Sports

Kevin Bavery has been around the block — make that several blocks — to know better.

Bavery, who’s beginning his 16^th season as Middleton’s boys basketball coach and has been a varsity coach since 1991 — doesn’t play the prediction game.

Bavery won’t go out on a limb with preseason prognostications or November forecasts. Instead, the veteran coach does all he can to stay in the moment and worry about today — not next week or next March.

So, as the Cardinals get set to begin their new season with a home game Thursday against Beloit Memorial, Bavery is playing it close to the vest.

“Our goals really do start with having a great practice, a great fitness center workout,” said Bavery, who has a 197-141 record at Middleton and a 405-274 overall mark. “Let’s focus on being great student-athletes, and getting ready for our best game, which should always be our next game.”

Depending on your perspective, R.J. Leiferman is a swimming junkie or maybe a tad loony.

Perhaps it’s a little bit of both.

Leiferman, who coaches Middleton’s girls swimming and diving team, recently agreed to coach the boys team as well.

So much for Leiferman’s free time.

Leiferman and the Cardinals begin their new season Friday, when they host WIAA Division 1 defending state champion Sun Prairie. And after a year where so much was different due to COVID restrictions, the Cardinals can’t wait to get started.

“Our team is very excited to be able to compete against the full conference this year, as well as have meets in person with spectators there to cheer,” Leiferman said.

And there should be plenty to cheer about.

Taking care of the basketball has always been a staple of successful girls basketball teams at Middleton.

While Cardinals’ coach Jeff Kind believes that will eventually be a strength of his program this season, Middleton showed it has a ways to go to achieve that goal.

Junior guard Jaelyn Derlein scored 15 of her game-high 25 points in the first half to power DeForest to a 64-53 victory over host Middleton in a non-conference game last Saturday night.

DeForest (2-1) was able to convert 32 Middleton turnovers into 19 points, including seven points during a 13-0 closing surge that sent the Norskies into the break with a 29-16 halftime lead.

“We’re definitely a work in progress,” Kind said. “There are a lot of experience things that we have to be able to see and perceive out on the court a little bit better. It helps us having games.”

Middleton’s hockey team rolled to a pair of wins last week.

The Cardinals cruised past Monroe, 8-3, on Nov. 23. Middleton then pummeled Baraboo/Portage, 7-0, last Saturday.

The Cardinals are now 2-1 on the young season.

“It was great to see our offense get going this past week,” Middleton coach Dan Truehl said. “All four offensive lines contributed to the scoring and our defensemen got involved as well. We’ll need to keep that going as we start to head into conference play and some stiffer competition.”

Here’s a recap of Middleton’s two wins:

• Middleton 8, Monroe 3 — Brady Engelkes had three goals and an assist to power the Cardinals. Ryan Inman also had a goal and two assists.

Drew Sjowall, Eli Kinne, Vince Kalscheur and Charlie Jambor all had goals, as well.

The teams were tied, 2-2, after the first period. Middleton then erupted for six second period goals and put the game away.

The first practice of this new, highly anticipated season had just ended.

Middleton Hall of Fame girls basketball coach Jeff Kind arrived home, paused for a moment and had the following thought.

“Boy, do we have a lot to learn,” Kind said.

That’s what happens when you have largely a wasted year due to COVID-19. That’s the result of a stringent county that placed far tougher restrictions on Kind’s team — and all the Madison-area schools — than most programs in the state faced.

Despite the immense challenge, though, Kind can’t wait to get started. Middleton opened its season Tuesday at Madison East and will host DeForest Saturday at 7:15 p.m.

“I felt like we could jump right back in, but now it’s the realization we have to re-teach all this stuff,” Kind said. “I think there were those moments where I was like, ‘Oh, we really have to re-teach this stuff?’ But it’s a good challenge. I’m embracing it.”

There was plenty of good, like a hat trick from sophomore Vince Kalscheur and rallying from a 3-1 deficit.

There was choppy, disjointed play — which was to be expected after a lost 2020-21 campaign.

And there was disappointment for Middleton’s hockey team following a 4-3 overtime loss at Waunakee last Saturday night.

Still, the Cardinals walked away from their season-opener feeling awfully good about where their year could be headed.

“We definitely have some areas to clean up, but I was very proud of our guys for not giving up, coming back and sending it into overtime,” said Middleton coach Dan Truehl. “There’s a lot to like about this team and early tests like this will only make us better later in the season.”

That’s for sure.

The Cardinals trailed, 2-0, after the first period. Kalscheur then scored a shorthanded goal just 1:57 into the second period on assists from Ryan Carr and Ryan Inman to pull Middleton within 2-1.

They didn't have any individual winners.

Their highest finish in any event was fourth place.

Instead, what Middleton’s girls swimming and diving team showed the rest of the state was depth matters.

The Cardinals swam to a third place team finish at the WIAA Division 1 state meet held at Waukesha South High School last Saturday.

Brookfield East won its third straight state title with 304.5 points. Arrowhead was second with 264.0, while Middleton (193.0), Waukesha West/Catholic Memorial (163.0) and Germantown (149.0) rounded out the top five.

This marked the sixth time in seven years Middleton finished in the top-three at state. The Cardinals also have three state titles and two runner-up finishes in that time.

“Our girls did a fantastic job,” Middleton first-year R.J. Leiferman said. “Most of our girls moved up from where they were seeded going into the meet. It was a real team effort.”

Boy, was it ever.

Middleton’s football team went 6-1 in the Big Eight Conference this fall and finished in second place.

The Cardinals routed four teams by at least 38 points, shutout three league foes and allowed just 7.6 points per game. Offensively, Middleton averaged nearly 34 points per game.

So it was no surprise the Cardinals had 18 players named all-Big Eight Conference.

Senior Cole Toennies was named a first team wide receiver and a first-team defensive back. Senior offensive linemen Jack Alexander and Kevin Spahn, senior running back Elijah Gray, junior defensive lineman Gus Wenning, senior defensive end Blake Van Buren and sophomore outside linebacker Sam Pilof were all named first-team all-conference.

Middleton’s boys soccer team had six players named to the all-Big Eight Conference team.

Junior midfielder Dom Campos and senior defender Noah Corrigan were named first-team all-conference.

Senior forward Chris Vanden Boom was named second-team all-conference, while senior forward Tim Browning, junior forward Finn Patenaude and senior keeper Mack Meyers were all named honorable-mention all-conference.

“I was very proud of this team with what they’ve had to put up with go and go through over the last 18 months,” Middleton coach Kevin Pauls said. “From hearing they don’t have a season in August 2020, to playing last season in the spring in masks and playing an almost normal season this year. And of course losing some of their best friends, they made it through a lot. This group of seniors has leaders and has a lot of talent on the field.”

Dan Truehl feels like Christmas, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July have all been wrapped into one giant holiday.

Call it ‘Drop the Puck’ week.

Truehl was hired as Middleton’s coach 18 months ago. In that time, though, he and the Cardinals have played just two games.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions last season, Middleton didn't begin its season until late January. The Cardinals played just one regular season game before losing to Reedsburg in the first round of the playoffs.

So imagine the excitement that swept through Middleton’s program last week when practice started and the Cardinals knew they’d have a full slate of games and practices over the next three—plus months.

Happy Hockey Day!!