Sports

This summer of area sports featured Bangor's Sam Crenshaw and Sparta's Gabby Bjorkman shining in national events and plenty of notable results on the baseball and softball diamonds.

BEIER COLUMN: Time to put our fall foot forward

Today's section is like going back to school. There are friends you haven't seen all summer, new shoes to wear and a fresh excitement to keep one optimistic.

The Hillsboro Tigers and the Ithaca Bulldogs are headed to the Scenic Bluffs in the latest round of football-only conference realignment in Wisconsin, while the Onalaska Luther Knights depart for the Coulee Conference.

The top end of the Coulee Conference has been as competitive and productive as any football fan could hope for these past few seasons. However, roster turnover, head coaching changes and a slight alteration to the conference makeup leave a number of questions to answer for the Coulee as a whole.

Where does your team finish when the dust settles on the 2024 season? If you go into the season with tempered expectations, and don't look ahead, there's a chance you can truly enjoy all nine weeks of the high school football season.

After a nearly nine-year tenure that included a drought-ending playoff appearance in 2022, Scott Servais is out as manager of the Seattle Mariners.

FOOTBALL: Five area games to watch for the 2024 season

As we head into the 2024 high school football season, here are five of the best and most consequential area games to mark on your calendars for the coming months.

Here's my quick take: Our high school football will give us some great storylines this season. No, not every team will end with a winning record. I've said it before and I'll say it again — winning is hard. Winning is also fun.

Bangor hits the road on opening night, Brookwood unveils its new field against Cochrane-Fountain City, Cashton is on the road for a potentially tricky test and both Sparta and Tomah host non-conference foes in Week 1 of the 2024 season.

The 2023 season was a success any way you slice it for the Sparta football team. With a sizable chunk of the roster returning in 2024, the Spartans are intent on making sure that last year was a launching point, not a peak.

It's fair to say that heading into last season, Tomah was flying under most people's radars when evaluating potential playoff contenders in the Mississippi Valley Conference. The Timberwolves relished in the underdog role and earned a postseason berth — something they'll try to replicate in 2024.

There's that old axiom in sports: next man up. For a program like Bangor football, it isn't just some well-worn cliché — it's at the very foundation of what's allowed them to be successful for as long as they have.

In a few short years, the reputation of Cashton football has shifted dramatically as they've gone from Scenic Bluffs also-ran to Division 7 powerhouse. Now comes the next chapter in their revival: trying to maintain a high-quality level after bidding adieu to a prolific senior class.

Despite limited success in terms of wins and losses in recent years, excitement is not in short supply around the Brookwood football program heading into the 2024 season, as the Falcons unveil their new field this fall.

    By the end of the week, we’ll flip out calendars to August.Yes. August.Where did the high points of the summer actually go?I have already began to worry about the tidal …

SUNDAY RALLY

    Undefeated through their first three games of regional play, the Bangor American Legion Post 40 baseball team needed just one more win to punch their ticket to the 2024 state …

Sparta staves off elimination; rallies forregional titleButzler,

    An opening loss at regionals immediately put Sparta’s dreams of a repeat appearance at the Legion softball state tournament on the brink. But three consecutive wins …

A Sunday afternoon in Cazenovia Park

    There’s nothing like a baseball game on a Sunday afternoon - especially in the summer. This past weekend I stepped out to enjoy that rather unique experience as the …

Hot temps, hot bats

For almost the entirety of their nine-inning triumph over Cazenovia in their latest game, the Tomah Post 201 19U Legion baseball team looked in line for a potential shutout victory. Though they …

    A seven-run outburst in opening frame of the game proved to be just enough for Sparta to beat La Crescent in a battle of junior Legion teams. Sparta Post 100 was able to …

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