Sevastopol hopes to cap magical year with 8-player state title
The Sevastopol football team has already made history this year.
The Pioneers would like to make a little more Saturday when they play in the inaugural WIAA 8-player state championship game.
“I told our athletic director that I had a dream where we won the state championship and he gave us the trophy,” Sevastopol coach Ron Frank said.
“That will be our goal. It would mean a lot. It would obviously be our first state championship in football.”
Sevastopol (10-1) will face undefeated Luck (11-0) for the WIAA 8-player state title at 1 p.m. Saturday in Stanley.
After setting a single-season record for wins and winning the first playoff games in program history, the Pioneers will be attempting to capture the first WIAA state championship in any sport for the school since the softball team won back-to-back championships in 2007 and 2008.
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“It validates that the WIAA is sanctioning us now,” Frank said. “It validates that 8-man football is not just a showcase out in Wausau.”
Sevastopol, which has 21 players this year, will be making a bus trip spanning more than 200 miles and three hours to face Luck in the state championship.
The 8-player game has come even farther since the WIAA reintroduced a reduced-player option for teams in 2012.
There were 29 teams that finished 8-player seasons in the state this year, which featured an 8-team playoff for the first time after previous seasons had featured a Jamboree of four games between top teams held at D.C. Everest High School.
N.E.W. Lutheran beat Prairie Farm in 2013 in the top-seeded game at the Jamboree to complete an undefeated season and could make the claim as the 8-player state champion, although it was not recognized by the WIAA.
Under the old Jamboree format, Sevastopol would not have been in a position to be in the top-seeded game as it needed to produce a 50-28 upset over top-seeded Wausau Newman last week to advance to the championship.
“It has meant a lot to the community and to the program,” said Frank, who first joined the coaching staff at Sevastopol in 1990 and is in the third season of his third tenure as head coach.
“I thought that this class was gifted. If we could keep plugging away then 2018 will be the magic year for us.”
The Pioneers have gone 39-19 since making the transition to the 8-player game in 2013, including going 26-5 over the past three seasons in winning three consecutive conference titles.
Last year marked the first time the program had won an outright conference title since 1960.
Senior Nathan Stenzel has thrown for 1,119 yards and 20 touchdowns with four interceptions to lead an offense that is averaging 43.9 points per game this season. The MONLPC-8 co-offensive player of the year has also rushed for a team-high 1,454 yards and 22 touchdowns.
Seniors Alex Krause and Max Krohn have combined for 53 receptions for 975 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Meanwhile, sophomore Spencer Evenson has rushed for 814 yards and 11 touchdowns.
“He’s had some huge games for us,” Frank said of Evenson, who rushed for 152 yards and three touchdowns last week against Wausau Newman.
Senior Jeremy Jorns leads the defense with 57 solo tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 10½ sacks. He was named the MONLPC-8 defensive player of the year and was a state-qualifying wrestler as a junior.
The Sevastopol defense will have its hands full against Luck, which is averaging 50.4 points per game and features three players with over 1,000 rushing yards.
“They run the ball,” Frank said. “They’ve only thrown 25 times all year, but when they throw it’s very effective. We’re going to have our hands full.”