Early in the week, Verona senior linebacker Sam Riebau said Kimberly was the one of the best prep football programs in the state, if not the best.

While Riebau's opinion of the Papermakers hadn't changed after seeing them in person on Friday afternoon, he found something out about his own team on the same day.

"It's one of the best teams I've ever played in my life. I've played against the (Hartland) Arrowheads, the Middletons and they're right up there with them,'' Riebau said.

"They got the best of us tonight but I think we gave them their best test of the season. They haven't had to play for four quarters all year and it's a big deal for us to push them that much."

Indeed. The Papermakers had won each of their previous 13 games by 16 points or more, and had a running clock in portions of all four playoff games. They faced their stiffest challenge scoreboard-wise in the Wildcats but rode three first-half touchdowns by senior receiver Jayme Wells to a 28-14 victory to defend its WIAA Division 2 state title at Camp Randall Stadium
Wells, who has a scholarship to play baseball at Northern Illinois, racked up 180 yards of total offense in the first half. He gave the Papermakers (14-0) a 14-0 lead on a 5-yard run and a 35-yard reception from Tyler Wolf.

Verona answered the TD catch when senior Adam Means hauled in an over-the-shoulder 38-yard pass from Trevor Burmeister, but Wells turned in arguably his most important play of the day when he took back the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a score with 1 minute, 44 seconds left in the first half.

"Jayme Wells is the best football player in the state,'' Kimberly coach Steve Jorgensen said.

Kimberly, which has a senior class that capped its career with a 44-0 record, opened a 28-7 lead on a 1-yard run by Benny DeBruin on the first series of the second half. Immediately after, Verona lost a golden scoring opportunity.

Running back Mason Meyer took a screen pass 35 yards before being dragged down at the Papermakers' 5. Meier and Cameron Bathe gained no yards around an incompletion before Meyer was stopped by A.J. Klein at the 4 on fourth down.

"It was a little bit of us not clicking and us being intimidated by the hype that Kimberly brought into the game,'' Verona senior right tackle Ethan Malofsky said. "We didn't know where to go and couldn't punch it in on four chances from the 5-yard line. After that drive, our team was emotionally beaten."

Added Meyer: "They were extremely fast. They were quick off the ball and they flowed really hard and they stopped what we tried to do the most."

The Wildcats got some momentum back when senior David Bartkowiak's punt block led to a return to the Kimberly 3 by sophomore Matt Gust. Burmeister turned the turnover into a 2-yard TD run with 7:06 left for the final margin.

"To go toe-to-toe with these guys ... we had our chances and we were right there, I couldn't be more proud of our guys,'' said Verona coach Dave Richardson, whose team also failed on a fourth-and-1 run and missed 42-yard field goal to end in the first half.

Burmeister, who quarterbacked the Wildcats to the Division 1 state semifinals last season, came away with the same feeling as Riebau. 

"Like I've said all year, this team has so much heart and we never give up. We could've been down by 60 and we still would have come out 100 percent,'' he said. "Unfortunately we came out with a loss but it's still a successful year. It'll be something I'll never forget."