The road to state again goes through Central

WIAA DIV. 2 SECTIONAL

The thought when La Crosse Central beat the host Medford Raiders 67-58 in non-conference play back on Feb. 4 was the teams weren’t done with each other this season.

Nearly five weeks later, that anticipated rematch is upon us.

For the fourth time in two seasons, the Riverhawks and Raiders will collide tonight, Thursday, and for the second time in those meetings, it’s a win-or-go-home scenario.

Central has beaten Medford in the first three meetings, including last year’s WIAA Division 2 sectional final at Eau Claire North, the first final a Medford team had appeared in since 1983. This time the teams meet in the sectional semifinal round at Menomonie High School at 7 p.m. While the winner will still have a big hurdle to clear in Saturday’s sectional final, the team that does prevail Thursday has a good shot at reaching next weekend’s WIAA state tournament at the Kohl Center in Madison.

“We know what they do,” Medford senior Ty Metz said after the Raiders beat Rice Lake 53-42 Saturday in the regional final. “We know they’re strong. We know what they do well. We just have to go out there and play well.”

Playing well would certainly describe what La Crosse Central (21-5) has done for the past seven weeks. Since a three-game losing streak in mid-January, the Riverhawks have ripped off 12 straight wins to clinch a share of the Mississippi Valley Conference championship with rival Onalaska. They beat the Hilltoppers on their home floor twice late in the year, holding them to 10 second-half points in a 53-34 win on Feb. 17 and then beating them 41-39 in overtime in Saturday’s regional final on a last-second shot by senior guard Nic Williams, who was recently named the MVC’s Player of the Year.

All five of Central’s losses have come to quality opponents. The three-game skid in January was to Big Rivers Conference power Eau Claire Memorial, Onalaska in overtime and Mahtomedi, a 23-3 team from Minnesota.

Despite nine-point losses to Central and Onalaska during the regular season, Medford (22-4) drew the number-one seed in the sectional half-bracket in the WIAA’s computer-driven seeding process and comes in playing quite in its own right with seven straight wins since the loss to Central and a 15-1 mark since the holidays. Medford went a perfect 12-0 to win its third outright Great Northern Conference championship in four years.

This is the third year in a row the Raiders have been knocking at the Division 2 state door. Under eighth-year head coach Ryan Brown, the program is looking for that signature win that will break down that door.

“Of course I’m excited,” Brown said when the celebration after Saturday’s regional final win wound down. “You want to beat the best and there’s no one coached as good as Central and with the players they have. We’ll go look at the last time we played and hopefully learn some things. Obviously both of our teams are going to do what we do. But I think with our guys, sometimes you need some experience. Obviously Central has a lot of experience too. I could just tell the mindset of the guys, they’re ready for Monday. They’re ready for Monday so we can start getting focused for Central and start putting a game plan together and just being ready to go give it our best and live with it.”

The Raiders have learned in the previous three meetings they can play with the Riverhawks, who have turned into one of the state’s highest profile teams in Division 2 under head coach Todd Fergot. After beating Medford 56-47 in last year’s sectional final, they got to the state championship game, falling 67-48 to Pewaukee, who is the consensus number- one ranked team in the state again this year.

Central took some significant graduation losses, but that program is at the stage where it replaces talent with talent.

Williams and 6-7 senior Bennett Fried are the two players who played key roles in last year’s sectional final who are back for Central. Williams, a 6-2 guard has averaged 16.9 points per game this season, according to WisSports.net statistics, and Fried averages 16.3 points and eight rebounds per game.

The player who hurt Medford most in last month’s matchup was 6-3 junior guard Henry Meyer. He scored 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting and had nine rebounds in that game with 22 of those points coming in the second half. Whenever Medford made a move, he countered. Williams added 22 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Central shot 54.2% from the field in that game (26 for 48) compared to Medford’s 34.6% (18 for 52) and while the Riverhawks turned the ball over 13 times, they didn’t happen in crunch time. Those were the big differences Brown saw in the first game, which Medford led 28-26 at halftime before an 11-1 run to start the second half gave Central the lead for good.

“We’re going to have to play very solid for 36 minutes, there’s no doubt,” Brown said. “At this time of the year, that’s how it’s going to be no matter what. We recognize that, but at the same time, we also realize that if we can continue to play our game and we make the shots that we get and we defend at a high level, we have a chance.”

Medford’s win over Rice Lake Saturday was significant for a lot of the players on the roster who have run into playoff roadblocks in several sports against the Warriors. But when one rival is vanquished another one arrives and right after that win, the senior leaders were already turning their attention to Central.

“It’s just another team, but at the same time it’s a team we’re 0-3 against them,” Charlie Kleist said. “It just feels like eventually we have to beat them and prove ourselves.”

“This is what we’ve been working for all year,” Logan Baumgartner said. “We want to show that Medford’s for real. We’ve been hearing we’re kind of a little brother being in the GNC. The Big Rivers thinks we’re a little brother and Onalaska and Central too. We want to show that Medford’s here.”

The other side

Tonight’s winner will face either third-seeded Mosinee (19-7) or fourthseeded New London (17-9) in Saturday’s sectional final to be played at Marshfield. The time is to be determined. Mosinee and New London play in Waupaca tonight in their sectional semifinal.

Medford is, of course, quite familiar with Mosinee, their heated rival in the GNC who they beat twice in the regular season, 69-65 at home and then 69-53 at Mosinee Feb. 17 in one of the Raiders’ most complete performances of the season.

Since losing to Medford, Mosinee has won four straight games, including a 5453 win at then Division 3’s top-ranked team Brillion on Feb. 20, a 79-47 regional semifinal blowout over Merrill and a 77-65 win in Saturday’s regional final at second-seeded Shawano. Senior forward Davin Stoffel and quick junior guard Keagen Jirschele are the toughest matchups the Indians possess on their roster.

New London, finished 8-6 in the Bay Conference and is 17-9 overall. The Bulldogs lost their season opener 68-66 to Mosinee at Wausau East on Thanksgiving weekend but then won eight straight games and 11 of 12. A tough second half of the season included two losses to Shawano and splits with Bay runner-up West De Pere and Menasha, who they tied with in league play. They kept their season going with an impressive 83-74 regional final win at top-seeded Fox Valley Lutheran Saturday, avenging a 61-57 loss from Feb. 13.

Medford saw New London in last year’s post-season, beating the Bulldogs 60-49 in a regional semifinal. Kyle Wisniewski is a three-year starter at guard who scored 10 points in that game last year. He averages 15.5 points per game this year per WisSports.net stats.

Junior Jonah Schlueter, who did not play in last year’s game with Medford has hit 60 3-pointers and averages 11 points per game. Junior Tyler Gerrits, who also did not play in that game last year, averages nearly 10 points per game and has hit 74 3s. Ian Oberstadt, a 6-5 senior, had seven points and six rebounds against Medford last year. He’s averaging eight points and six boards.