Sports

It’s been said that timing is everything.

And Middleton’s Home Talent League team picked the worst time to suffer its first loss of the 2022 season.

The 29ers — who were 16-0 throughout the regular season and playoffs — dropped a 5-2 decision to Verona in the first round of the HTL Final Four.

The game began in Middleton, but was stopped after two innings Sunday due to rain. The contest was then moved to Verona Monday night because Sorenson-Bakken Field had too water and Middleton High School doesn’t have lights due to the ongoing construction project.

“Going into the Final Four, we knew every game was going to be a battle and it opened that way with Verona,” Middleton manager Brandon Hellenbrand said. “We really had no other option than to go to Verona to get the game in. Not ideal considering it was our home game and we get to play on our field for a big game like this, but we had to adjust.”

Middleton trailed, 3-1, when the game was halted.

All good things come to an end, as the saying goes.

And for Josh Hinson and Brandon Scheidler, the end is near.

But the talented veterans on Middleton’s Home Talent League team are hoping to put a bow on top of their long careers with one more league championship, what would be the franchise’s 14th overall and first since 2013.

“I’ve been playing Middleton Home Talent since 2005,” Hinson said of his swan song that’s being made extra special by the fact the 29ers were 16-0 before suffering their first loss of the year Monday night. “It’s been a long road and it’s been fun. I want to go out on a good note and accomplish what we set out to do.”

Middleton played host to Verona (11-4) Sunday afternoon at Sorenson-Bakken Field in the opening game of the league’s three-weekend round-robin format championship series. With Verona leading 3-1 at the end of the second inning, though, rain came and forced the game to be suspended. 

They woke up at 5 a.m. Saturday.

They took a two-hour bus ride to Milwaukee.

And they left with a victory over one of the state’s elite teams.

That’s why Middleton’s girls tennis team was on cloud nine Saturday evening.

The Cardinals traveled to Divine Savior Holy Angels — last year’s WIAA Division 1 state runners-up — and toppled the Dashers, 4-3.

“It was a true state quality dual from all positions,” Middleton coach Matt Given said. “To play a team as highly talented as DSHA, and come away with a win is unreal.”

Middleton won three of four singles flights, which proved key.

Sonya Agapov, the Cardinals’ No. 2 singles player, toppled Madi Guillermo, 6-2, 7-6 (6). Lydia Sabat edged Saylor Masters, 6-2, 2-6, 10-4 at No. 3 singles.

And at No. 4, Middleton’s Sophie Shi downed DSHA’s Megan Schraufnagel, 6-4, 6-3.

Middleton’s girls swimming team kicked off its season in style with a 138-32 win over Beloit Memorial on Aug. 26.

The Cardinals recorded the top three finishes in 10 of 11 events and cruised to the win.

“The Beloit meet went well,” Middleton coach R.J. Leiferman said. “It was good to see our freshmen race for the first time, and a great way for our returning athletes to get used to racing again.”

Here’s a recap of Middleton’s top performances:

• 200-yard medley relay — The foursome of senior Emma Kleine, sophomore Hannah Machleidt, sophomore Isabell Frommelt and freshman Sulia Miller won the race. The quartet of sophomore Sophia Lee, sophomore Poppy Wedding, senior Eva Anagnostopolous and senior Taylor Carbon was second, while the team of sophomore Maddie Dorris, senior Anna Reihl, freshman Aoife Ryan-Keiser and senior Lainie Laszewski was third.

If first impressions are indeed the most telling, Middleton’s boys soccer team should be awfully excited about what’s in store for the next two months.

The Cardinals rolled past visiting Monona Grove, 3-0, in the season-opener for both sides last Thursday.

“A good result for our opening match,” Middleton coach Kevin Pauls said. “We were happy with our intensity in the first half.”

With good reason.

Middleton jumped on the Silver Eagles early, scoring twice in the first 17 minutes.

In the 12^th minute, sophomore Tony Murphy scored on a feed from senior Dom Campos to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

“Tony showed his desire to score as he battled his way through the middle of the box against multiple defenders and went to the ground to get his last touch on the ball to go by their keeper,” Pauls said.

The end result wasn’t what they hoped for.

But Middleton’s boys volleyball team learned last week they can play with anyone — and everyone — in the state.

The Cardinals traveled to Hartland Arrowhead and gave two of the state’s elite programs all they could handle before eventually falling short.

Host Arrowhead — which reached the state semifinals last year — defeated Middleton 18-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, 23-21 in a thrilling match.

Marquette — the defending state champions — then edged the Cardinals, 20-25, 25-19, 23-25, 27-25, 15-11.

Middleton head coach Rob Kleinschmidt was sidelined with COVID, so assistant Dylan Griffith coached the Cardinals.

“Thursday was a great night where we played two really tough opponents,” Griffith said. “It was some great competition to start the season.”

Of all the possible ways for the Middleton 29ers’ perfect season to come to an end, the odds of it happening in blowout fashion as the top seed in the Home Talent League’s Northern Section playoffs were pretty low.

But there the 29ers were, trailing Waunakee by 10 runs after the top of the fifth inning in Sunday afternoon’s section championship game at Sorenson-Bakken Field.  

That longshot suddenly seemed all-too-likely.

And so begins the story of how the 29ers, winners of 14 HTL championships since their inception way back in the league’s first year in 1929, pulled off one of the most improbable wins in team history.

But first the ending. 

Brennan Schmitt’s solo homer to right-center field — his second dinger of the contest — to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning tied the game and Matt Zimmerman’s sacrifice fly to right-center punctuated it, plating pinch runner Stephen Paulson for a 12-11, walk-off victory.

There was no mystery.

There were no secrets.

Middleton football coach Jason Pertzborn knew exactly what he was getting when he scheduled mighty Bay Port for the Cardinals’ 2022 season-opener.

“A game against those guys is big boy football,” Pertzborn said. “You’ve got to show up to play. If you don’t, they’ll make you pay.”

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, that’s just what happened at Otto Breitenbach Stadium on Aug. 18.

Bay Port dominated on both sides of the ball, outgained host Middleton 487-232, and toppled the Cardinals, 38-21, in the season-opener for both teams.

“We play a game like this so that our young guys can see what it’s like to play big boy football,” Pertzborn said. “As I told the team at the end, you just saw big boy football. There’s no slow playing into this.”

Six of their top-10 runners are gone.

Lauren Pansegrau, one of the finest runners in school history, has taken her immense talents to the University of Michigan.

Inside Middleton’s girls cross country program, though, one in which the Cardinals have captured back-to-back WIAA Division 1 state titles, the goals and aspirations haven’t changed one bit.

“Our big picture goals are to win conference and get to state,” Middleton coach Alexa Richardson said. “We have work to do, but I don't think either of those are out of the question as long as we keep up our strength training and injury prevention.”

Middleton has had one of Wisconsin’s top programs for three decades now, qualifying for the state tournament 14 times since 1995 and winning six state titles in that time. But Richardson has helped take the Cardinals to the sport’s pinnacle in recent seasons.

A perfect 10.

A decade of dominance.

Those are the goals inside Middleton’s boys cross country program.

The Cardinals have reached the WIAA Division 1 state meet nine consecutive years, one of the longest streaks in state history. In that time, the bar has been raised remarkably high throughout the program.

And now, no one wants to be the part of the group that ends “The Streak.” Middleton will aim to continue its remarkable run of success when it begins its new season Saturday at the Hartland Arrowhead Invite.

“For us, it's really been a culture shift and understanding of how to train and embrace the team,” said Middleton coach Brian Finnel, the architect of the Cardinals’ success. “Over the years each new group of upperclassmen sets the tone of expectations and it has just continued to carry over the years.