Teams to kick off season Aug. 20
By Greg Seubert
Which high school football teams will play for a state championship at Madison’s Camp Randall Stadium in November?
The answer to that question begins this week.
A handful of teams will kick off the 2021 season Thursday, Aug. 19, but most will suit up for their first game the following day.
Area teams with home games scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 20, are Weyauwega-Fremont, which will host Pacelli; Iola-Scandinavia, which will host Marathon; and Manawa, which will host Markesan.
Teams playing their opener on the road Aug. 20 include Waupaca, which will travel to Wrightstown; New London, which will head to Little Chute; Hortonville, which will play at Appleton East; and Clintonville, which will head to Green Bay to face Green Bay West.
Waupaca will continue its rivalry with Wrightstown. The Comets are in the Bay Conference for football, while the Tigers compete in the North Eastern Conference.
“Every team in the NEC is a historically great football team,” Waupaca coach Bennett Hansen said. “That’s a very competitive league and we play a lot of crossover games against those teams. This’ll set the tone for the level of competition we have to play this year.”
Iola-Scandinavia is in the Central Wisconsin Conference-Small this season and will open with nonconference home games against Marathon and Wittenberg-Birnamwood.
The Thunderbirds were 7-0 in their first season in the CWC-Small last year and outscored their opponents 344-60.
“Square one is getting lined up right on both sides of the ball and knowing what you have to do,” coach Scott Erickson said. “Everyone has an assignment. If you know the formation on offense, the line has to make the call, the quarterback has to make the reads, those are the big things.
“The little things are making sure we’re following through on everything and not questioning yourself,” he said. “We try to build confidence and not do too much too soon.”
Hortonville hosted Manitowoc, Shawano and Oshkosh West for a scrimmage Aug. 13.
“The kids responded well and most of the guys took it up a notch,” second-year coach Ben Stumpf said. “There are some things we have to clean up, but our focus right now is Appleton East. It’s game week.”