View from the cheap seats
A weekly perspective on sports
Casey Krautkramer Reporter The Record-Review
I heard local longtime sports radio broadcaster Gene DeLisio announce on 92.3 FM out of Marshfield that Stratford’s varsity football team is projected to finish second in the Central Wisconsin Conference (CWC) Large behind Amherst this season.
DeLisio of Stratford has broadcasted local high school sporting events on the radio since 1985. He was inducted into the Marshfield Tiger Hall of Fame 10 years ago.
Amherst and Stratford normally square off in the playoffs, but this year the Falcons and Tigers will start their much-anticipated CWC Large rivalry.
The Falcons return their leading rusher, Bryan Groshek, and their top receiver Aidan Elmwood this season. Tiger fans will remember Elmwood scored Amherst’s only points in Straford’s 19-7 win against Amherst in the WIAA Division 5 Level 4 game at D.C. Everest High School.
Stratford defensive back Chandler Schmidt swears Elmwood actually dropped his 37-yard touchdown grab in the third quarter, but the football official in the corner of the end zone signalled it was a touchdown. The WIAA didn’t begin using instant replay until the state championship games in Madison last season.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Bryan Groshek is related to former standout Amherst football player Garrett Groshek, who is now teammates with Ben Barten of Stratford on the Wisconsin Badgers football team.
Stratford’s football team, meanwhile, lost most of its starting players including Barten from last year’s team that finished as state runners-up for the second straight season.
Other schools, besides Amherst, in the Stratford football team’s new conference this season are Manawa, Nekoosa, Shiocton, Spencer/Columbus Catholic, Weyauwega-Fremont and Wittenberg-Birnamwood. Amherst won the CWC Large last season and its only loss was to Stratford in the game before state.
Loyal’s football team joins the Central Wisconsin (CWC) Small this season. Other schools in the CWC Small include Almond-Bancroft, Wisconsin Rapids Assumption, Iola-Scandinavia, Stevens Point Pacelli, Pittsville, Rosholt and Wild Rose.
Edgar’s football team has a better shot at winning the WIAA Division 7 state championship this season, since WKOW television in Madison announced the Black Hawk Warriors would need to play football this season without co-op Warren, Ill., because of the cornanovirus pandemic.
The Wildcats have lost to the Warriors two straight seasons in the WIAA Diviision 7 state championship games. Black Hawk played football on its own two seasons ago before forming a co-op football program with Warren, Ill., before last season began.
