GIRLS TENNIS

Shawano 4

Menasha 3

Shawano’s three doubles teams swept Menasha, winning 36 of 38 games Thursday on the road.

The Hawks’ top doubles team of Julia Haarth and Dakota Hass, and the third doubles team of Lexi Wilber and Colleen McFarlane won 6-0, 6-0. Addie Schuler and Gabrielle Tuma, at No. 2 doubles, won, 6-1, 6-1.

Kaliegh Zoll was the lone singles player to win, taking her match in straight sets 7-5, 6-0.

FOOTBALL

Lena/STAA 47

Menominee Indian 8

After taking an 8-6 lead in the first quarter, Menominee Indian allowed 41 unanswered points in its loss at home Thursday.

Antonio Mahkimetas had 107 rushing yards and 51 receiving for the Eagles (1-2, 1-2 Great-8 North).

Lena/STAA (1-2, 1-1 Great-8 North) forced seven turnovers.

VOLLEYBALL

Bonduel 3

Rosholt 0

Senior Kailee Pedersen led Bonduel in digs (17) and kills (10) in Thursday’s home sweep of Rosholt.

Brynn Reinke had 25 assists for Bonduel (4-5), which won by scores of 25-17, 25-17 and 25-20.

Mackenzie Wollenberg added two aces.

Witt-Birn 3

Marathon 2

Wittenberg-Birnamwood came back after losing both the third and fourth sets to take the fifth set, 15-13, in a home victory Thursday.

Taylor Nier tallied 32 kills and 24 digs, while Madison Bushman had 48 assists and 15 digs for Wittenberg-Birnamwood (12-2).

Lauren Bushman added 16 kills, and Helia Gagnon posted 14 digs.

Chase Lhotka came into the second meet of the fall season wanting to push the tempo.

The Shawano Community High School junior was comfortable letting runners run past him in previous races before sprinting to the finish line.

But on Thursday, he changed it up. He raced out among the leaders and hung with them the entire way to place fourth and pace the Hawks boys to a third-place finish at the six-team De Pere Invitational. The Shawano girls took fifth.

“Anytime a guy got close to me, I stayed with the guys ahead of me,” Lhotka said. “I just looked in front of me and pushed ahead.”

Shawano head coach Steve Stomberg knows Lhotka is trying to outrun the shadow of his brother, 2016 SCHS graduate Austin Lhotka.

“Chase, he wants to go out there. He wants to be as good as his brother was,” Stomberg said. “He wants a trip to make it to state.”

Lhotka’s time of 17:12 was a personal record, one of many set by the Hawks on the day. Following Lhotka were seniors Brandon Pagel and Griffin Bohm, who finished in 13th and 14th place, respectively.

“Those guys in practice, they are not complaining,” Stomberg said. “They want to work. They want to get better.”

Freshman Karsten Anderson posted a time of 18:38 and junior Camron Wickman added a 19:03 to give the Hawks a score of 72, three points behind host De Pere.

Bay Port ran away with the boys title (27) as well as the girls title (44).

In the girls race, Shawano fielded a team of three sophomores and two freshmen.

Sophomore Alice Hoffman ran the course in 22:28 to finish 20th, while Sarah Mente came in three spots behind her in 23:00. Madeline Hanson (23:52), Caitlin Daniel (24:23) and Makayla Stoddart (25:38) all finished in the 10 positions behind Mente.

Stomberg has seen some toughness in the girls that gives him hope for this year and beyond.

“They are physically in shape,” Stomberg said. “Mentally, they are stronger than a lot of our girls had been in the past.

“They are working hard. They have never complained about anything. And it’s just fun to see these girls with a different work ethic.”

De Pere Invitational

Sept. 1

De Pere High School

Boys high school: Bay Port, 27; De Pere, 69; Shawano, 72; Green Bay Southwest, 89; Notre Dame Academy, 158; Wrightstown, 161; Kewaunee, 190.

Girls high school: Bay Port, 44; De Pere, 53; Green Bay Southwest, 53; Kewaunee, 76; Shawano, 134; Notre Dame Academy, 159.

It all comes down to this — the one final night of racing this year at the Shawano Speedway.

Five track champions will be crowned. Interestingly enough, all five divisions are basically decided.

Marcus Yarie has already wrapped the IMCA Modifieds track championship. Yarie enters the night with an insurmountable 65-point lead over last year’s track champion, Jerry Wilinski. Yarie scored seven feature wins this season en route to his second title at the historic half-mile. Yarie also won the title in 2014.

Travis Van Straten enters the night merely needing to start the IMCA Stock Cars feature in order to wrap up his third consecutive title. He has had an incredible three-year run. Van Straten has scored 33 feature wins in the past three seasons alone at Shawano. Van Straten was also the national champion last season in the IMCA Stock Cars division and currently sits second in national points, only 13 points out of first.

Late Models points leader Brett Swedberg also needs to start the feature to wrap up his first championship. Swedberg fell victim to numerous breakdowns a year ago, keeping him from challenging for the title. This year, Swedberg has been consistently fast all year. Swedberg has scored three feature wins along the way this season.

Jordan Barkholtz in the IMCA Sport Mods is another driver that has used consistent finishes to get to the top of the point standings. Barkholtz has two feature wins and also needs to only start the feature to secure his first track championship.

Additionally, Grant Kastning enters the night with a 22-point edge in the Mighty Fours division. For Kastning, he too basically just needs to start the feature to win the title. Kastning held a rather commanding lead previous to last week’s feature, but mechanical gremlins forced him to pull off the track early. It would also be the first crown for Kastning, who has scored two feature wins this season.

Since its addition to the race program in 2012, the Mighty Fours class has never had a repeat champion.

In my eyes, the 2016 season will be remembered for breakout seasons by Konnor Wilinski, Kyle Raddant and Jason Hopinka, as well as continued feature winning power by the likes of Yarie, Van Straten and Lucas Lamberies, who has scored seven wins entering the final night.

The season will also be remembered for first-ever wins by the likes of Vern Stedjee, Lucas Hacker and Jason Ebert.

With only one night left, it’s time to get out and fill that racing void before the long winter sets in.

See you at the speedway.

FOOTBALL

Bonduel 35

Weyauwega-Fremont 0

Jordan Boldt rushed for two scores and 69 yards in Bonduel’s road victory Friday.

Eli Mastey added 13 rushes for 148 yards, and Jacob Banker added 65 more yards on the ground for the Bears (3-0, 1-0 Central Wisconsin Conference-8).

Parker Bohm found Brandon Olsen to cap a 20-point second quarter in defeating Weyauwega-Fremont (1-2, 0-1 CWC-8).

Siblings Rachel Czarapata and Jeremy Czarapata led for a majority of the annual 150-lap Impact Survival Series Enduro at the Shawano Speedway on Friday.

Although the siblings controlled the race for a combined 120 laps, Todd Tacheny of Minnesota recorded the victory, followed in second place by Frank Calabrese.

The race was one of the main events Friday at the Shawano County Fair.

“It’s so cool to see how good of a job the Shawano fair has done with this race year after year,” Tacheny said. “A lot of fairs don’t have these races anymore, so it’s good to see that they still do such a good job with it.”

Sherry Czarapata, Rachel and Jeremy’s mother, also was among the leaders early in the race, moving up as high as the third spot.

Jeremy Czarapata pulled into the lead on the fifth lap and held it until the 47th lap, when he hit the wall coming out of turn four, ending his night.

Calabrese held the lead for eight laps before Rachel Czarapata passed him on the inside of turn three.

Czarapata controlled the race until lap 119, when she was given a one-lap penalty for moving during a red flag, giving Tacheny the lead for the first time. Engine problems forced Czarapata to exit the race.

Calabrese retook the lead on lap 124 and battled Tacheny for three laps. The duo traded paint frequently until engine problems forced Calabrese to the pits.

Tacheny opened up his lead, winning the race by almost a full lap over Calabrese.

Impact Survival Series Enduro

Sept. 2

Shawano Speedway

Top finishers

1, Todd Tacheny; 2, Jay Orr; 3, Kyle Ambroziak; 4, Dan Van Pay; 5, Eddie Muenster; 6, Kyle Miller; 7, Elliot Reid; 8, Trevor Clark; 9, Bob Voigt; 10, Dustin Wudstrack .

When Shawano needed to get a stop, the defense stepped up.

The Hawks forced four second-half turnovers, including Brett Ainsworth’s pick just outside of the red zone with 2:14 remaining in the game and Crede Timm’s interception of a deep ball in the closing seconds, to secure a 34-27 road victory over Green Bay East in Bay Conference play Friday night.

“Our defense, that’s what we wanted to do,” Shawano head coach Al Tomow said. “Create turnovers and bend but don’t break in that second half, and that’s exactly what they did.”

With Shawano ahead by 7 late in the fourth quarter, the Red Devils drove down the field, converting on a 4th and 11 near midfield. A 12-yard run from senior Eli Jordan brought Green Bay East closer to the end zone. That’s when Ainsworth jumped underneath the route, bobbled the ball, secured it and returned it to the Shawano 38-yard line.

The Hawks ran back-to-back run plays to force the Red Devils to use timeouts. After a 15-yard punt by Connor Klish, Green Bay East got the ball at its own 44 with 1:47 remaining.

Again, Shawano would make a stand. On third down, Seth Sousek sacked quarterback Koda Kinjerski to force a fourth and 15. With the Red Devils unable to stop the clock, Kinjerski lobbed a ball to the 5-yard line, where it was picked off by Timm with 10 seconds remaining.

“Our defense really answered the challenge in the second half,” Tomow said.

The Hawks recorded fumble recoveries on back-to-back third-quarter possessions to get back in the lead.

Shawano thought it had tied the game heading into halftime when Dylan Sumnicht returned a kickoff for a touchdown as the time expired, but a penalty brought back the score, giving Green Bay East a 20-13 lead at the break.

In the third quarter, a sack by Brandon Zoll forced a fourth-and-20 at Green Bay East’s 36. The Red Devils’ punt hit a player in the backfield, causing the ball to travel just 7 yards.

Sumnicht took a short pass 23 yards into the red zone, and Kien Moorman punched the ball in from 1 yard out to even the score at 20.

Sumnicht, who had nine catches on the night for 128 yards and three TDs, used his speed on the short routes for big gains all night.

“After watching film, we realized I could outrun any of the linebackers,” Sumnicht said.

Jack Hanauer added another score on a 10-yard run with 27 seconds remaining in the third quarter, putting Shawano up 27-20.

Green Bay East responded on its next drive. Eli Jordan snagged a screen pass one-handed and ran 26 yards for a touchdown to tie the game with 9:44 remaining.

Shawano (2-1, 1-1 Bay Conference) needed to sustain a drive to not only keep its defense off the field, but also to wear down the Red Devils (0-3, 0-3 Bay Conference).

The Hawks went 67 yards in five minutes to take the 7-point lead on a 10-yard reception by Sumnicht.

“That was a big-time drive for us. We needed to answer what they were doing. Really kind of slow them down,” Tomow said. “They kind of had some kids playing both ways on the line that we kind of wanted to wear down.”

Hanauer threw for 171 yards and three touchdowns while rushing for 70 yards and another score. Kien Moorman had 20 carries for 120 yards.

Green Bay East was led by Kinjerski with 70 rushing yards and another 88 passing yards. He threw two touchdowns and had two interceptions.

Shawano 34, Green Bay East 27

Team 1 2 3 4

Shawano 7 6 14 7 34

Green Bay East 7 13 0 7 27

First quarter

GBE: Haydon Ostertag 36-yard reception from Koda Kinjerski (PAT good) 0-7 (7:43).

S: Dylan Sumnicht 33-yard reception from Jack Hanauer (PAT good) 7-7 (5:04).

Second quarter

S; Sumnicht 8-yard reception from Hanauer (PAT blocked) 13-7 (4:24).

GBE: Kinjerski 2-yard run (PAT good) 13-14 (2:19).

GBE: Ostertag 13-yard run (PAT missed) 13-20 (0:16).

Third quarter

S: Kien Moorman 1-yard run (PAT good) 20-20 (7:46).

S: Hanauer 10-yard run (PAT good) 27-20 (0:27).

Fourth quarter

GBE: Eli Jordan 26-yard reception from Kinjerski (PAT good) 27-27 (9:44).

S: Sumnicht 10-yard reception from Hanauer (PAT good) 34-27 (4:44).

CROSS-COUNTRY

Shawano boys 4th, Bonduel 7th in Wittenberg

Shawano junior Chase Lhotka took seventh place, Brandon Pagel 4th and Griffin Bohm 26th to help the Hawks finish in fourth place with 122 points at the 15-team Wittenberg-Birnamwood Invitational on Tuesday.

Bonduel’s boys team finished in seventh place, paced by Jared Wondra (18 minutes, 32 seconds) in 11th place and Colin Ewing in 29th.

Menominee Indian placed 12th as a team, with Tyler Komanekin leading with way in 31st place in a time of 19:21.

Rosholt (81) won the meet. Amherst (85) was second.

Wittenberg-Birnamwood won the girls meet with 51 points, with all five of its scoring runners finishing in the top 15.

Shawano (166) took seventh place, led by Alice Hoffman’s time of 23:17, which put her in 19th place. Sarah Mente finished 29th.

Bonduel trailed the Hawks by 41 points, putting it in ninth place. Arianna Factor took 16th, while Laney Richmond and Ashlyn Schnell each finished in the top 40 runners.

Marion’s Delaney Greene-Gretzinger took second overall, but the Mustangs came in 13th place with a score of 354.

VOLLEYBALL

Gresham 3

Almond-Bancroft 0

Gresham senior Sydney Jensen posted 13 kills to help the Wildcats earn their first conference victory at home on Tuesday.

Mackenzie Hoffman tallied 13 digs for Gresham (5-3, 1-0 Central Wisconsin Conference-10) in the sweep.

Dani Huntington added 18 assists for the Wildcats.

Rosholt 3

Menominee Indian 0

Jalen Corn led the Menominee Indian offense with seven kills in Tuesday’s road sweep at the hands of Rosholt.

Kendra Webster had two aces and two blocks for Menominee Indian (1-6, 0-1 Central Wisconsin Conference-10).

The Eagles hurt themselves with service and hitting errors throughout the night, head coach Jackson Miller said.

Witt-Birn 3

Iola-Scandinavia 0

Madison Bushman dished out 21 assists to help the balanced Witt-Birn attack sweep Iola-Scandinavia on the road Tuesday.

Taylor Nier had 10 kills, and Marissa Groshek added six.

The Chargers moved to 13-2 overall and 1-0 in the Central Wisconsin Conference-8.

Five track champions were crowned Saturday at the Shawano Speedway as part of the Shawano County Fair.

Travis Van Straten won his third consecutive title and his 11th feature of the season in the IMCA Stock Cars class, and Marcus Yarie won his second IMCA Modifieds crown.

Brett Swedberg (Late Models), Jordan Barkholtz (IMCA Sports Mods) and Grant Kastning (Mighty Fours) each won their first Shawano Speedway track championships.

In feature race action, Ron Berna won his third Late Model feature of the year, Mitch Stankowski secured his first IMCA Modifieds win, Kyle Raddant scored win number three in IMCA Sport Mods action and Brad Wedde brought home his fourth Mighty Fours feature win.

Late Models

Berna, a 10-time track champion, led the entire Late Model feature in a race that ran green to checkered for 25 laps. Over the first half of the race, Berna was challenged by Joel Bennett and Jeff Curtin. On lap 10, Nick Anvelink moved to second with a pass on Curtin. By this point of the race, Berna had already built up a straightaway lead. As the race continued on, Anvelink was able to chip away at the lead lap after lap.

Berna would not be denied victory though as Anvelink had to settle for second. Brett Swedberg finished third and secured his first Shawano Speedway track championship. Jared Siefert and Curtin rounded out the top five.

IMCA Modifieds

Chris Engels and Shawn Frelich raced door to door at the start of the IMCA Modified feature. Engels held the lead on lap one, but Frelich took over on lap two. As the lead duo continued to race side by side for the lead, Stankowski moved to third.

On lap 10, Engels held the advantage over Frelich and led the lap. On lap 11 though, Stankowski made a charge to the inside of Engels in turn three and took the lead away. Frelich, Engels and Marcus Yarie raced three wide for second behind Stankowski. On lap 13, Yarie moved to second, but his car came to a stop on the next lap, bringing out a caution and ending his night.

As the race resumed, Stankowski continued to lead the way followed by Frelich, Engels, Matt Oreskovich and Lance Arneson. Arneson steadily began working his way through traffic and got up to second on lap 17.

Arneson tried to muster a pass for the lead, but Stankowski was up to the challenge and made his way to victory lane. Frelich, Engels and Mark Weisnicht completed the top five. Though Yarie did not finish the race, he was crowned as the track champion.

IMCA Stock Cars

BJ Giese took control of the IMCA Stock Car feature at the start of the race. Giese led the first nine laps of the race. He was pursued early on by Harley Simon. Van Straten passed Simon for second on lap seven.

Van Straten got underneath Giese on lap 10 to make the pass for the lead. As Van Straten began to pull away, Giese and Mike Schmidt battled for the second spot. Schmidt got ahead of Giese on lap 15 to take the second position.

Van Straten cruised to victory, putting an exclamation mark on his third straight track championship. Schmidt, Giese, Shawn Wagner and Simon finished second through fifth.

IMCA Sport Mods

Brock Saunders led the opening four laps of the IMCA Sport Mod feature, as Kevin Bethke made his way to the second position. Bethke got underneath Saunders to take the lead away on lap five. On lap six, Raddant took to the outside of the track and put the pass on Bethke for the lead.

Bethke kept pace with Raddant though, as the two battled side by side for the lead with Bethke running the inner-most line on the track. On lap 10, Bethke held the lead by a bumper. Raddant, though, continued to run the high groove and put his mount back out in front.

Raddant was able to fend off Bethke for the duration of the race to pick up the win. Lucas Lamberies, Saunders and Jordan Bartz completed the top five. Jordan Barkholtz finished sixth in the race, securing his first career track championship.

Mighty Fours

Mike Brehmer led laps one and two of the Mighty Four feature before Wedde took over the top spot. Wedde would lead the rest of the race for the victory.

Wedde was followed across the line by Josh Slewinski, Calvin Stueck, Hollie Welch and Dalton Nelson. Grant Kastning finished 10th in the race and accumulated enough points to be the track champion.

Shawano Speedway

Sept. 3

Fabiano Brothers Distributing Night

Race Summary

Late Model Feature: 1) Ron Berna, 2) Nick Anvelink, 3) Brett Swedberg, 4) Jared Siefert, 5) Jeff Curtin, 6) Justin Hirt, 7) Tom Naeyaert, 8) Joel Bennett, 9) Troy Springborn, 10) Michael Stangl.

Heat 1: 1) Curtin, 2) Naeyaert, 3) Anvelink.

Heat 2: 1) Berna, 2) Swedberg, 3) Doug Blashe.

IMCA Modified Feature: 1) Mitch Stankowski, 2) Lance Arneson, 3) Shawn Frelich, 4) Chris Engels, 5) Mark Weisnicht, 6) Beetle Bailey, 7) Jerry Muenster, 8) Matt Oreskovich, 9) Eddie Muenster, 10) Adam Clark.

Heat 1: 1) Oreskovich, 2) Engels, 3) Marcus Yarie.

Heat 2: 1) Frelich, 2) Stankowski, 3) Eddie Muenster.

IMCA Stock Car Feature: 1) Travis Van Straten, 2) Mike Schmidt, 3) BJ Giese, 4) Shawn Wagner, 5) Harley Simon, 6) Dan Michonski, 7) Tom Riehl, 8) Trent Nolan, 9) Nate Michonski, 10) Chris Loewenhagen.

IMCA Stock Car Last Chance Qualifier 1: 1) Asa Doxtator, 2) Aaron Karcz, 3) Kurt Schwalbach.

IMCA Stock Car Last Chance Qualifier 2: 1) Kurt Olson, 2) Devin Snellenberger, 3) Bret Koehler.

Heat 1: 1) Simon, 2) Wagner, 3) Riehl.

Heat 2: 1) Van Straten, 2) Giese, 3) Nolan.

Heat 3: 1) Nate Michonski, 2) Junior Karcz, 3) Vern Stedjee.

IMCA Sport Mod Feature: 1) Kyle Raddant, 2) Kevin Bethke, 3) Lucas Lamberies, 4) Brock Saunders, 5) Jordan Bartz, 6) Jordan Barkholtz, 7) Jason Jach, 8) Jason Ebert, 9) Tyler Thiex, 10) Jordan Reinke.

Heat 1: 1) Lamberies, 2) Bartz, 3) Raddant.

Heat 2: 1) Bethke, 2) Wyatt Block, 3) Barkholtz.

Heat 3: 1) Ryan Besaw, 2) Jach, 3) Saunders.

Mighty Four Feature: 1) Brad Wedde, 2) Josh Slewinski, 3) Calvin Stueck, 4) Hollie Welch, 5) Dalton Nelson, 6) Brad Nelson, 7) Mike Brehmer, 8) Brayden Goeser, 9) Jason Hopinka, 10) Grant Kastning.

Heat 1: 1) Stueck, 2) Wedde, 3) Travis Welch.

Heat 2: 1) Hollie Welch, 2) Brehmer, 3) Brad Nelson.

Amherst middle hitters Heather Pearson and Geena Jensen controlled the net play, combining for 26 blocks in the Falcons’ sweep of Bonduel in Central Wisconsin Conference-8 action Tuesday.

In addition to 14 blocks, Pearson posted 21 kills, and outside hitter Kendra Dombrowski added 19 kills in a 25-17, 25-14, 27-25 road victory.

“Amherst just kind of came out gangbusters hitting real well right away, and we struggled with that,” Bonduel head coach Kim Bodoh said. “We struggled with their blocking.”

Amherst, which finished sixth in the CWC-8 last season, knew it would have enough height at the net, but wasn’t sure what to expect from the Bears.

“We knew heightwise, we had a little bit of an advantage, but overall, we don’t really know what to expect when we come in,” Amherst head coach Beth Cegielski said.

Bodoh would have liked to see her hitters make more adjustments during the game.

“We can’t just smash the ball in the middle every time because sometimes that doesn’t work when we are up against big blockers,” Bodoh said. “That’s something we definitely need to work on.”

The Bears (3-6, 0-1 CWC-8) made a late run in the third set. Trailing 17-14, Emily Sorenson posted a kill before going to the service line and rattling off three serves to give Bonduel the 18-17 lead.

Holding a 19-18 lead, the Bears missed three serves before the Falcons (2-0, 1-0 CWC-8) rallied for the victory.

“(Missed serves) were at crucial times when we really needed the points,” Bodoh said of her team’s seven mistakes on the serve. “Not really happy about the serving tonight.”

“I just feel like we need that mental toughness to push us through those last couple of points,” Bodoh said. “All of the sudden they play scared instead of playing confident in their skills. That’s just something they need to work on mentally.”

Sorenson led Bonduel with 13 kills and three blocks, while Kailee Pedersen added 19 digs to go with her nine kills.

Setter Brynn Reinke posted 23 assists for the Bears.

They say you can’t win ‘em all, nor in the National Football League preseason do you really even care to.

The irrelevance of preseason games was never more clearly demonstrated than by the 2008 Detroit Lions, who breezed through the exhibitions games with a 4-0 mark but failed to outscore any of their opponents in the regular season.

Their 0-16 mark surpassed the previous standard bearer of bad, the ’76 Tampa Bay Bucs, whose 0-14 finish produced not only inept football but some self-deprecating zingers from their coach John McKay, who when asked after another loss about his team’s execution said, “I’m in favor of it.”

For the deluded among Lions fans encouraged by the perfect ’08 preseason, the toppling of high hopes was never louder.

In falling to the Kansas City Chiefs 17-7 last Saturday, the Green Bay Packers finished with a 3-1 record in a preseason that, despite the setback at Arrowhead Stadium, was arguably as close to perfect as it gets.

Unlike last year, the Packers will enter this season with most all hands on deck, the two most notable of which belonging to wide receiver Jordy Nelson. Back at a reported 100 percent, Nelson’s presence makes quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the offense more potent by orders of magnitude.

This time around, it was the defending NFC North champion Minnesota Vikings who took it on the chin in the preseason injury department. Their quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater, was lost for the year to a knee injury. If there is a season-ending injury more damaging to an offense than one suffered by its best wide receiver, it is one to the starting quarterback. Minnesota will need an extraordinary year from running back Adrian Peterson and its defense to have any chance of repeating as division champions.

As for the Packers’ defense, Packers linebackers Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers were both cleared in a league investigation involving performance-enhancing drugs, which although not a huge surprise was good to hear nonetheless.

As it sits today, the pieces are in place for a run at Super Bowl LI as the Packers prepare for Sunday’s season-opener in Jacksonville. They are favored by a little less than a touchdown to beat the improved Jaguars.

In fact, the Packers have been installed by at least one computer that runs these types of programs as the favorite in every single one of their games.

Not to say that they’re projected to become the first team since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to finish a perfect season, and so far no one has drawn any parallels between this year’s Pack and the ’07 New England Patriots, who averaged more than 36 points a game in going 16-0 during the regular season.

But at this moment, in sizing up all 16 of the matchups on their schedule, the Packers are favored to win every one of them.

Packers fans not excited by this may want to check for signs of a pulse.

Someone once made this remark on the interminable slog of one of his favorite, but rather protracted pastimes: The only thing longer than a bowling league season is infinity.

In a similar vein, the waiting has been the hardest part for Packers fans curious to find out how their team at full strength really stacks up with the other big dogs.

After a disappointing 2015 that often felt like the team was made to play with one hand tied behind its back, some answers are finally nigh.

Good thing, too, because the proverbial window of opportunity on winning a Super Bowl has a way of inching shut like a retractable dome.

Summer is almost over, which is never a good thing until you realize what that also means. The unbeaten Packers are hungry, at full strength and finally playing for real.

Not a minute too soon.

BOYS SOCCER

Ashwaubenon 4

Shawano 0

Shawano was held scoreless in Thursday’s home nonconference meeting with the Jaguars.

Hawks goalkeeper Will Bergner saved 15 shots.

The Hawks are 3-2-1 overall, 1-0 in the Bay Conference.

Gresham/Bowler 3

Amherst 2

Gresham senior Neal Cerveny tallied a hat trick in Thursday’s road victory.

Goalkeeper Justice Paiser saved 12 shots for the Wildcats.

Gresham moved to 4-4 with the victory.

GIRLS SWIM

Seymour 113

Shawano 57

Emme Quandt won the 200-yard individual medley as the Hawks fell to Seymour at home Thursday.

Lydia Colon added a second-place finish for the Hawks in the 200 free.

Shawano’s 200 medley and 400 free relays each finished in second place.

VOLLEYBALL

Xavier 3

Shawano 0

Shawano managed four kills while getting swept by Xavier at home in a Bay Conference opener Thursday, 25-8, 25-10, 25-18.

Julia Klement and Averi Vomastic each had two kills for Shawano (7-5, 0-1 Bay Conference).

Libero Saige Henning had six digs for the Hawks.

Bonduel 3

Manawa 0

Senior middle hitter Emily Sorenson tallied 14 digs, nine kills and two blocks in Bonduel’s road sweep of Manawa on Thursday, 25-23, 25-17, 25-16.

Setter Brynn Reinke dished out 28 assists for the Bears (4-6, 1-1 Central Wisconsin Conference-8).

Witt-Birn 3

Weyauwega-Fremont 0

Wittenberg-Birnamwood senior middle hitter Taylor Nier totaled 19 kills, 16 digs and two blocks in Thursday’s home victory, 25-19, 25-17, 25-23.

Madison Bushman added 33 assists, and Lauren Bushman tallied 11 kills and 12 blocks for the Chargers (14-2, 2-0 Central Wisconsin Conference-8).

Wittenberg-Birnamwood trailed throughout much of the third set before coming back to win 25-23 to seal the sweep.

GIRLS TENNIS

Green Bay West 5

Shawano 2

Cheyenne Knueppel at No. 4 singles and the No. 3 doubles team of Addie Shuler and Gabrielle Tuma won their respective matches for Shawano on the road Thursday.

Shuler and Tuma battled for over 2 1/2 hours in a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory, while Knueppel needed a tiebreaker in the first set to take the 7-6 (2), 7-5 victory.

At No. 2 doubles, Carlie Hinnefeld and Olivia Schultz forced a third set before falling 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Menominee Indian High School is planning a permanent way to honor its standout athletes.

Athletic Director Chuck Raasch has begun the process of creating an athletic hall of fame.

“It will be a source of pride for them, their families, the school and the community,” Raasch said.

The school is accepting nominees through Nov. 4. A nine-person selection committee will make the final decision on the hall’s first inductees before the end of the year.

The committee is composed of Duane Waukau, Al Pyatskowit, Mary Arnold, Jeff Waukau, Chris Clache, Kirk Bahr, Paul Wilke, Teri Wynos and Raasch.

Raasch said the committee members were chosen because of their knowledge of the MIHS athletic history.

Some committee members at some point might be inducted into the hall of fame for their contributions as athletes or coaches, Raasch noted.

Nominees must have graduated at least five years ago. They can be athletes, teams, coaches or anyone deemed to have given meritorious service to the athletic program.

The committee will be specifically looking for nominees who have exemplified high standards of sportsmanship and ethics.

The date of the inaugural induction ceremony will be announced in the spring.

For information or nomination forms, contact Raasch at 715-799-2324 or craasch@misd.k12.wi.us.

Gresham Community School junior outside hitter Hailey Hoffman sparked the Wildcats’ offense in Thursday’s sweep of Menominee Indian on the road.

After a sluggish start for both squads, Hoffman had two kills to push the Gresham lead to four points, and then an 11-point serving streak, including three aces, to finish off a 25-11 victory in the first set.

The Wildcats eased to 25-12 and 15-15 wins in the second and third sets, respectively.

“(Hoffman) really got us going. She had a few big kills there in the first (set),” Gresham head coach Tim Wild said. “It seemed like they were all pretty close, one after another. And then she got to serving and pretty much ran the game out for us. That was huge.”

Gresham would continue the momentum, jumping out to a 12-1 lead in the second set, then pushing it to a 13-point lead at 16-3.

The Wildcats used a strong defensive performance, led by Mackenzie Hoffman’s nine digs, to hold the Eagles in check. Gresham allowed fewer than 10 kills all match.

“We don’t have a tall front row, so we know we have to be ready in the back row, and we’ve got to be using our quickness to save balls because we can’t be giving those away,” Wild said.

Menominee Indian cut the deficit to 11 points, 22-11, later in the game, but could not fight all the way back.

“They have some pretty good hitters. We were trying to cover the court a little bit, use our middle blocker to cover the court for tips,” Menominee Indian head coach Jackson Miller said. “We should have been able to cover the court a lot better than we showed.”

Sydney Jensen had seven kills for Gresham, while Makena Arndt recorded six.

Junior setter Dani Huntington added 11 assists, and Hoffman tallied nine digs.

“Every girl out there hopefully got some confidence out of this game,” Wild said. “I told them at the end of the game that we had 11 girls that played great volleyball out there tonight.”

The Eagles (1-7, 0-2 Central Wisconsin Conference-10) held a 4-3 advantage in the final set, but the Wildcats (6-3, 2-0 CWC-10) took the next five points. Gresham ran off six consecutive points later in the set for a 15-7 lead before Miller used his first time out. The Eagles responded by cutting the lead to six, but the Wildcats persevered for the 25-15 victory and the sweep.

Jalen Corn led Menominee Indian with four kills, along with making a few hustle plays on the defensive side of the ball.

“She’s always been a good hustler back there, but definitely showed it today,” Miller said, “kind of stepping it up, picking it up.”

FOOTBALL

Shawano 42

New London 28

Kien Moorman rushed 18 times for 165 yard and four touchdowns in Friday’s Bay Conference victory at home.

Quarterback Jack Hanauer had 105 rushing yards and two TDs to go with his 116 passing yards on the night for the Hawks (3-1, 2-1 Bay Conference).

Wide receiver Dylan Sumnicht added seven receptions for 110 yards.

Sevastopol 42

Menominee Indian 6

Antonio Mahkimetas returned a kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown on Friday in a home Great-8 North loss.

Mahkimetas also had an interception on defense for the Eagles (1-3, 0-3 Great-8 North).

Menominee Indian threw four interceptions on the night.

Pacelli 21

Witt-Birn 7

MacLaen Alwes had a 3-yard rush in the fourth quarter to cut Pacelli’s lead to 7 points, but the Chargers could not come any closer in Friday’s home Central Wisconsin Conference-8 loss.

The Cardinals added a late score to go up by 14 points on Wittenberg-Birnamwood (1-3, 0-2 CWC-8).

Xander Schmitz had two rushing touchdowns for Pacelli.

With both Bonduel and Iola-Scandinavia relying heavily on the run, it was three explosive plays by the Thunderbirds that made up the difference in a 27-14 loss for the Bears at home.

Bonduel had a fumbled exchange on its second play of the game, which led to a Jayden Sivertson 55-yard fumble recovery for a score, his first of TDs on the night. Sivertson would rush for a 41-yard score later in the first quarter, and then a 41-yard halfback pass to Jonathan Block in the third quarter gave the Thunderbirds its final score of the game against the stingy Bonduel defense.

“We battled tooth and nail to get yards here today, and we were able to get some big plays,” Iola-Scandinavia head coach Scott Erickson said. “And that was the difference in this game — the big plays.”

The Bears fumbled on their first two possessions of the game and again in the fourth quarter, leading to 14 points off turnovers for the Thunderbirds.

Bonduel failed to convert a fourth and 4 at the 28-yard line with just over seven minutes remaining in the game while trying to close the gap on the 13-point deficit, giving Iola-Scandinavia a chance to run down the clock.

“If we want to be a great football team, we have to do what we can control, and that’s not have penalties, not turn the ball over, the little things we stress every day,” Bonduel head coach James Westrich said. “If we want to be a great team, you can’t beat yourselves, and we did that a lot tonight.”

The Thunderbirds would impose their will on the final drive, moving the ball 47 yards, but using the duration of the clock to prevent the Bears from getting the ball back.

The Bears had a chance to come back, facing a fourth and five at the 22-yard line with nearly eight minutes left in the game, quarterback Parker Bohm found Brandon Olsen in the endzone, but Olsen’s left foot landed out of bounds, giving the ball back to the Thunderbirds.

“We didn’t make the plays we needed to, and we had too many mistakes,” Westrich said.

Bonduel’s second fumble of the night would come on its second possession of the game in the red zone, but Sivertson would gift the ball back to the Bears by throwing an interception to Wyatt Erb at the Iola-Scandinavia 22-yard line. The Bears would turn that into their first score of the game just three plays later when Eli Mastey when 12 yards for the TD.

The Bears would fumble for the third time late in the third quarter, which led to Iola-Scandinavia putting its final points on the board.

The Bears (3-1, 1-1 Central Wisconsin Conference-8) used their passing attack, which showed promise throughout the first half to pull back ahead after the long Siverston score. A Thunderbird defender jumped a short route, leaving Olsen wide open down the left sideline. Bohm would hit him in stride for the 67-yard touchdown with 2:40 remaining in the first quarter for a 14-13 lead.

Iola-Scandinavia (4-0, 2-0 CWC-8) had a chance to extend its lead prior to halftime, but Kyle Jobke pushed a 37-yard field goal wide right as the Thunderbirds held to the 20-14 advantage.

Mastey would finish the game with 78 rushing yards, while Jacob Banker tallied 62. Olsen had three catches for 115 yards on the night, and Bohm completed five passes for 149 yards in total.

The Thunderbirds were led on the ground by Sivertson, who had 81 yards, and Bryce Huettner, who recorded 67 yards.

Iola-Scandinavia 27, Bonduel 14

Team 1 2 3 4 F

Iola-Scandinavia 13 7 7 0 27

Bonduel 14 0 0 0 14

First quarter

I-S: Jayden Siverston 55-yard fumble recovery (PAT blocked) 6-0 (9:49).

B: Eli Mastey 12-yard run (PAT good) 6-7 (4:57).

I-S: Sivertson 41-yard run (PAT good) 13-7 (3:59).

B: Brandon Olsen 67-yard reception from Parker Bohm (PAT good) 13-14 (2:40).

Second quarter

I-S: Sivertson 2-yard run (PAT good) 20-14 (6:23).

Third quarter

I-S: Jonathan Bauer 41-yard reception from Bryce Huettner (PAT good) 27-14.

Fourth quarter

No scoring

Shawano Community High School junior Sydney Steinbach was pushed all the way to the end of her match Tuesday against Green Bay East’s Kee Xiong.

Steinbach, holding a 5-2 lead in the second set, lost back-to-back games, and then while having a triple match point, was forced into playing a deuce before taking the match 6-2, 6-4 as the Hawks swept the Red Devils at home, 7-0.

“She really stepped up her game and played a great No. 1 singles match,” Shawano head coach Matt Zoll said. “The match she put together was a total match and had a little bit of adversity and had to fight back, and it was well fought back by her.”

Steinbach and Xiong had some long rallies, and Steinbach was working hard early to hit her spots on the court.

“I was trying to play angles on her. I’ve been working a lot on top spin,” Steinbach said. “I was just trying to get her to move and tire her out early on.”

With Steinbach seemingly coasting through the second set, Xiong made her comeback, holding her serve before breaking Steinbach’s to get back within a game at 5-4.

Steinbach responded right away with a break of her own to seal the match.

“I was pretty nervous. I was like, ‘I do not want to go into a third set or a tiebreak,’” Steinbach said. “So I knew I had to break down and get all the balls back consistently.”

Shawano’s No. 3 doubles team of Gabrielle Tuma and Addie Shuler dropped its first set before bouncing back with dominant victories in both the second and third sets for the 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 win.

“They were hitting lobs to the front court player, and she’s a tall player playing at the net, and you’re hitting easy shots to her, she’s going to finish them,” Zoll said of what went wrong in the first set.

After last week’s match against Fox Valley Lutheran got postponed twice and Saturday’s tournament in Kaukauna got canceled because of the weather, Zoll put the girls through an intrasquad match in practice on Monday to get them prepared for East.

“We had a great practice yesterday,” Zoll said. “One thing I told the girls I’ve been working toward this year is converting the skill into game time.”

And that’s exactly what the Hawks did.

Shawano will travel to New London on Tuesday and the rescheduled match against Fox Valley Lutheran awaits on Sept. 22.

“The girls, they’re going to need confidence going into that,” Steinbach said of facing the Foxes. “Everyone knows they are a good team.”

The regular season concludes on Sept. 24 at the Bay Conference tournament.

Shawano 7, Green Bay East 0

Singles: Sydney Steinbach (S) def. Kee Xiong (GBE) 6-2, 6-4; Cheyenne Knueppel (S) def. Maria Parolini (GBE) 6-0, 6-0; Kaliegh Zoll (S) def. Deyssi Pino (GBE) 6-1, 6-1; Lydia Williams (S) def. Jessica Martin (GBE) 6-0, 6-1.

Doubles: Julia Haarth/Dakota Hass (S) def. Sarai Haese/Abigail Swisher (GBE) 6-3, 6-2; Lexi Wilber/Colleen McFarlane (S) def. Melissa Bunker/Cindy Xiong (GBE), 6-0, 6-3; Gabrielle Tuma/Addie Shuler (S) def. Taylor Gillis/Alexis Watts (GBE), 3-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Once Seymour forward Nicholas Yohr got going Monday night, around the 20th minute, the Shawano Hawks had difficulty slowing down the Thunder offense in a 3-0 defeat at home.

Rhett Driessen missed a one-on-one opportunity with Shawano goalkeeper Will Bergner early in the match, but Yohr got behind the defense nine minutes later.

Shawano defender Mike Teeter slid to help direct Yohr’s shot away from the goal, but clipped the forward’s leg in the box, giving away a penalty kick, which Yohr converted for the 1-0 lead.

“Once he gets going, he’s of the style that just tries to keep muscling his way through and carrying it and see what he can get, so that’s kind of how we started getting our chances there,” Seymour head coach Todd Messner said.

Yohr had another chance just two minutes later, but it wasn’t until the 44th minute that Seymour (2-2-1, 1-1-0 Bay) would double its lead. Driessen dribbled down the right side of the box before striking his shot, which got deflected, throwing off the timing of Bergner’s jump on his line as the ball floated over his head into the net.

It’s not like the Hawks (3-3-1, 1-1-0 Bay Conference) were without chances on their end either.

In the 37th minute, Seymour goalkeeper Michael Kuehne dropped the ball after a save, leaving it rolling in front of the net. No Hawks players were in the vicinity to take advantage of the opportunity.

Shawano head coach Bob Croschere made some changes to bring players forward in the second half to find a way to get on the board.

“We had opportunities early,” Croschere said. “We had opportunities late, but can’t score, can’t win.”

Jacob Moesch had an opportunity to score, but his shot flew less than a foot over the goal.

Jacob Dickmann then sent a deep free kick just over the goal with Kuehne off his line while jumping forward and misreading the ball.

Messner was happy that Kuehne and his defenders were able to hold on for the shutout.

“Now that we still held it and got a shutout, I think that should go in our favor quite a bit,” Messner said of building momentum for his team.

Bergner recorded 13 saves in goal for the Hawks.

Running on their home course in a competitive meet for the only time this season, the Hawks wanted to show off just how fast they are.

Overall, Shawano head coach Steve Stomberg was happy with the results, especially on the wet course, especially with his girls team that is comprised almost entirely of freshmen and sophomores. The girls took 16th place overall, and the boys finished 10th.

Freshman Sarah Mente led the Hawks with a 59th-place finish at 22:43, and Alice Hoffman finished 69th. Sophia Holstrum, Caitlin Daniel and Madeline Hanson all finished within almost a minute of each other in the final three racing spots.

“I know a lot of girls were talking they had a PR on this course already today,” Stomberg said. “When you look at running on a course like this today and having a PR, that’s incredible and showing you are applying yourself and working.

“I told the kids, ‘You’ve got to get yourself ready for this. This is our only time to run on this course in front of our home fans. You know the course better than anybody. You’ve got to go out and do it.’”

The start of the 26-team invitational would prove difficult, as Shawano’s top boys runner Chase Lhotka got boxed in on the opening stretch, preventing him from jumping out with the leading group.

Lhotka still came in with the top time for the boys at 17:41, followed by seniors Griffin Bohm and Brandon Pagel. Freshman Karsten Anderson ran the 3.1-mile course around Shawano Community High School in 19:09, and Ben Carroll recorded the final time of 19:27.

“They are seeing their times are improving, they are feeling good about themselves and what they are accomplishing,” Stomberg said. “That’s what it’s all about, personal accomplishments.”

The Bonduel girls team topped Shawano by 41 points, as Ashlyn Schnell (22:14) took 43rd place, followed by Arianna Factor (22:37) in 54th and Laney Richmond (23:40) in 93rd.

“We’re just trying to ramp up, and so far, we are on that track,” Bonduel head coach Diane Schnell said.

Schnell would like to see her teams run closer together, especially on the boys side, where Jared Wondra (18:21) finished nearly a minute and a half ahead of the fifth runner, Alex Schill.

“I want to see all eight varsity runners to run as a team and shorten the distance between our first runner and our seventh and eighth runner,” Schnell said.

The Bonduel boys team has just one senior runner, Austin Kurey, who ran the course in 18:50, putting him in 60th place overall. Sophomore Colin Ewing was just four seconds ahead of Kurey for second place for the Bears. Jacob Moede was fourth for the Bears, with a time of 19:18.

Shawano Invitational

Sept. 10

Shawano Community High School

Boys team scores (overall): Green Bay Preble, 47; Oconto Falls, 151; Hortonville, 154; Manitowoc Lincoln, 172; New London, 185; Green Bay East, 194; Kaukauna, 223; Appleton West, 224; Xavier, 249; Shawano, 270; Peshtigo, 298; Bonduel, 329; Brillion, 341; Oshkosh North, 355; Winneconne, 378; West De Pere, 399; Seymour, 413; Antigo, 436; Marinette, 454; Sturgeon Bay, 620.

Bonduel: 35, Jared Wondra, 18:21; 57, Colin Ewing, 28:46; 60, Austin Kurey, 18:50; 78, Jacob Moede, 19:18; 99, Alex Schill, 19:48; 116, Carter Kurey, 20:21; 118, Daniel Gumieny, 20:23; 126, William Beaumier, 21:03.

Shawano: 21, Chase Lhotka, 17:41; 43, Griffin Bohm, 18:33; 52, Brandon Pagel, 18:39; 72, Karsten Anderson, 19:09; 82, Ben Carroll, 19:27; 98, Camron Wickman, 19:47; 113, Brett Lorge, 20:17.

Girls team scores (overall): Green Bay East, 102; Hortonville, 137; Manitowoc Lincoln, 147; Green Bay Preble, 163; West De Pere, 165; Xavier, 173; Oshkosh North, 210; Marinette, 228; Brillion, 251; Peshtigo, 261; Oconto Falls, 300; Winneconne, 322; Kaukauna, 356; New London, 401; Bonduel, 417; Shawano, 458; Sturgeon Bay, 461; Antigo, 527; Marion, 536.

Bonduel: 43, Ashlyn Schnell, 22:14; 54, Arianna Factor, 22:37; 93, Laney Richmond, 23:40; 109, Abby Owen, 24:04; 118, Allyssa Moser, 24:47; 126, Grace Tubutis, 25:46; 127, Julia Richmond, 25:50; 135, Elena Shest, 27:11.

Shawano: 59, Sarah Mente, 22:43; 69, Alice Hoffman, 22:58; 100, Sophia Holstrum, 23:53; 111, Caitlin Daniel, 24:12; 119, Madeline Hanson, 24:56.

Marion: 3, Delaney Greene-Gretzinger, 19:42; 122, Melody, Riemer, 25:06; 132, Tailyn Beyersdorf, 26:41; 138, Harmony Riemer, 28:11; 141, Kayla Jung, 28:58; 142, Megan Vollrath, 29:06; 143, Lauren Pamperin, 29:30; 144, Nancy Taha, 30:25.

The Green Bay Packers are exactly where they wanted to be at this stage of the National Football League season, which is to say hundreds of miles north of Florida.

Their 27-23 win in Jacksonville last Sunday marked the second straight season that the Packers started 1-0, after three consecutive years of opening-day losses.

Sunday night’s showdown with defending NFC North champion Minnesota is at hand, and barring any solar flares over the next few days, the winner will be determined in a much more playable climate than last week’s cookout.

When it was determined that the rotating schedules of divisional opponents this year would pit the NFC North with the AFC South, the lesser lights of the scheduling committee decided that it would be a good idea for the teams from the north to travel south for the early-September openers.

So in addition to the Packers in the Jacksonville sauna, you had Chicago broiling in Houston, Detroit simmering at Indianapolis and Minnesota baking in Tennessee, to better create the furnace effect so conducive to 60 minutes of football.

Temperatures on the field in Jacksonville’s EverBank Stadium exceeded 110 degrees – a lurking Heatstroke City for the guys wearing 20 pounds of gear, and a condition that might have contributed to some of the weirdness unleashed by the Packers’ offense.

Although they played well enough when it counted, their overall performance wasn’t one that you necessarily want to see repeated. There were too many instances where you could’ve sworn the plays were being diagrammed on the ground in the huddle.

There was the delay of game penalty to start the second half, which was bad enough until the Packers committed another delay of game penalty in the fourth quarter after already having called a timeout.

By the time they failed to score on third-and-goal from the Jacksonville 2-yard line, it only made sense that the reason was that half of the offensive line was pass protecting and the other half was run blocking.

“Half the guys thought it was a run, and I was one of them,” Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “That’s why I handed the ball off. The other half was doing a pass. You’re not going to win a lot of games like that.”

Probably not, no.

There were enough encouraging plays to stay positive, though, like Davante Adams’ diving catch in the end zone to close out the first half, and cornerbacks Quinten Rollins and Damarious Randall coming up big in the last minute to preserve the win. Running back Eddie Lacy broke a couple of nice gains – one on a run and one on a run after catch – and wide receiver Jordy Nelson caught a TD pass in his first game back since the 2014 season.

As for the game coming up, the Packers figure to have their hands full despite the Vikings’ being without their injured No. 1 quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater.

Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer has been effective in neutralizing Rodgers’ impact, dating back to Zimmer’s days as defensive coordinator at Cincinnati. Rodgers and the O-line must solve the continual riddle of whom among the Vikings’ seven-man fronts Zimmer will be bringing.

The Vikes’ coach also left an element of guessing for which quarterback the Packers would have to prepare. Minnesota won its opener behind Shaun Hill, who played in three games last year as Bridgewater’s backup, but acquired Sam Bradford from Philadelphia after the injury to Bridgewater.

Bradford was the No. 1 overall pick of the 2010 draft (by the Rams), so it’s likely he’ll be tasked with leading Minnesota’s offense to its first touchdown over the last nine and a half quarters – the last one coming in last year’s regular-season finale. Their opponent that day was the Packers, whose job Sunday night is to keep the Vikings’ offense on ice.

Shawano Community High School’s athletic hall of fame will have three new members once the class is inducted on Oct. 1.

The Class of 2016, which will be honored in a ceremony prior to the homecoming football game, includes King Miller, Lee Otto and Dennis Blunk.

Miller, a 1952 graduate of Shawano High School, competed in all 12 athletic seasons of his high school career in football, basketball and track.

Miller displayed his prowess on the football field as the team’s fullback. He was also a member of the 1952 conference championship basketball team and was described as an outstanding defensive player. In the spring, Miller earned recognition as the high-hurdle conference champion.

Otto received four varsity letters, two in basketball and two in baseball from 1960-1961. Otto was a dominant all-around player leading his team in scoring, rebounding and free-throw percentage.

During Otto’s senior season in 1961, the Shawano Indians varsity basketball team earned a berth in the state tournament. There were no divisions in the early 1960s, so each school, no matter its size, had an opportunity to win the single-elimination tourney. Shawano (17-6) drew Waukesha (23-0), the No. 1 team in the state. The matchup was at the time thought to be one of the greatest games ever played in the state finals. The Indians lost 88-86 on a shot made with 4 seconds left in the game.

Otto’s efforts were recognized at the state level with second team all-state honors. He also represented the Indians as a second team all-conference player. Otto’s teammates and coach Rudy Ellis named him the 1961 team captain and most valuable player.

Otto continued his athletic success in the spring on the baseball diamond, where he led the Indians in hits, runs, RBIs and a .422 batting average.

At 6-foot-11, Blunk was a dominant force on the basketball court. He earned two varsity letters.

During the 1972-73 season, Blunk helped Shawano to a conference championship in his senior year by leading the team in scoring and rebounding. Blunk was named a unanimous selection to the All-Wisconsin Valley team after leading the conference in scoring with 298 points.

During his final season as a Shawano Indian, Blunk scored 520 points, averaging 22.6 points per game. Blunk was unstoppable, scoring 41 and 46 points in back-to-back games. Blunk set three school records by scoring most points in a game (46), gym record in a single game (41) and earning the highest field goal percentage at nearly 60 percent. He was named to the all-state second team.

The inductees will also be recognized during the homecoming parade at 6 p.m. Sept. 30 as part of the Shawano Community High School Booster Club float.

SCHS will hold the annual induction ceremony at 12:15 p.m. Oct. 1 in the high school commons. The homecoming football game against Waupaca will start at 1 p.m. The inductees will be introduced again on the field prior to the game.