Sports

For many fans of the Green Bay Packers, the final game of the season marks the last time they will take an interest in the team until training camp rolls around.

Not for Scott Cagle, a 1976 graduate of Bonduel High School. Cagle’s obsession for the green and gold is a year-round deal, as he also collects Packers memorabilia and attends as many team-related events as possible.

The 60-year-old’s passion for the Packers now has him on the verge of a truly special honor. Cagle, who resides in Green Bay, is one of this year’s 10 finalists for a spot in the Packers Fan Hall of Fame.

Cagle was nominated by his godson Tyler Buchholz, who is originally from Bonduel but now resides in Green Bay, in November. Since the time of the nomination, Cagle has enjoyed the support he has received from his family and friends and is eager to hear the results of which fan will be the next to join the hall of fame.

At the end of each hunting season, I always love to think back on all the hunts I had and new memories I’ve made.

With the deer hunting season, both gun and bow, having ended, I recently took a trip down memory lane in search of my favorite moments from the fall and winter season. Unfortunately, it took me all of about five minutes to recall the highlights of my season.

Living nearly three hours from the land I hunt on, trail cameras are a big resource for me in locating deer and staying in tune with how deer are moving about the property.

Just days after I had made a trip to the hunting property to lay down some clover seed, I received a phone call from my parents with news that was almost too good to be true.

Despite sporting a solid 10-4 overall record coming into Monday’s nonconference matchup, the Menominee Indian boys basketball team had actually fallen on tough times of late, losing three of its past four games.

The Eagles shook off their recent struggles and took out some frustration with a convincing 91-66 win over Oneida Nation at Menominee Indian High School.

“I thought our guys played very hard tonight,” Menominee Indian coach James Oshkeshequoam said. “We did a much better job of playing together, both offensively and defensively. Guys were in tune, really engaged and I was really proud of the product these guys brought to the floor tonight.”

Menominee Indian (11-4) dominated right from the opening tip, with junior Tiger Dixon connecting on a 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 start to the game.

With just a few weeks remaining before regionals, local wrestling teams are looking to build up confidence and perfect their craft on the mat.

If Saturday’s multi-dual was any indication, the Bonduel wrestling team seems to be trending in the right direction. The Bears had seven wrestlers post 5-0 records as the team posted a perfect record in front of a supportive home crowd at Bonduel High School.

Bonduel won convincingly against each team it faced, knocking off Freedom (53-12), Menominee Indian (65-12), Amherst (57-18), Almond-Bancroft/Pacelli (68-6) and Manawa (45-21).

“Well this is the time period right now that we were hoping to get a bunch of wins at this multi-dual,” Bonduel coach Chris Rank said. “I was very happy with how we competed today. A couple of our top wrestlers had some very tough matches today and came out on top of them, which is nice to see because they need that.

The first half of a Central Wisconsin Conference-East Division girls basketball battle between Bonduel and Wittenberg-Birnamwood was controlled by the Chargers, who crashed the offensive glass to take a four-point lead into halftime.

The opening few minutes of the second half was dominated by the Bears, as sophomore Kara Troxel caught fire from the floor to give her team a sizable lead.

Despite a long scoreless stretch, Bonduel was able to hang on late for a 47-43 win at Wittenberg-Birnamwood High School on Friday.

“I think we moved a little bit better in the second half. We came a little bit harder off screens, and that was the focus at halftime,” said Bonduel coach Jerry Reinke on what flipped the momentum in the second half. “I thought we were circling a little bit too much rather than straight-line cutting.

Led by a first-place finish in the 145-pound weight class by Ben Carroll, the Shawano wrestling team finished fifth at the Herb Tyler Invitational at Sheboygan North High School on Saturday.

Shawano earned 140 points as a team, just 32 points behind first place Stevens Point (172).

Carroll posted a 4-0 record on the day. He started the day with a 7-1 decision win before pinning his second opponent. He then won in an ultimate tie breaker over Campbellsport’s Logan Kreuser before earning a 14-6 major decision win in the first place match.

“He wrestled very well today and has continued to improve all season long,” Shawano coach Mike Homan said. “He has been one of our most consistent wrestlers, and we’re excited for him to finish the season strong.”

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Shawano 63

Xavier 38

Shawano won the battle of the Hawks on Friday night, dominating each half of the Bay Conference matchup.

Tori DePerry recorded a double-double in the win, scoring 19 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Rachel Reed added 11 points for the Hawks.

The win bumped Shawano’s conference record to 7-2, which is tied for second with New London. West De Pere leads the conference with a 9-0 mark.

WVL 53

Gresham 51

The Wildcats suffered a heartbreaking Central Wisconsin Conference-North Division loss to Wisconsin Valley Lutheran on Friday.

The loss was the fourth straight for Gresham.

Iola-Scandinavia 40

Menominee Indian 37

The Eagles also came up just short in a tight CWC-East clash with the Thunderbirds on Friday.

Menominee Indian trailed by six at halftime outscoring Iola-Scandinavia 19-16 in the second half.

Bowler 45

Tigerton 44

The goal for the Bowler boys basketball team was to get the ball into the paint and attack the Tigerton defense. Instead, riding the hot hand of junior Zach Fehrman from 3-point land, the Panthers built a comfortable lead behind their perimeter shooting before making it a priority to get into the lane and attack the basket.

Tigerton got into some early foul trouble and Bowler was able to hold off the Tigers late for a 79-58 Central Wisconsin Conference-North Division win at Tigerton High School on Thursday.

“We just had a little more moxie tonight, maybe because coming up to Tigerton is always kind of a border battle,” said Bowler coach Adam Spencer on what helped the team come away with a victory. “We played good tonight, we played solid. The boys played more like a team tonight than I’ve seen them play all season. I’m really proud of these guys.”

Carter Weisnicht knew going into his team’s matchup with Green Bay East that he would have an enormous height advantage.

The junior on the Shawano boys basketball team wanted to exploit the mismatch with his 6-foot-7 frame taking on Green Bay East players, who max out at 6-foot-1.

Weisnicht did his part, scoring a game-high 27 points, but Shawano’s supporting cast couldn’t get much going all night, accounting for just 23 points. With little balance, 3-point happy Green Bay East came away with a 62-50 victory in Bay Conference play on Thursday.

“I thought the kids came out early in the game and I thought we really established ourselves, had really good tempo, really good energy level,” Shawano coach Dave Ambrosius said. “Then we got a little bit lackadaisical, and credit Green Bay East, they came out and hit some shots and that really kind of got them rolling.”

WRESTLING

Bonduel 42

Pittsville 33

The Bears knocked off the Panthers in a Central Wisconsin Conference dual on Thursday.

Moises Lagunes (152) started the night off strong for Bonduel, pinning his opponent in 1 minute, 58 seconds. Isaac Banker (182) and Michael Smith (132) also earned pins for the Bears, claiming the wins in 1:18 and 1:14, respectively.

Alex Garside (195), Jacob Giese (220), Luis Lagunes (113) and Max Sokolski (126) all won by forfeit for Bonduel, which hosts a multidual today (Saturday).

Witt-Birn 64

Alm-Banc/Pacelli 12

The Chargers only dropped two weight classes — one by forfeit — during a CWC dual against the Almond-Bancroft/Pacelli co-op on Thursday.

Pierson Potrykus (106), Max Kersten (120), Bryce Zoromski (126) and Will Urquhart (145) all won by pin to lead Wittenberg-Birnamwood. Allen Uttecht (285) won by major decision.