Week 2 of football season is for the birds
WAUSAU - We hit the one-third pole of the prep football regular season this week, and there are a handful of local programs that have to be feeling pretty good about how things are going so far.
There's also some teams that begin Week 3 with a little bit of concern as well.
Nine local teams improved to 2-0 this weekend (Abbotsford, Almond-Bancroft, Athens, Edgar, Iola-Scandinavia, Loyal, Stevens Point Area Senior High, Spencer/Columbus Catholic and Wisconsin Rapids).
A dozen teams dropped to 0-2 (Auburndale, Greenwood, Medford, Merrill, Mosinee, Neillsville/Granton, Nekoosa. Newman Catholic, Port Edwards, Rosholt, Wausau East and Wausau West).
Outside of the wins and losses, here's five storylines that stand out after Week 2 . Call it the good, the bad and the notable.
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1. The Falcons are still the teams to beat
Yes, Amherst had a 15-game winning streak come to an end Friday to Saint Mary's Springs in the local area's highlight game for Week 2. However, the 20-17 setback to Springs showed not just how tough the Ledgers are this year, but also that the Falcons are still among the state's best programs and a legit contender to make a run at the WIAA Division 5 state championship again this year. Abbotsford, the other Falcons squad in the local area, escaped Assumption on Friday as a last-second field goal attempt was no good. Abbotsford, the defending CloverWood Conference champions, improved to 2-0 and is in a first-place tie in the conference with Athens and Loyal.
2. Both Tigers flip the script
The Tigers, Stratford and Marshfield, had a .500 performance Friday for the second straight week. Stratford rebounded from a rough opening weekend loss to Stanley-Boyd with a 24-13 win over Marathon in a Marawood Conference matchup. Stratford showed its toughness on both the offensive and defensive lines to get the win over the defending conference champions. Marshfield, which had an impressive offensive showing in a 48-13 season-opening win over Wausau East, suffered a 28-0 loss at D.C. Everest, their former Wisconsin Valley Conference rivals. It was Everest's first win over Marshfield since 2008. The Tigers had won 11 of the previous 17 games in the series going into Friday's matchup.
3. Adams-Friendship 'lighting it up'
The only thing that has slowed the Green Devils offense down through two weeks has been the field lights in Poynette. Play was halted with 1.8 seconds left in the first half with Adams-Friendship holding a 26-7 lead after two banks of lights at the field went out. The game was officially suspended after a 90-minute delay in which the lights never came back on. Now the WIAA will need to make the determination this week if the nonconference game will be continued at a later date or is considered official. Either way, the Green Devils offense is rolling right now. Adams-Friendship scored 48 points in a win over Weyauwega-Fremont in the season opener last week.
4. The Great Northern Conference is struggling
Five of the seven teams in the Great Northern are winless, and the conference has an overall mark of 3-11 this season. The bright spot? Rhinelander, which improved to 2-0 with a win over Wittenberg-Birnamwood on Friday. Antigo is the only other team in the GNC with a win. The good news is that conference play begins this week with two games featuring winless teams — Medford at Ashland and Lakeland at Merrill.
5. Spencer/Columbus Catholic has a solid one-two backfield punch
The Rockets' backfield tandem of Hunter Luepke and Noah Zastrow has been a reason why the team is off to a 2-0 start. Both backs have rushed for at least 136 yards in each of the two games so far and combined for 573 yards overall. Lupeke, who rushed for 151 yards in Friday's 44-21 win over Fall Creek has 290 yards on the season. That is just seven more yards than what Zastrow has totaled so far. The Rockets tandem will be tested Friday as Spencer/Columbus Catholic hosts Stanley-Boyd in a Cloverbelt Conference showdown.
Tim Johnson: 715-845-0731, or timothy.johnson@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter@timmyjo11