Two epic comebacks aren’t quite enough to get the girls to state

Medford’s girls curling team put together, not one, but two amazing last-end comebacks Friday to give itself a shot to qualify for this weekend’s Wisconsin State High School Curling Championships in Stevens Point.

Unfortunately, the Raiders came up just short of the perfect storybook ending in the North Division’s qualifying event at the Medford Curling Club.

The Raiders entered the eighth and final end down 8-4 in their morning match with D.C. Everest, but they scored four to send the game to an extra end where they won it 11-8.

After D.C. Everest handily won the afternoon game against Mosinee, Medford met Mosinee in the evening game knowing a win would send them to state. At worst, a loss would put them in a tiebreaking accuracy shootout with the other two teams.

This time, Medford’s team of Lyza Brandner, Karlee Westrich, Jill Mahner and Anya Apfelbeck found itself down 7-2 going into the final end. Unbelievably, the Raiders got the five scoring rocks they needed to again extend the game to a ninth end. This time, however, Mosinee got the scoring rock and won 8-7.

In the shootout, Mosinee’s four shooters threw rocks that were a combined 157.25 inches off target, D.C. Everest was at 193 inches and Medford was at 206 inches, giving Mosinee the state berth.

“It would’ve been nice,” head coach Stu Amundson said. “That would’ve been quite the story. Well it’s still quite the story to be able to tell.”

In boys play Thursday, Medford also went 1-1, falling hard to Wausau West and recovering to beat D.C. Everest. Wausau West also beat the Evergreens and earned the spot in the state meet.

The girls game with Everest went back and forth early. Medford took a 3-2 lead through four ends, but the Evergreens turned things their way by getting a rock on the button midway through the fifth end, guarding it well and adding two scorers on the left edge to go up 5-3. A perfect shot by Everest’s third in the seventh nullified what had been a perfect shot by Westrich and led to the Evergreens putting up another three-spot to go up by four.

The Evergreens kept misfiring in the eighth and the Raiders took advantage, putting three rocks into scoring position and Brandner pushing the tying rock in with her final shot. In the ninth, Mahner put a rock into scoring position, Westrich kept Medford with the advantage and Brandner sealed it with two perfectlyplaced shots in the center of the house.

The Mosinee game was close early, but Mosinee took the lead in the fourth end and extended it to 7-2 by the end of the seventh.

“They just kept stealing one, stealing one, stealing one,” Amundson said.

Amundson said the girls were down during a timeout before the eighth end. He said he just reminded them of what happened in the Everest game and that it could be done again. It didn’t look good when both teams threw their first two rocks through the house.

“Now we’ve only got six rocks left and we need five,” Amundson said. But the Raiders got it done and extended the game, but, with the hammer, Mosinee was able to secure the point it needed to win.

Mosinee will face Pardeeville Saturday in one state semifinal while Stevens Point, who won the other North Division qualifier on its home ice, will play Portage in the other semifinal. The winners will meet for the championship.

In boys play Friday, Stevens Point will play Portage in one semifinal and Poynette will face Wausau West in the second semifinal with the winners squaring off that evening for the title.

Medford’s girls finished the year with a 4-3 record, including a 1-2 mark against D.C. Everest. The boys went 3-4 with two of those wins coming against Everest.

The team of Dalton Casar, Brett Lundy, Alex Wilson and Nathan Willman got one rock in the second end against West to pull within 2-1 and, according to Amundson, missed an opportunity to score a couple more. West then put up a six-spot in the third and added five more in the fourth to open up a 13-2 lead in what wound up being a 17-4 final.

Medford finished strong in the evening match against the Evergreens, scoring three in the first, one in the fourth and two in the fifth to build a 6-2 lead that held up in an 8-3 final.

Medford third Brett Lundy (l.) and skip Dalton Casar strategize during the fourth end of their loss to Wausau West in last Thursday’s boys state qualifier.MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

With Alex Wilson gliding alongside, Nathan Willman sweeps in front of a rock thrown by skip Dalton Casar during Thursday’s loss to Wausau West.

Karlee Westrich sweeps a rock thrown by Jill Mahner into scoring position during the third end of Friday’s game with D.C. Everest.