A side of Kraut

by

Casey K rautkramer Reporter

Dreams come true at state football championships

Thursday was the first time that I’ve ever been inside a state championship postgame celebration with the trophy after a game.

I was in front taking pictures of the Edgar senior captains bringing the WIAA Division 7 state championship trophy to their teammates, when all of a sudden I was immersed by Wildcats players. I found myself completely inside the celebration amongst the players, which admittedly was very loud because they were certainly excited after beating Black Hawk/Warren, Ill., 36-6, on Thursday in Madison.

It was impressive that Stratford found a good kicker to make extra points after touchdowns this season, but I knew nothing about foreign exchange student Laurenz Plattner before he kicked the game-winning 32-yard field goal in Thursday’s 10-7 win against Darlington in the WIAA Division 6 state championship. I didn’t even know what country he lived in before coming to the United States.

What I discovered about Plattner after the state title victory was that he’s a very humble person who’d rather give credit to his Stratford football teammates than himself for winning the state championship. I admire this great qualify that he possesses.

I treated my girlfriend to breakfast on Friday morning at Stratford Tiger Stop Cafe, which was full of Tigers fans still excited about the prior day’s state championship win. I told Stratford senior wide receiver and cornerback Peyton Glenn congratulations after I was finished eating my meal. He was there eating breakfast with his girlfriend, Stratford senior Sadie Weigel.

My girlfriend walked further back in Stratford Tiger Stop Cafe to visit with a friend she knew while I left the restaurant to start up my car engine for us. She was talking to her friend about the Tigers’ field goal to win the Division 6 state championship when Laurenz Plattner’s host Stratford parents, Jessie and Jenna Shinn, spoke up and told them their son was the player who kicked the winning field goal.

The football game programs this season state that Plattner is a senior player but in talking with him after the state championship, he told me that he’s a junior in school. He will leave Stratford after this school year to continue his education in Munich, Germany next school year before he graduates high school. He will never be forgotten in Stratford.