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The Dave Krieg Award is given annually to the state's top senior quarterback as part of the WSN Senior Football Awards. The award is named after former D.C. Everest and Milton College athlete Dave Krieg, who went on to play 12 seasons in the NFL and still ranks in the Top 15 all-time in most passing categories.

The pre-season watch list was trimmed down to 16 semi-finalists, and five finalists for the award have now been selected. Winners will be announced the week of November 23rd.

Lourdes Academy has taken huge steps forward the last few years, and head coach Kevin Wopat describes senior quarterback Josh Bauer as a program changer. "He is a driven, hard working kid, who is willing to learn from anyone who has a passion for football, especially with quarterback play," Wopat said. "He will graduate from Lourdes with all of our single season and career quarterback passing/rushing records." Heading into the final game of the 2020 season, Bauer has a 27-3 record as a starting quarterback. As a senior he has completed 68.8% of his passes (128-of-186) for 2,159 yards and 29 touchdowns in eight games. He's averaging a ridiculous 11.6 yards per pass attempt and has added 271 rushing yards and seven scores on the ground. For his career he has throw for 5,394 yards and 71 touchdowns, with another 1,684 yards and 31 touchdowns running the ball.

Mosinee has played just six games so far this year, but senior quarterback Michal Dul has thrown for at least 200 yards in each one, including three games of at least 300 yards and a season-high 403 yards and five touchdowns in a win over Merrill. Completing 63.8% of his passes this year, he has just four interceptions on 196 attempts with a passer rating of 119.8. While he hasn't put up huge rushing numbers, he does have seven scores on the ground, with four in the season-opening victory against Lakeland. This is Dul's first season as the team's starting quarterback and he has taken the roll and run with it quite well.

Martin Luther quarterback Brady Hoppert stepped in as a first-time starter last season, when he threw for 2,303 yards with 30 touchdowns, completing 145-of-236 passes (61.4%) as the Spartans relied more and more on the passing game. He's been extremely efficient as a senior as well, with 1,323 yards and 20 touchdowns through the team's first eight games. He's completed 88-of-150 passes for a 58.7% completion rate, and has a quarterback rating of 116.2 this year. He did this despite not taking a snap in the second half of three games this season.

As a junior in 2019, Lake Mills quarterback Adam Moen set a new record for most combined passing and rushing yards with 4,477 (3,517 passing, 960 rushing), breaking the previous record held by Cedar Grove-Belgium's Josh Weiss. His single-season passing yardage from 2019 was fourth all-time. His combined 60 touchdowns (39 passing, 21 rushing) were the second-most in state history in a single-season. In this shortened 2020 season, Moen has been outstanding once again, completing 137-of-191 passes for 1,764 yards and 16 touchdowns through the regular season. He's added 508 yards and 11 scores on the ground as well. His career totals sit at 7,555 passing yards and 81 touchdown throws to go with 2,006 rushing yards and 42 touchdowns on the ground. He had more than 300 receiving yards as a freshman also. 

Amherst has produced some outstanding dual-threat quarterbacks under head coach Mark Lusic, including WFCA Offensive Player of the Year Garrett Groshek a few years ago, and Tristan Schelvan is the latest in that lineage. Moved over from playing defensive back last season, Schelvan joins several of the Amherst quarterbacks of the last decade with a 1,000/1,000 season. Completing 58.8% of his passes, he has 1,362 passing yards with 22 touchdowns and just four interceptions. He also has 1,069 yards on the ground with 11 more scores. Twice this year he had more than 400 yards of total offense, but his most impressive performance may have come in a replacement game last week against defending Division 5 state champion Lake Country Lutheran. He threw for 171 yards and three touchdowns, adding 184 yards and one score on the ground in the Falcons' 32-22 win.

Travis Wilson serves as the WisSports.net General Manager, Football Editor, and contributing writer for other parts of the site. Wilson was selected as part of the Sports 40 Under 40 list by Coach & AD Magazine and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association for 2019. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) named Travis the 2015 recipient of the Dave McClain Distinguished Service Award. He currently serves on the WFCA Executive Board and is a member of the Executive Board of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. A graduate of Richland Center High School and Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Travis was a three-sport athlete in high school (football, baseball, basketball), inducted to the Richland Center High School Hall of Fame in 2023, and currently resides in Reedsburg. You can follow him on Twitter at @travisWSN.

For the latest and most up to date football news and recruiting information, follow Travis on Twitter @travisWSN. Email story ideas, recruiting info, etc. to Travis at travis(at)wissports.net.