No one said winning back-to-back state titles was going to be easy for the Waukesha West Wolverines.
After a few delays, the WIAA high school football playoff brackets were finally revealed Tuesday and the Wolverines are in a region loaded with contenders.
And despite being the reigning Division 1 state champions, undefeated at 9-0 and the second ranked team in the latest Associated Press state poll, West was not awarded a No. 1 seed in its eight-team region.
West, the second seed, will open at home against Janesville Parker (6-3) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
While the Wolverines are the Classic 8 Conference champions, it doesn’t appear that it will be a cakewalk back to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison for the state title game because standing in the way of them just getting to the semifinal round are five teams ranked in the state.
If West gets by Parker, they would play third-seeded Lake Geneva Badger (7-2) or Sun Prairie (7-2) in Level 2 action. Verona Area (9-0) is the top seed in West’s bracket while Middleton (8-1) is the fourth seed.
Showing the bracket’s depth is the fact that Arrowhead (7-1), a team West beat in the final minutes a few weeks ago to win the conference and which advanced to three state finals from 2006-08, is not even seeded.
Behind all-state running back Joe Schobert, the Wolverines defeated Stevens Point, 45-26, in last year’s title game. West was the third seed in its bracket during that run.
One year after coming so close to a state championship of its own, Catholic Memorial is back in the playoffs as well.
The Crusaders (6-3 overall, 5-2 Classic 8), who fell 35-0 to West De Pere in the Division 3 title game in 2010, open the playoffs against the Pewaukee Pirates (7-2) at 7 p.m. Friday.
The game will be played at Pewaukee, a team that started 0-2, but has not lost since being shut out by Greenfield on Aug. 26.
Memorial has won four of its last five games with its only loss during that span coming from Waukesha West. The team’s other two defeats came from Milwaukee Riverside and Arrowhead, two Division 1 teams.
Here is a link to the complete Division 1 and Division 3 brackets:
http://www.twnode3.com/d1bracket.pdf
http://www.twnode8.com/d3bracket.pdf