Sports

Few members of the Middleton boys basketball community have seen more than Jerry Raffel.

Raffel, the Cardinals’ top assistant coach, joined the great John Boyle’s staff in 1991. He stayed on board when Kevin Bavery replaced a retiring Boyle in 2006.

Now, set to begin his 26^th season inside the Middleton program, Raffel is a walking expert in modern history.

So when Raffel offers up the following opinion, you listen. Closely.

“The buzz we have right now, we didn’t have that in ’98 until we were three-quarters of the way through the season,” Raffel said, referring to the last Middleton team that reached the state tournament. “Right now, I’ve never seen a more energized team than this. And this group is every bit as good as that ’98 team was. It’s really exciting.”

And how.

The night before Middleton’s first practice, Bavery was getting texts from current and former players that were giddy about the start of this journey.

Twelve months ago, Middleton’s girls basketball coach Jeff Kind stood in the school’s gymnasium and said, “If Verona’s ever going to win (state), it will be this year.”

The Wildcats then made Kind looked Nostradamus and captured the WIAA Division 1 state championship in March.

During that same conversation, Kind also said, “If we’re ever going to win it, it will be the next year.”

Well, that year is here and it begins when the Cardinals head to Madison Memorial Friday for a 7:30 p.m. contest. Now, Kind hopes his prognosticating skills are as strong as they were a year ago.

Kind brings back arguably the finest team he’s had in 24 years of coaching at Middleton. And considering Kind has guided nine teams to state and has been second at state three times, that’s saying something.

“This is the year,” Middleton junior forward Halle White said. “This is definitely the year. We all think that.”

With good reason.

They came in as the favorites and left as champions.

Middleton capped a dream season by claiming its first WIAA Division 1 state girls swimming and diving championship at the University of Wisconsin Natatorium last Saturday night.

“We said in the beginning of the season, this was our main goal — state,” said freshman Gabriela Pierobon Mays. “We knew we could do it.

“Last year, they blew it out of the park and got second. We definitely thought we had a shot at this and then it actually coming true is just surreal. There’s no words to describe how awesome it is. It hasn’t sunk in yet.”

Middleton totaled 265 points behind a first-place finish by Pierobon Mays in the 100-yard butterfly and winning performances by the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

MILWAUKEE — If there is a curse surrounding Middleton’s boys volleyball team at the state tournament, it’s going to have to last one more year.

For the fourth straight year and fifth straight state-tournament appearance, Middleton was sent home in the quarterfinal round, falling to a talent-rich Catholic Memorial squad Friday at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee, 25-23, 25-27, 25-17, 25-20. The Cardinals finished the season at 30-10.

“For me to complain or whine, there are going to be teams saying, ‘We'd love to go four years in a row,’ ” Middleton coach Ben White said. “It's great we've created a culture and expectation that we're going to state.

Maybe, just maybe this is the year.

Middleton’s girls swimming and diving team is about to find out.

The Cardinals won the Middleton Sectional last Saturday with 377 points, edging runner-up Verona-Mount Horeb (363). Madison Memorial (270), Madison West (261) and Sun Prairie (235) rounded out the top five.

Now, Middleton will take aim at the first state title in school history. The state meet begins Saturday at 3 p.m. at the UW Natatorium.

If seedings from sectionals hold firm, Middleton would win the state title in a narrow race over two-time defending state champion Hartland Arrowhead and Verona-Mount Horeb. But Cardinals coach Lauren Cabalka knows full well there’s a major difference between sectionals and state.

“Being seeded first, really doesn't mean much in this sport,” Cabalka said. “So much can happen from sectionals to state. You never know who was tapered from each team and what relay combinations they will put forward. 

LAKE GENEVA — The six-year drought was frustrating, aggravating and vexing all at once. Now that’s it’s over, Middleton’s football program hopes 2016 proves to be the first step towards bigger and better.

The Cardinals — one of the state’s elite programs — had failed to reach Level 3 of the postseason since 2010. Middleton ended that nasty streak this fall with dramatic playoff wins over Madison La Follette and Oconomowoc.

And while Middleton’s season came to an end last Friday with a 28-7 loss to host Lake Geneva Badger, the Cardinals made major strides during their playoff run. Now, Middleton coach Tim Simon wants to make that level of success the norm.

“What we want to do is consistently make it to the quarterfinals,” Simon said. “If you can consistently get into the quarterfinals, you’re going to have a chance to pop through.

In the late stages of any season, execution is vital.

For the Middleton’s boys volleyball team, proper execution meant a trip to state last Thursday.

The top-seeded Cardinals delivered and punched their ticket to the Milwaukee, defeating second-seeded Mukwonago, 25-12, 25-20, 25-19, in a WIAA sectional dinal held at Middleton High School.

Middleton advanced to the state tournament, which will be held Nov. 11-12 at Wisconsin Lutheran College. The Cardinals open with state quarterfinal match against Waukesha Catholic Memorial Nov. 11 at 5:30 p.m.

Middleton qualified for state for the fourth straight year and the ninth time since 2002.

The Cardinals played fundamentally sound against Mukwonago, recording only four service errors and controlling the net throughout the night.

MILWAUKEE — Middleton boys soccer standout Bradan Allen called it “dumb luck.”

Cardinals coach Ben Kollasch chose the term “odd luck.”

Tomayto. Tomahto.

No matter how you slice it, Middleton didn’t catch many breaks in its WIAA Division 1 state semifinal against Green Bay Preble Thursday. And when the Cardinals did have opportunities, they failed to capitalize.

The result was a 2-1 loss to Green Bay Preble in a thrilling, highly-competitive contest played on a gorgeous November afternoon. Hornets senior defender Cameron Bosacki scored the game-winner in the 99^th minute when Middleton couldn’t clear a corner kick.

“I would love to give them credit, but there was some dumb luck involved,” Allen said. “They’re a great team. Don’t get me wrong. But we should have won that game. We had a lot of chances.”

This wasn’t about revenge.

It was about redemption.

And who better than C.J. Fermanich to play the central character in one of Middleton’s most memorable games in years.

Fermanich had a 47-yard kickoff return, then caught a 15-yard, game-winning touchdown pass with 27 seconds left to lift Middleton to a 22-17 win over Madison La Follette in the second round of the WIAA Division 1 playoffs last Friday. And for Fermanich, as much as anyone, this was about atonement.

When these same teams met on Sept. 30, Fermanich sat out the game due to an athletic code violation — one of several Cardinals who missed time due to that infringement. That night, the Lancers rallied past Middleton, 13-12, in a game that cost the Cardinals a share of the Big Eight Conference title.

This time, Fermanich had a chance to alter the outcome — and he made the most if it.

Survive and advance.

That’s really all that matters at this time of year.

And Middleton’s girls volleyball team is proof of that.

The fourth-seeded Cardinals edged 13^th-seeded Madison La Follette, 25-10, 25-23, 20-25, 27-29, 21-19 in a WIAA Division 1 regional semifinal last Thursday.

Middleton was then much sharper in its regional final last Saturday and toppled La Crosse Central, 25-18, 25-11, 25-18.

Middleton now hosts top-seeded Sun Prairie in a sectional semifinal Thursday at 5 p.m. The winner advances to the sectional final against either second-seeded Waunakee or third-seeded Monona Grove Saturday at 7 p.m. in Verona.