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Prep football: SPASH, Pacelli open playoffs with home doubleheader PDF Print E-mail
Written by Kyle Means • Journal staff   
Tuesday, 27 October 2009 18:42

The old saying is that you can't go home again. Past Level 3 of the WIAA football postseason the saying becomes, "You can't play home again," meaning no more games on one's home field.

That's one of the reasons why winning in the regular season means so much. Come into the postseason with an eight- or nine-win season, such as Pacelli (8-1) and Stevens Point Area Senior High (9-0) has, and being sent away for Level 1, which takes place tonight, is a nearly impossibile The more home games at this time of year, the better a team's chances to go deep in its bracket.

"With the new field allowing SPASH and Pacelli to both play home, it's a great situation to be in, no doubt about that," SPASH coach Pete McAdams said.

A doubleheader of playoff football takes place today at Community Stadium at Goerke Park starting at 4 p.m. with Pacelli hosting Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas in Division 6 action and continuing at 7 p.m. with SPASH hosting Oshkosh West in a Division 1 clash.

This is the second consecutive year that Pacelli and SPASH each get to play Level 1 games at home on the artificial surface, first implanted at Goerke Park in 2008. Last year, Pacelli dominated Oshkosh Lourdes/Valley Lutheran 50-7 and SPASH trounced Hudson 35-8.

The road ahead

Tonight, SPASH faces one of the state's most lethal passing attacks, led by one of the state's true high-profile quarterbacks in Trey Demler, who has passed for 2,226 yards and 22 touchdowns on the season. But if containing Demler isn't enough of a challenge, facing a team from the deep Fox Valley Association in the first round certainly is.

The FVA features undefeated Appleton North, which is the top seed in SPASH's bracket, as well as defending Division 2 state champion Kimberly. Given its earlier opponents, West isn't likely to be fazed mentally by anything it sees against the Panthers.

"Their record is very deceiving; they're very, very good," McAdams said about West, which has averaged 34 points a game this season. "Defensively we've got a big challenge facing us."

A couple of familiar foes await SPASH should it win -- either Hudson or Wisconsin Rapids, and that winner will likely host the Panthers. Should Rapids win, it'll mark the fourth straight year that SPASH would play a fellow Wisconsin Valley Conference team in Level 2. In each of the past three years the Panthers have beaten D.C. Everest in Level 2.

"It's always interesting how the Wisconsin Valley schools get matched up in the same eight-team bracket," McAdams said. "It seems like its always that way in Level 2."