Wisconsin high school football playoff field set: Which Western Wisconsin teams are in?

Jace Frederick, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.
·2 min read

Oct. 16—Within hours of the completion of Friday night's action, the Wisconsin high school football playoff fields were set, and Western Wisconsin is well represented.

Teams qualify automatically for the playoffs by winning at least half of their conference games. When there are not enough teams that qualify via that route, then teams who finish just a half-game below .500 are considered.

That's how St. Croix Central, a perennial power who went 3-4 in conference play this season, snuck into the Division-4 field.

It's also when the qualification fields are set that you learn in which division's playoffs a team will compete. Nothing is set ahead of time. Fields are determined by enrollment among the qualifying teams. New Richmond, for example, has traditionally been a Division-3 football team, but this postseason will instead be the smallest qualifying team in Division-2. The Tigers' enrollment of 991 is 10 students largest than Ashwaubenon, the largest school in the Division-3 field.

Here is the entire slate of Western Wisconsin first-round playoff action, which opens with regional play Friday. Teams were seeded No. 1-8 within their regions:

DIVISION 1

No. 6 Hudson (5-4) at No. 3 Appleton North (7-2)

DIVISION 2

No. 2 Menomonie (7-2) vs. No. 7 Monona Grove (6-3)

No. 4 River Falls (7-2) vs. No. 5 La Crosse Central (7-2)

No. 6 New Richmond (6-3) at No. 3 DeForest (8-1)

DIVISION 3

No. 3 Rice Lake (7-2) vs. No. 6 Medford (5-4)

DIVISION 4

No. 2 Ellsworth (8-0) vs. No. 7 St. Croix Central (4-5)

No. 3 Osceola (8-1) vs. No. 6 Altoona (6-3)

No. 5 Prescott (5-4) at No. 4 West Salem (7-1)

DIVISION 5

No. 6 St. Croix Falls (5-4) at No. 3 Spencer/Columbus Catholic (5-4)

No. 8 Spooner (5-4) at No. 1 Aquinas (9-0)

DIVISION 6

No. 1 Durand (8-1) vs. No. 8 Fall Creek (4-5)

No. 4 Cumberland (8-1) vs. No. 5 Boyceville (7-2),

No. 7 Grantsburg (6-3) at No. 2 Augusta (9-0)

DIVISION 7

No. 2 Spring Valley (7-2) vs. No. 7 Webster (5-4)

No. 4 Turtle Lake (5-3) vs. No. 5 Glenwood City (5-4)

No. 6 Elmwood/Plum City (4-5) at No. 3 Pepin/Alma (7-1)