Catholic Memorial High School’s football team hasn’t lost a game since Sept. 14 when Mukwonago High School beat them by one point.
Since then, the Crusaders have outscored their opponents 284-97 to advance to the WIAA Division 3 State Championship game at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison at 10 a.m. Friday.
Catholic Memorial’s record is 10-2 going into the title game against Waupaca High School. The team is 7-2 in Classic 8 Conference play, after also losing to Arrowhead High School 50-7. Arrowhead also is in the Division 1 state championship game in Madison on Friday.
"People probably know what we're going to do, but they still have to stop it,” running back Matt Hubley told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after Saturday’s win at Kettle Moraine High School.
Catholic Memorial was in the state championship game in 2010, but lost to West De Pere High School that year.
Catholic Memorial Overcame Rough Start to Season
Catholic Memorial coach Bill Young is clearly proud of his football team. He heaped praise upon the offense, defense and special teams during an interview with Waukesha Patch on Wednesday.
Young’s seen the group of high school boys band together and grow as players during the year, especially overcoming a 2-2 start to the season.
“You like to see kids get better as football players and as people, and that is what they have done,” Young said.
The Cruaders have dominated football teams like Pewaukee and come from behind to win against Wisconsin Lutheran in the last seconds of the game. Young was named the Green Bay Packers coach of the week after Catholic Memorial shut out Pewaukee.
Despite the successes so far, the Crusaders know what they have to do on Friday in what could be their toughest game of the season. They’ve been preparing for undefeated Waupaca High School.
“They are an awfully good football team,” Young said. “We will have to play our best football in order to beat them.”
In September, the team was struggling to find its best approach to win games. Losing at halftime to Muskego High School, the Crusaders turned their season around when Catholic Memorial shutout Muskego in the second half to win 35-18.
Young said the team began using Hubley in that game to fight through the defenders.
“It has been very effective ever since,” Young said.
But it hasn’t just been a dynamic offense. The defense has shut out four teams – Waukesha North, Waukesha South, Waukesha West and Pewaukee – this season. Special teams have helped with field position by downing the football near the 10 yard line at least six times during the playoffs, Young said.
“We have got to do it one more time,” Young said.
During practices this week, Young’s been telling the team it doesn’t matter if they blow out a team or if it is a close game. They just have to keep doing what they have done all season: “win and advance.”
“It is not going change in this game,” Young said. “You are who you are and you do what you do. For us we have got to play solid, great defense.”
Waupaca High School Beat 2011 State Champions
When the Crusaders take the field Friday, they’ll be facing a team that hasn’t lost all season. Waupaca High School won last weekend on a field goal from its backup kicker to beat West De Pere High School.
“You know, our guys have what I call ‘it,’ just that little extra that makes a difference at crunch time,” Waupaca coach John Koronkiewicz told the Appleton Post Crescent.
West De Pere holds the two previous state championship titles, according to the Appleton newspaper.
A sportswriter from the Appleton Post Crescent is predicting Waupaca will win the championship game in a close-scoring match.
Going to the Game?
Take your camera or your smartphone and add your football pictures to a game gallery that we will have posted on the site. If you’re a Twitter person, follow us at @WaukeshaPatch, share your photos or tweet your reaction to the game using the hashtag #wisfb
Tickets to a single game on Friday are $8 for adults and $1 for children age 6 and under. If you want to stick around to see if Arrowhead beats Sun Prairie at 4 p.m., the full-day game tickets are $15.
Not Going to the Game?
The came will be aired on FOX Sports Wisconsin. But if you’re unable to watch, Waukesha Patch will be live blogging throughout the game, so you can check in, ask how the game is going and check out the final score. We’ll also have a lot of photos from the state championships.
Past Catholic Memorial High School football coverage
All Waukesha high school football coverage from the 2012 season can be found on Waukesha Patch. But here are a few photo galleries and stories from the Crusaders playoff season.
