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Central To Announce New Football Head Coach Tomorrow

By Adam Roberts – 7/19/2021

It’s getting closer and closer to the start of high school football in our area once again, with first games set to kickoff one month from tomorrow. It’s also the time where many schools with head coaching vacancies are shoring up those holes in their staff.

Last week, it was reported by the Trempealeau County Times that Jeff Wiseman will be the new head coach at GET, replacing long time head man Jon Steffenhagen. Now today Central athletic director Mark Ambrose tells us that the Riverhawks will unveil their new head coach tomorrow. The school will have an announcement ceremony tomorrow morning in the high school commons. Former head coach Tony Servais resigned earlier this month to take the position of dean of students at the school. He had coached for the last 10 seasons at Central, taking over for Dave Cayler and winning a Mississippi Valley Conference title in 2012.

In his final season, Servais piloted the Riverhawks to a 4-1 overall record, and subsequently set up now-senior quarterback Mason Herlitzke to become one of the most dynamic football players in the conference this upcoming fall. Overall, Servais was an even 47-47 for the school.

Bucks One Win Away After Game Five WIn

By Adam Roberts – 7/19/2021

The challenge for the Milwaukee Bucks Saturday night: go into a raucous Footprint Center and win on the road against a Suns team that had won two previous home games in the NBA Finals fairly decidedly.

The response from the Bucks: 32, 9, and 6 from Giannis, 29, 7, and 5 from Khris Middleton, and 27, 4, and 13 from Jrue Holiday. Also, Pat Connaughton had four big threes and a +10 plus/minus.

The highlight: A Holiday rip-away steal and subsequent and-1 lob to Giannis on the other end.

The result: A 123-119 Milwaukee win that puts them on the doorstep of their first championship since 1971.

It wasn’t easy to say the least; Phoenix was electric from long range shooting a whopping 68.4 percent from three. Devin Booker was also spectacular once again with another 40 point performance. But after Chris Paul made a layup to bring the game within one for the Suns, Booker had a chance to take the lead late and was immediately met by the Bucks defense, resulting in the critical turnover to Holiday.

So now the series moves back to Milwaukee, where another roaring Deer District and Fiserv Forum will hope to witness history. Coverage begins at 7pm tomorrow evening on ESPN La Crosse 105.5 and espnlacrosse.com!

NCAA Head Calls For Smaller Role

By Adam Roberts – 7/16/2021

The head of the NCAA is calling on the organization to play a smaller role in college sports.

President Mark Emmert on Thursday said the organization that regulates student athletes should play a smaller governance role on many issues, and delegate more decision-making power to schools and conferences. Emmert said some issues should only reach the national level if that’s “the only place it can get done.”

The Supreme Court recently affirmed a lower court ruling that the NCAA could not restrict an athlete’s school-related benefits. Emmert says that calls for “a complete rethink of a whole lot of policies.”

Details Released On NFL International Games

By Adam Roberts – 7/16/2021

The Packers won’t be heading overseas this year, and won’t have to give up a possible home game for an overseas contest until either 2022 or 2024. But the NFL does have details for how international games will work starting this season.

The NFL says each team will play at least one international game every eight years. That will start next year and more places around the globe will be added to the current rotation. The league says that includes holding games in Canada and South America. More European cities will be added as well.

This year’s games in London will feature the Atlanta Falcons facing off against the New York Jets and the Jacksonville Jaguars going up against the Miami Dolphins. With the addition of 17 games this year, teams that are scheduled to host nine of those 17 will be subject to having a home game played overseas. That won’t happen to the Packers until at least 2022. To date, the Packers are the only team that hasn’t played overseas at all, let along giving up a home game. Much of the resistance has been over how much the revenue from game day impacts a smaller community like Green Bay compared to larger markets.

Meanwhile, training camp is coming up soon and the team is no further along to our knowledge with their quarterback than at any other point this offseason. Camp opens up July 28th in Green Bay, and will also include the return of Family Night August 7th.

Brewers Return From All-Star Break Against Cincinnati

By Adam Roberts – 7/15/2021

The All-Star break was supposed to end yesterday in the Bronx, but COVID issues with the Yankees forced the postponement of the scheduled game against rival Boston. While this series is currently the only one impacted by this problem remember that Aaron Judge, one of those who’ve tested positive, was around everyone that was a part of All-Star Game festitives including the four Brewers. It remains to be seen if another surge in cases is about to begin or not.

Assuming that no issues arise, the second half of the season begins tonight for the Brewers in Cincinnati. Adrian Houser has been announced as the scheduled starter for the Crew tonight against Tyler Mahle as Milwaukee tries to make up the three games they dropped to the Reds before the break.

While the Brewers still hold on to a four game NL Central lead, they have lost their last two series to the Mets and Reds, respectively. A big series also looms on the horizon at American Family Field against the Chicago White Sox, who currently hold the best record in the American League. Note that we’ll have coverage of the Saturday and Sunday night games of that White Sox series.

Loggers Add Two To NWL All-Star Festivities

By Adam Roberts – 7/15/2021

While Kyle Casper will be the only La Crosse Logger representing the team in the Northwoods League All-Star Game next week Tuesday, the team WILL have a couple more faces present at All-Star festivities the day before.

Both Ronnie Sweeney and Chase Davis will participate in the Home Run Challenge. Sweeney has hit four home runs so far this season, while Davis has knocked two out.

The Loggers are back at Copeland Park tonight to take on Waterloo following their sweep of Willmar in a doubleheader yesterday. La Crosse has a half game advantage over Waterloo in the early goings of the second half of the season.

Former Aquinas Blugold Lexi Donarski Offering 1-On-1 Coaching Thanks To New NIL Rules

By Adam Roberts – 7/15/2021

Yesterday I did a write up on Jacy Weisbrod’s decision to attend Northern Colorado in two seasons and remarked on her becoming yet another Aquinas Blugold to make plans for post-high school basketball. One of Weisbrod’s former teammates who’s already made her mark at the collegiate is looking to both take advantage of relaxed name, image, and likeness rules in college basketball and also give back to the next generation of college basketball talent.

Lexi Donarski, a former McDonald’s All-American and 2020’s Miss Basketball and Wisconsin Gatorade Player of the Year, is hosting a basketball camp later this year in Ames, Iowa. The Learn From Lex program is a partnership with Elite 360 Training, and will give 2nd through 7th graders a change to learn the game from the unanimous Big 12 Freshman of the Year. The program offers 1-on-1 hourly coaching sessions starting at 75 dollars and hour, and also a 50 dollar basketball camp on September 25th.

Both the 1-on-1’s and basketball camp will be held at SportsIowa in Ames. More information can be found at http://elite360training.com/learn-from-lex or by emailing [email protected].

Bucks Defeat Suns 109-103; Even Series 2-2

By Adam Roberts – 7/15/2021

With Kareem and Oscar in the house, and 25,000+ outside Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee was in a position to either make the 2021 NBA Finals a best-of-three or fall into a daunting 3-1 hole with two road wins necessary to win the Finals. In Game Three, Giannis was the superstar with a 41 point performance.

Last night, the 40 point star would be Khris Middleton.

The Bucks’ shooting forward recorded 40 on the nose on 15-33 shooting with a 7-8 night at the free throw line. Giannis added 26 and 14, Milwaukee had five guys in double figures and forced 17 Phoenix turnovers on their way to a 109-103 Game Four win. It was a good thing that those turnovers turned into fastbreak points as well; Devin Booker was electric for the Suns with 42 points and very nearly carried the Suns over the hump by himself.

But it was those turnovers and the Bucks’ defense in the fourth quarter which truly provided the difference. The highlight of the night came within the final two minutes, when Booker had Deandre Ayton set up perfectly for an alley oop that would have tied the contest at 101. Giannis, however, had other plans and was able to pivot from a standstill at the free throw line and contest the shot just enough to block it away.

Statistically, there was a lot going in the Suns’ favor during a good chunk of the game; they shot an impressive 51.3% and outshot the Bucks both from three and the free throw line. But four Suns starters had negative plus-minuses, and again the 17-5 turnovers going against Phoenix led to easy buckets for Milwaukee. Booker’s supporting cast being held largely in check didn’t help matters for Phoenix, either; Chris Paul was held to just 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting and had five of the Suns’ turnovers. Deandre Ayton ended with six points and 17 rebounds in the setback.

So now the series shifts to Phoenix once again this Saturday, with neither team finding a way to win on the road yet. Our coverage from the desert begins at 7pm on ESPN La Crosse 105.5 and espnlacrosse.com!

Aquinas Sr Jacy Weisbrod Commits To Northern Colorado

By Adam Roberts – 7/14/2021

Aquinas girl’s basketball under head coach Dave Donarski has churned out its fair share of college athletes over the years, and they can lay claim to another one today.

WXOW’s Scott Emerich reports that senior Jacy Weisbrod has chosen to attend Northern Colorado, a Division One member of the Big Sky Conference. Back in February, Weisbrod was a tour de force in the D3 State Tournament back in February, with Emerich noting that she set records for three pointers made in both a game and in a tournament.

Jacy joins a laundry list of Blugolds, both boys and girls, who will take their talents to collegiate programs, with notables like Bronson Koenig at Wisconsin and Lexi Donarski at Iowa State. Must be something in the water!

Bucks Assistants Ham, Lee Finalists For Washington HC Position

By Adam Roberts – 7/14/2021

The Washington Wizards have started to finalize the names on their list of head coach candidates, and two Milwaukee assistants are on the list.

Darvin Ham and Charles Lee join Denver assistant Wes Unseld Jr. as finalists for the position, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Ham has been the lead assistant in Milwaukee under Mike Budenholzer for some time now, and many within the league have called him a top assistant coach across the association. Ham interviewed for the position earlier this month, and he also played for the Wizards during the 1997-98 season.

As for Lee, the 36 year old is another long-time Bud assistant back to the Atlanta years. He is most noted for his time at Bucknell University, especially the 2006 season when he was the Patriot League player of the year as part of a Bison team that upset Arkansas as a nine-seed, their highest tournament seed in school history.

No timeline has been announced as for when the Wizards will make a selection, though this is likely due to the fact that the Bucks are still alive for a championship.