At last, the fall postseason is here
WITHOUT W ORDS
Even before the first fall sports practices began I knew that this season was going to be something special. I knew I had extremely talented runners, swimmers, football and volleyball athletes.
As Colby and Abbotsford went through the regular season, and their respective programs and athletes racked up yards, kills, medals and more, it made me look forward to the postseason more and more. And now it’s finally here.
These next few weeks are always a whirlwind of activity for me. It seems every night I have at least one, oftentimes, multiple teams taking part in a playoff match or meet. It’s enough to make me feel like Linda Blair from the movie “The Exorcist” because it’s got my head spinning as I attempt to keep track of stats and places and scores.
But it’s also fun to see which athletes begin to peak, who are ones to watch for in the next season, and which of my kids has a breakout season in their final year at Colby or Abbotsford High.
On the side of Colby, there have been several players who seem to do amazing things every night on the football field. I knew Brent Jeske was going to be very good, after all, he’s already holding multiple D-2 offers. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he gets a few D-1 offers.
His brother Andrew, however, has been having an amazing season thus far. He’s second in the state in sacks, and one of the best in Wisconsin at wreaking havoc as a defensive end. What’s incredible is he’s doing this in one quarter a game.
Mason Voss and Caden Healy are two other Hornets having great seasons. I’m keeping my eye on Healy, especially for track this spring. I’ve been happy to see Abby’s Ty Falteisek is having a great season despite suffering a season ending injury last year. Ty has well over 1,000 yards rushing.
For the Abby Falcons volleyball program, senior Olivia Hammel reached an impressive milestone, striking her 800th kill in a match with Necedah in the regional quarterfinal at home on Tuesday, Oct. 19. I have no doubt she would have joined Abby alum Melanie Kunze with 1,000 kills if given a full season last year.
Abby volleyball will have a test on Thursday when they host Auburndale. A win there, and they get to play for a plaque and regional champion honors. The Colby Hornets football team will already be adding some hardware to their case this season after becoming undisputed Marawood champions. But that pales in comparison to the Colby girls cross-country program, who won a fourth straight Cloverbelt title.
Even better, all seven varsity runners for the Colby girls won all-conference honors, with Daisy Feiten taking top individual honors. The Colby/Abbotsford boys cross-country team also did very well, taking third place overall. I was on hand for the awards ceremony, on Saturday and was delighted to see three boys, all seniors, win all-conference honors.
But even I had a little victory this postseason, or rather local journalism did. As I was writing my story, I realized that an error had been made, and that Colby High sophomore Max Adams actually finished 21st overall in Fall Creek on Saturday.
The video evidence is clear he took 21st, and after notifying his coach, Bryon Graun, Adams has now been awarded the honor he deserves. So booya for journalism.
M USINGS AND G RUMBLINGS
