Sports

The drought lasted 6 minutes, 37 seconds.

And when it ended, Middleton’s Big Eight Conference title hopes had vanished.

Verona used a 9-0 run that spanned the majority of the fourth quarter and toppled the host Cardinals, 52-49, in a Big Eight Conference showdown Tuesday night.

Middleton fell to 15-4 overall and 12-3 in the conference. That left the Cardinals two games behind league-leader Janesville Craig (17-2, 14-1) with just three conference games remaining.

Verona (17-2, 13-2) pushed its winning streak to 15 games and stayed in the hunt for a league title.

“We had opportunities and made some stops, then we turned it over or missed some shots,” Middleton coach Jeff Kind said of the rough ending. “And we just got a little bit tired. You could tell our legs were starting to get tired because we had some open looks on some threes and just couldn’t make them.”

They have exceeded all expectations — except perhaps their own.

They have a Big Eight Conference championship on their résumé and haven’t lost in their last nine outings.

And now, Middleton’s hockey team also has the No. 1 seed in its sectional. The Cardinals earned a first round bye, then host the winner of No. 8 Oregon and No. 9 Sun Prairie in a regional final Feb. 20 at 8 p.m. inside Capitol Ice Arena.

The sectional semifinals are Feb. 24 and the sectional final is Feb. 28.

“Our sectional is extremely difficult and certainly one of the strongest, if not the strongest in the state,” Middleton coach Steffon Walby said.

Madison Memorial is the No. 2 seed, followed by Madison Edgewood, Madison West, Verona, Monona Grove, Waunakee, Oregon, Sun Prairie, McFarland, DeForest and Madison La Follette/East.

All eyes were on Sean Benedict.

And Middleton’s senior heavyweight was just fine with the extra attention.

The Big Eight Conference wrestling tournament came down to the heavyweight division Saturday at Beloit Memorial High School. And Benedict delivered a memorable performance — for both himself and the Cardinals.

Benedict won the heavyweight division, and that vaulted Middleton past Verona and gave the Cardinals the conference championship.

Middleton finished with 236.5 points and edged runner-up Verona (232) for the title. Janesville Craig (224), Sun Prairie (218) and Madison La Follette (193) rounded out the top five.

“The weight of the team was riding on my back,” Benedict said. “Winning the title is something I will remember for a lifetime.”

So will the rest of the Cardinals.

Middleton had a somewhat uneven performance during the regular season. But the Cardinals picked the perfect time to have their best meet of the year.

Bring on Madison Memorial.

That’s how Middleton’s boys basketball team was feeling late Friday night following an impressive 58-52 win over Sun Prairie.

Middleton improved to 13-4 overall and 10-3 in the Big Eight Conference. The win kept Middleton within ½-game of league leaders Madison Memorial and Madison East, and set up a monster game Thursday when the Spartans come to Middleton at 7:30.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Middleton sophomore guard C.J. Fermanich, whose team was routed by the Spartans, 73-46, on Jan. 3. “I think we’re a better team than the first time we played them, so we’ll see.”

Middleton coach Kevin Bavery agreed.

“We’re coming off two pretty big wins a row right now, and I think we’re about as confident as we can be,” Bavery said. “We’ve obviously got to play much better than the first time we saw them, but I think we will.”

His eventual school of choice was just 10 minutes down the street.

But over the last year or two, Middleton senior tight end Mitchell Herl was looking wide and far.

Setting up shop on Monroe Street wasn’t always in the plan.

“I think I kind of always took the UW for granted,” Herl said. “But through this process, I really learned to appreciate everything they have to offer and how great of a school it is.”

And now, it’s a school Herl is about to call home.

Herl, a first-team all-state selection by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, signed a letter of intent to be a preferred walk-on with the Badgers beginning this fall. Herl will almost certainly redshirt in 2015, and then will have four years of eligibility remaining.

They are now in select company. In extremely rarified air.

Middleton’s hockey team captured the outright Big Eight Conference title last week.

The 2010-11 Cardinals were the only other Middleton team to accomplish that feat, and that group eventually reached the WIAA Division 1 state championship game.

Can the 2014-15 Cardinals do the same? Right now, it appears anything is possible.

“Claiming that title was a spectacular feeling for our guys,” Middleton junior forward Casey Harper said. “But as a team, we’re not settling with just that. Now, we are going to check off one goal, and set our sights on the next.”

Junior forward Nolan Kouba agreed.

“Winning the conference championship means a ton to us,” Kouba said. “It was one of the goals we highlighted at the beginning of the season, so to achieve that is an awesome feeling.

Storm Murphy stands just 5-foot-9.

He’s perhaps 140 pounds — soaking wet.

Storm Murphy will never be the biggest player on the basketball court. But Middleton’s sophomore guard made arguably the biggest play of the Cardinals’ season last Saturday night.

Murphy hit a driving lay-up as time expired to lift host Middleton to a stirring and much-needed 65-63 win over Madison La Follette.

“I have had a few game winners in the past, some in AAU and some in middle school for Middleton Basketball Club,” said Murphy, who finished with 11 points. “Those moments felt amazing, and so did this one.”

With good reason.

The Cardinals were routed by Madison East just 48 hours earlier and needed a bounce-back win. Middleton received exactly that and stayed in the hunt for a Big Eight Conference title.

Madison Memorial and Madison East are tied for the top spot in the conference at 10-3. Middleton improved to 9-3 in the league and 12-4 overall.

Middleton High School will host two Alzheimer’s Awareness nights during basketball games on Feb. 4 and 5.

Middleton’s girls will host Sun Prairie Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Middleton’s boys will then host Sun Prairie Friday at 7:30 p.m.

It will be an extremely meaningful night for the Boyle family of Middleton.

John Boyle was Middleton’s boys basketball coach from 1991-2006 and led the Cardinals to the 1998 WIAA Division 1 state tournament. His wife, Mary, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2010 at the age of 57.

Haley Boyle, the couple’s oldest daughter, will talk about Alzheimer’s during halftime of Friday’s game. Danny Boyle (Class of 2001) and Tone Boyle (2006) — former standouts at Middleton — will also be in attendance.

John Boyle will also be doing color commentary on Friday’s game for Channel 3000’s “Game of the Week.”

It was 9:30 on Thursday evening.

The lights inside the Madison East gymnasium had already been turned off — then restarted. Aside from a few stragglers, the place was now empty.

One floor below, though, Middleton coach Kevin Bavery was still going strong. Nearly 30 minutes after the host Purgolders had manhandled the Cardinals, 64-48, Bavery was still giving his team an earful.

“He really wasn’t mad,” Middleton senior guard Kellan Schulz said of Bavery. “He tried to put it on a real level with us.

“He said, ‘I don’t know if they’re just flat out better than us,’ and guys were shaking their heads like, ‘No.’

“But we obviously got out-toughed. All the offensive rebounds were absolutely inexcusable. Beating us up the sideline. I mean, there’s things we’re good at. We have the energy, but I think it was effort.”

Whatever it was, it wasn’t pretty.

Dreamlike. Fantastic. Unreal.

This is how Colin Butler and the rest of Middleton’s hockey team felt last Saturday night.

Butler scored arguably the Cardinals’ biggest goal of the year. The sophomore forward corralled a rebound and beat Verona goalie Nathan Cleghorn at 5:10 in overtime to lift Middleton to a wild 3-2 win over the host Wildcats.

Middleton improved to 13-3-1 with the dramatic win. The Cardinals also improved to 10-1 in the Big Eight Conference and hold a two-game lead over Madison Memorial (8-3, 13-5) with three games remaining.

“We have had some other big games and big goals this year, but this one was really surreal,” Butler said. “And it was an amazing feeling to get a huge win with those guys.