered a 27-24 loss to the Warriors during the 2007 regular season but enacted some long-sought revenge with a 27-13 victory over Waunakee in the WIAA Division 2 state quarterfinals.

9. Other defending conference champions include: Lakeside Lutheran (Capitol North); Marshall (Capitol South); Big Foot (Rock Valley); Black Hawk (Six Rivers); Wautoma and Wisconsin Dells (South Central); Lancaster, Platteville and Richland Center (SW Wisconsin); Pardeeville (Trailways Large); and Johnson Creek (Trailways Small).

10. Returning All-City players from the 2007 season include: Edgewood senior OL/DL Ian Watkins and senior PK Mario Minnaert; La Follette junior RB D.J. Fuller and senior LB Ross Elliott; Memorial senior return specialist Quentin Badger; West junior RB Leighton Settle.

Dennis Semrau  —  8/27/2008 1:35 pm