Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

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 10 p.m. on Tuesdays.

Welcome to October. Baseball may take center stage this October for many around the state with the Milwaukee Brewers heading to the playoffs. However, it’s primarily football season and this weekend was just another filled with great performances from Wisconsin high school alumni around the country.

Franklin High School graduate, Sean McGuire has been a four year starter for Western Illinois. This past weekend, McGuire led the Fighting Leathernecks to a 45-38 victory over Youngstown State. In the process, he threw for 324 yards and 4 scores, while adding a rushing touchdown. With those 4 passing touchdowns, McGuire has tied Western Illinois’ record for passing touchdowns in a career with 62. He was also named the Missouri Valley Conference’s Offensive Player of the Week.

Another quarterback that has been chronicled a lot over the last few years of the Alumni Round-up put together a huge day for Florida International. James Morgan, formerly of Ashwaubenon High School, led the Panthers to a 55-9 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff. He completed 9 of 14 passes for 341 yards and 4 touchdowns.

The WIAC began conference play this past weekend and as per usual, many alumni made the headlines. Division 3 eleventh ranked UW-Oshkosh was led to a 48-14 victory over River Falls behind quarterback Kyle Radavich. The Whitnall alumnus threw for 300 yards and 5 touchdowns, paving his way to WIAC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Mitch Gerhartz (Hortonville), Max Nowinsky (Antigo), Riley Kallas (Winneconne), Dom Todarello (Arrowhead), and Mitchell Gerend (Southern Door) all recorded at least 1 score each. Defensively, the WIAC’s leader in interceptions, Cole Yoder (Oshkosh West) picked off the River Fall’s quarterback twice, while Calvin Shilling (South Milwaukee), Tyler Staerkel (Kimberly), and A.J. Plewa (South Milwaukee) all had 1 apiece.

Two former Spring Valley High School athletes helped lead UW-Stout to a 26-20 victory over UW-Eau Claire. Quarterback, Sean Borgerding threw for 233 yards and 2 scores. Defensively, Jed Schlegel had 10 tackles and an interception. That interception was on Eau Claire’s last drive and sealed the victory for Stout. Schlegel was named the WIAC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance.

Kewaskum High School graduate Brady Hanson has been a tackling machine for Northern Michigan in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. He recorded a team high 11 tackles in a 31-30 overtime loss to Davenport, and currently is fourth in the GLIAC in tackles with 44.

Eric Murray is in his third season in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs. This season he’s seen a huge bump in playing time. With that, this past weekend the Milwaukee Riverside grad hauled in his first career interception in the Chief’s 27-23 barn burner of a win over the Denver Broncos.

It seems J.J. Watt and Joe Schobert are en route to monster years again defensively in the NFL and warrant mention week in and week out. Watt (Pewaukee) had 2 more sacks in the Houston Texans 37-34 win over the Indianapolis Colts. He’s now second in the NFL in that category with 5 in the last two weeks. Schobert (Waukesha West) had a game high 14 tackles and a sack in the Cleveland Brown’s 45-42 overtime defeat to the Oakland Raiders.

2017 WFCA All-State Defensive End Will McDonald (Waukesha North) recorded his first collegiate sack this past weekend in Iowa State’s tough 17-14 loss to TCU.

The Northern Sun Conference featured a slate of conference matchups throughout the weekend. Two players recorded their first touchdowns in their teams’ victories. Ian Pribly (Milwaukee South) scored once in Minnesota State-Mankato’s 45-10 win over St. Cloud State. Ben Sokup (Regis) hauled in his first collegiate score in Sioux Fall’s 56-14 win over Minot State.

A pair of defensive tackles helped lead Southwest Minnesota State to a 54-24 win over the University of Mary. Hayden Acker (Middleton) and Kyle Richter (Kenosha Tremper) combined for 11 tackles and 3 tackle for loss in the game.

FCS #1 ranked North Dakota State downed previously third ranked South Dakota State 21-17 this past weekend. The Bison get many contributions from in-state alumni all over the field. Defensively, Cole Karcz (Germantown) had a sack and currently leads the Missouri Valley Conference in that category. Punter, and Lodi graduate, Garrett Wagner averaged 47.4 yards per punt on 5 punts, downing 3 inside the 20. For his ability to flip the field like that, Wagner was named the Missouri Valley Conference Special Teams Player of the Week.

St. Norbert College was once again led to a dominating victory by in-state alumni, as they beat Knox College 34-0. Quarterback Drew Rhodes (Waukesha West) had over 200 combined yards and 3 scores, while Sam Staehling (Plymouth) and Nate Ihlenfeld (Notre Dame) both hauled in receiving touchdowns.

In other Midwest Conference play, Ripon College again dominated behind the production of Julian Patto (Madison La Follette), Tyler VanDeVelde (Badger) and Austin Bunders (Almond-Bancroft). The trio combined for 5 touchdowns in Ripon’s 53-7 victory over Grinnell College. Tias Larson (Badger) also hauled in a receiving score while Bennett Groves (Appleton East) recorded an interception in 3 straight games.

Lastly, Steven Doran had an amazing day for Drake University in their 41-9 win over Jacksonville. The Germantown High School alum hauled in 6 catches for 132 yards and 3 scores.