Sports

The word drought didn’t sit well with the head coach.

But whatever you choose to call it, Franco Marcos is ready for it to end.

Marcos, who coaches Middleton’s girls volleyball team, has built one of the state’s top programs. But the Cardinals have gone five straight seasons without a trip to the WIAA Division 1 state tournament.

The way Marcos sees it, there’s no time like the present.

“I think that this group could get us back to state this year,” said Marcos, whose team begins the season Saturday at the Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln Invite. “We have had a pattern of going to state for two consecutive and reloading for six. Following that trend would indicate that these next two years should be our time again. We are working to make it happen.”

Tanner Meinholz spent the early part of the season on the bench, biding his time and waiting to play for defending Home Talent League champion Ashton.

On Sunday, Meinholz delivered a clutch hit when Ashton needed him the most.

Meinholz lined a two-out, two-run single to center field in the top of the ninth inning to help rally Ashton to a 5-3 victory over host Middleton in an HTL Northern Sectional championship game at Sorrenson-Bakken Field.

The victory sent Ashton (13-6) into in the league’s Final Four round-robin championship series next Sunday at Monona.

“Tanner was a guy who didn’t play in the beginning of the year, but we had some guys getting hurt and some who couldn’t play anymore,” said Shane Adler, who started in center field but pitched the final four innings to pick up the victory for Ashton. “Tanner stepped up and has been doing a heck of a job in the middle of our lineup. It’s awesome to see him have success.”

Middleton’s girls tennis team went 3-2 at the two-day, 10-team Milwaukee Madison Challenge last weekend.

The Cardinals defeated Whitefish Bay and Kettle Moraine by 4-3 scores, and toppled Oak Creek, 6-1. Middleton also lost to Homestead, 5-2, and dropped a 6-1 decision to Hartland Arrowhead.

“We lost six seniors, but gained a couple of freshman and one sophomore from Utah,” Middleton senior Abbey Webber said. “We're still trying to figure out our lineup, working out a few kinks. But so far I'm impressed with what our team has to offer.”

 In Middleton’s win over Oak Creek, senior Kaisey Skibba notched a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles. Junior Ally Hujanen earned a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles and junior Shanna Wiegand posted a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles.

The wind was downright brutal, gusting up to 30 miles an hour at times.

The temperatures made it feel more like October than August.

But none of that stopped Middleton’s girls golf team on Monday.

The Cardinals bested a star-studded field and won the 17-team Waunakee Invite held at The Meadows of Sixmile Creek.

Middleton carded a 344-team score and edged Verona by three shots for the team title. Top-ranked Hartland Arrowhead was third at 351, while Monona Grove (385) and Oregon (388) rounded out the top five.

“Scores were definitely higher today because of the brutal conditions out there,” Middleton coach Becky Halverson said. “I told the girls on the way there that it was going to be a mental game playing in that wind. The team that was the most mentally tough was going to come out on top and I was pleasantly surprised that it was us.”

JANESVILLE — Tim Simon watched his Middleton football team struggle for 2 ½ hours Friday night.

Simon barked at his Cardinals for 15 minutes after their work had ended, then spent another 10 minutes discussing the frustrating effort with the media.

But as Simon stood in the middle of Monterey Stadium, with the lights shining off the Rock River, he seemed to have a moment of clarity.

“It was an ugly win,” Simon said. “But it’s better than an ugly loss.”

That’s for sure.

The Cardinals certainly didn’t win any style points in their 21-19 victory over host Janesville Parker. But Middleton did win its season-opener, and really that’s all that mattered.

The Cardinals committed two turnovers, had 90 yards of penalties and had far too many mental breakdowns. In the end, though, Middleton escaped and defeated Parker for the ninth straight time.

Twelve months ago, they were ignored, overlooked, and many believed disrespected.

Today, it’s exactly the opposite.

Middleton’s football team — which begins the year Friday at Janesville Parker at 7 p.m. — has been picked to win the Big Eight Conference. And Cardinals head coach Tim Simon, who’s beginning his 12^th season, is just fine being the hunted instead of the hunter.

“Things are a little bit different when you’re the team everyone is gunning for,” said Simon, who led the 2014 Cardinals to the Big Eight Conference championship. “But our kids are aware of the tradition here, what it takes to be successful.”

Middleton has certainly been successful during Simon’s tenure.

The Cardinals have reached the postseason each of Simon’s 11 seasons. In all, Middleton has reached the playoffs 19 straight years, which is tied for the longest streak in Division 1.

Tom Cabalka knows he may never have another a defense like the one he enjoyed in 2014.

Cabalka, Middleton’s defensive coordinator and a member of the Cardinals’ staff for nearly four decades now, fielded one of the state’s top defenses a year ago. And after that unit allowed just 7.1 points per game in the regular season and 9.2 points overall, Cabalka called it the best defense he’d ever coached.

“They were pretty amazing,” Cabalka said.

They sure were. But gone are 10 players that earned some form of all-Big Eight Conference honors, including first-team all-state cornerback Alex Wood and first-team all-conference defensive linemen Nikko Miller and Alex Wills, linebacker Hayden Denson and linebacker Brian Chapman.

The lone returning starter is junior safety Joe Ludwig, one of the top players in Wisconsin in the Class of 2017. So Cabalka knows there’s a lot of work to be done for his group to play at a high level early in the season.

Their big hitters were at their best.

Their standout pitcher was brilliant when he had to be.

And now, Middleton’s Home Talent League team is one win away from the Final Four.

Middleton rolled past Richland Center, 8-1, Sunday, in a Northern Section second round playoff matchup. Middleton now hosts Ashton Sunday at 1 p.m. for the Northern Section title and a spot in the Final Four.

“It should be a great game between two really good teams,” said Middleton manager Brandon Hellenbrand, whose team split a pair of games with Ashton this season.

Middleton’s offense was terrific Sunday, with its top-five hitters going a combined 10-for-20.

Josh Hinson went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI, while Kevin Dubler went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI. Ross Hellenbrand and Brandon Scheidler each finished 2-for-4 with an RBI. 

In all, Middleton finished the day with three doubles, a triple and two home runs.

MENOMONEE FALLS — The overall numbers were impressive.

The top of the lineup was sublime. The others held their own.

But in the first week of the season, Middleton’s girls golf team also discovered that the rest of the state just might be better than anticipated. And that could make the Cardinals’ quest for a state title even tougher than first imagined.

Middleton finished second at the 19-team Madison Edgewood Invite held at Yahara Hills last Friday. The Cardinals then placed third at the two-day, 23-team Brookfield Central-Homestead Classic held Monday and Tuesday.

While most teams would have been thrilled with the start, these Cardinals have extremely high aspirations this fall and are gunning for the top of every event they enter.

“It’s a good start, but we still have a lot of work to do,” Middleton coach Becky Halverson said. “We have a lot of lofty goals, so we definitely have to keep improving.”

Their season hadn’t even begun. And already the highlights were coming.

Loren Skibba, Middleton’s brilliant girls golfer, popped up on ESPN’s top plays last week after she drained a bunker shot at the Junior PGA Championships.

“I just got lucky that the cameramen were there for that shot,” said Skibba, a senior. “It was super cool and the whole experience was awesome.”

Many believe there are countless highlights still to come.

Middleton finished third at the WIAA Division 1 state meet last season. Along the way, Skibba became just the second golfer in school history to win an individual state title.

Now, with five of their top six players back from a year ago, the Cardinals will be gunning for gold when the season begins Friday at the Madison Invite at Yahara Hills. Middleton began the season ranked No. 2 in the first Golf Coaches Association of Wisconsin poll of the season.