Sports

The third time proved to be a charm for Sam Pilof.

Pilof, a junior linebacker at Middleton High School, took an unofficial recruiting visit to the Rutgers University campus in Piscataway, N.J. this past weekend.

On Saturday, Pilof took a big weight off of his shoulders when he verbally committed to head coach Greg Schiano to play football for the Scarlet Knights as a member of the 2024 recruiting class.

“It feels great. It’s hard to explain,” Pilof, said during a phone call on Sunday before he returned home. “Now I can just focus on my senior season and try and improve myself.”

After trimming his list of suitors to three, including the University of Wisconsin and Penn State University, Pilof said that he was prepared to make a decision during his third trip to the Rutgers’ campus.

He didn’t hesitate when asked ‘Why Rutgers?’

Five all-conference players return.

A gifted senior class will lead them.

And there are newcomers ready to step into key roles.

So despite playing in one of the state’s toughest conferences and sectionals, hopes will be extremely high for Middleton’s girls soccer team this spring.

“To say going to state isn’t always on my mind, I would be lying,” said Middleton coach Mary Duffy, whose team begins its new season Friday against Hudson at Otto Breitenbach Stadium at 7 p.m. “It is there. However, as I have gotten older, I realize how important these 2 ½ months are in other aspects of life.

“I hope for a season that they are proud of, a season where they came together with a group of players, fought for each other, to know that their teammate has their back, left everything on the field for themselves and for their teammates.”

Middleton has been awfully good in those areas throughout Duffy’s tenure. And she expects this spring to be similar.

Following a successful season-opening, sun-splashed spring trip to Florida, Middleton’s baseball team came up empty in their home opener on a cool and cloudy Saturday afternoon.

Junior right-hander Cashton Jones and senior left-hander Avery White combined to toss seven shutout innings to help Madison Memorial blank host Middleton 3-0 in a Big Eight Conference season-opening matchup for both teams.

Jones threw 82 pitches, 51 for strikes, in six innings, allowing just two singles and a walk with four strikeouts.

Middleton, which scored 17 runs in a pair of victories on its spring trip, could only manage an infield single from senior catcher Wyatt Baird to open the second inning and a two-out single from senior designated hitter Hayden Hellenbrand in the third inning.

Middleton senior Gavyn Hurley was named to the first-team of the The Associated Press’ All-State boys basketball team.

Hurley was previously named first-team all-state in Division 1 by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. The AP All-State team encompasses all five divisions.

Hurley was named the Big Eight Conference’s Player of the Year for a second straight season, as was also named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Hurley became the first player since Sun Prairie’s Nick Fuller (2012-2013) to win back-to-back Player of the Year honors.

“Not only was he first team, but he was the Player of the Year again,” Middleton coach Kevin Bavery said of Hurley. “And that’s not anything you take lightly.

“He’s better in all phases of the game than he was last year. He’s arguably the best player I’ve ever coached — right up there with three or four other people. The league saw Gavyn that way. He clearly earned it.”

Decisions, decisions.

That’s what Middleton boys golf coach Tom Cabalka will face early and often this season.

The Cardinals bring back four golfers from a group that finished sixth at the WIAA Division 1 state tournament. Fifteen of Middleton’s top-17 golfers from last spring are back.

And the Cardinals welcome what could eventually become the finest freshman class in school history.

Now, the challenge for Cabalka is to pick five to go to battle with each time out.

“The competition to break into the top-five should be very good,” Cabalka said. “Much depends on how much they worked on their game since last season. I would think that a number of them will have chances during the season in varsity matches to crack the top-five.”

Juniors Dain Johnson and Charlie Jambor will be staples in the lineup.

Eight of the players that started in Middleton’s WIAA Division 1 sectional semifinal last June have graduated.

Seven of those players earned all-conference honors and helped the Cardinals post an impressive 19-9 season.

But even though Middleton has holes to fill all over the diamond and will be one of the Big Eight Conference’s most inexperienced teams, expectations don’t change.

That’s why Cardinals manager Brent Jorgensen is cautiously optimistic his team can produce another solid season.

“I believe very strongly that the expectation of our program is to reload,” said Jorgensen, now in his fifth year as the Cardinals’ skipper. “Our preparation and standards remain the same from year to year and we have a large senior class that can help us meet these expectations. However, many of the players on this year's team are unproven in consistent varsity competition, so there will be a bit of a learning curve for everyone.”

Henry Johnson understands he’s walking into what could be a historic situation.

Johnson is Middleton’s first year boys tennis coach. And the Cardinals have never won a WIAA Division 1 state championship.

But if things go according to plan, Johnson and the Cardinals could be hoisting a gold ball in June for the first time ever.

Middleton returns six players from last year’s team that reached the state semifinals. And many believe the Cardinals will be the team to beat this spring.

“This team can certainly make a run at the state trophy this season,” Johnson said. “We just can't let the hype around that overtake our discipline and identity.”

Johnson grew up in Fairfield, Ct., where he was a four-year standout at Fairfield Warde High School and an all-state performer as a senior. He played collegiately at Grinnell (Iowa) College and began coaching in the summers during that time.

Middleton High School is back to square one in its search for a new head football coach.

Brian Hellenbrand, the defensive coordinator at McFarland High School and a 2005 MHS graduate, was offered the position on March 24. After taking the weekend to think about the offer, Hellenbrand declined the position on March 28.

“It's disappointing,” Middleton athletic director Jamie Sims said Thursday. “We thought it was a done deal.”

Hellenbrand and Greg Spahn — the head coach at Grand Rapids (Minn.) High School — emerged as the top two candidates from a pool of 18 applicants.

The two finalists met with Sims, assistant A.D. Brad Crandall and principal Peg Shoemaker on March 22 and Hellenbrand was offered the job two days later.

Hellenbrand has never been a head coach, but has been an assistant coach in the Madison-area since 2012. Before that, he spent a year as a student coach at UW-La Crosse.

Everywhere I went this winter, I noticed it.

Bob Suter Court at Janesville Craig.

Craig Haase Court over at Hartland Arrowhead.

Even Ab Nicholas Court at the UW Kohl Center.

In many gyms across the state, the court is named after a great coach — or someone integral in getting that facility built.

Middleton High School’s court isn’t named after anybody. But it should be.

No individual meant more to the growth of basketball in Middleton — especially the girls’ games — as Jeff Kind did.

Kind, Middleton’s girls coach from 1993-2022, was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2018. He compiled a remarkable 578-256 career record and is the sixth-winningest girls coach in state history.

Middleton senior point guard Gavyn Hurley was named first-team all-state by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association in Division 1.

Hurley was named the Big Eight Conference’s Player of the Year for a second straight season, as was also named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Hurley became the first player since Sun Prairie’s Nick Fuller (2012-2013) to win back-to-back Player of the Year honors.

“Not only was he first team, but he was the Player of the Year again,” Middleton coach Kevin Bavery said of Hurley. “And that’s not anything you take lightly.

“He’s better in all phases of the game than he was last year. He’s arguably the best player I’ve ever coached — right up there with three or four other people. The league saw Gavyn that way. He clearly earned it.”