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Football Alumni Round-up: November 22nd

11/22/2017, 3:00pm CST
By Colton Wilson

Many high school football standouts in Wisconsin go on to big things at the college level and in the pros, and this is our spot to recognize those athletes each week and help you keep up with what is going down on some of your favorite players from the past. If you have alumni news, please send it to Colton Wilson by 4 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Alumni Update

As division 2 and 3 football ended last week, and Division 1 football enters its last weekend of games, this will be the last installment of the football alumni round-up of this amazing season. So to all those alumni playing at the higher levels, congratulations on your great seasons on the gridiron.

The NFL season is coming down the home stretch as well, and many alumni took this week to make an impact for their teams.

Former Darlington graduate, Alex Erickson has been playing well in scarce minutes this season for the Cincinnati Bengals. This past weekend his efforts paid off as he hauled in his first ever NFL touchdown in the Bengal’s 20-17 win over the Denver Broncos.

Derek Watt isn’t used to touching the ball very often for the Los Angeles Chargers, as he usually paves the way for former Badger teammate Melvin Gordon. In the Charger’s 54-24 rout of the Buffalo Bills, the Pewaukee graduate rushed for his career long of 17. Not to be outdone, Gordon, a Kenosha Bradford graduate rushed for his 15th career touchdown.

Derek wasn’t the only Watt making plays in the league this past weekend. Brother and Pewaukee graduate, T.J blocked a punt in the Pittsburgh Steeler’s 40-17 win over the Tennessee Titans.

All season, the Missouri Valley Conference has seen many in-state players have huge games on both sides of the ball. Franklin graduate Sean McGuire continued his successful campaign by throwing for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns in Western Illinois’ 28-14 win over Southern Illinois. McGuire finished the season with 2,650 passing yards and 24 touchdowns.

Daurice Fountain (Madison Memorial) and Rickey Neal (Racine Horlick) have been huge playmakers on either side of the ball for Northern Iowa all season. That continued this past weekend in the Panther’s 41-3 win over Indiana State. Fountain had 5 catches for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns. Defensively, Neal had 6 tackles and recorded his Missouri Valley Conference leading 9.5 sack.

Casey Bednarski had a great year for Minnesota Mankato and he saved his best performance for the first round of the division 2 playoffs. The Oconomowoc grad went 3 for 3 on field goals, including the game-winning 37 yarder in overtime in Mankato’s 16-13 win over CSU-Pueblo.

The Northern Sun Conference had standouts at all positions from high schools all across Wisconsin this season. It showed in their all-conference lists. 13 players were named first-team all conference, 10 second team, and 9 honorable mention.

The Wisconsin Badgers defense played great yet again holding Michigan to 10 points in their 24-10 victory. The defense got great contributions from standouts Conor Sheehy (Marquette), Alec James (Brookfield East), and Joe Ferguson (Madison Memorial). Lesser known kickoff specialist Zach Hintze (St. Mary’s Springs) recorded his first ever tackle in the teams victory this past weekend as well.

Drake football has gotten contributions from three different wide receivers throughout the year that hale from the Badger state. Steven Doran of Germantown recorded his third straight 100-yard receiving day by compiling 104 yards on 2 catches. Both of those catches went for touchdowns in Drake’s 52-7 win over Jacksonville.

Third ranked UW-Oshkosh had quite the impressive first round playoff win over Lakeland University 63-0. An incredible 9 different players from Wisconsin had either a passing, rushing, or receiving touchdown. Quarterbacks Brett Kasper (Two Rivers) and Jayden Essman (Burlington) threw for scores. Chad Walton (Franklin), Dylan Hecker (Winneconne), JP Peerenboom (Kimberly) and Mitch Gerhartz (Hortonville) all rushed for scores. Sam Mentkowski (Whitnall), Mitchell Gerend (Southern Door), and Dom Todarello (Arrowhead) caught balls for touchdowns. Defensively both A.J. Plewa (South Milwaukee) and Derrick Jennings Jr. (DeForest) got their hands on the ball as well, recording an interception each.

Jester Weah has had a great past two years at the University of Pittsburgh; compiling over 1,400 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns. On Saturday, the Madison Memorial wideout had 4 catches for 104 yards in the Panther’s 20-14 loss to Virginia Tech.

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