Sports

Bring on Madison West.

Again.

Middleton’s hockey team rolled past DeForest, 11-0, in a WIAA regional semifinal Tuesday night. The Cardinals will now meet Madison West in a regional final Thursday at Madison Ice Arena at 8 p.m.

The Regents won both games against the Cardinals this season, including a 5-0 contest last Thursday. West also edged Middleton, 3-2, on Jan. 4.

If Middleton upends West this time, it would advance to the sectional semifinals on Feb. 25 against either Madison Edgewood or Waunakee.

“Overall if are going to heat up for playoffs we have to stay out of the box, come together as a team, and really come out and not be afraid to succeed and just play hockey,” Middleton interim coach Steffon Walby said.

The Cardinals certainly did those things against DeForest.

Senior forward Jordan Carey and sophomore forward Griffin Gussel both had two goals for the Cardinals. Middleton finished with a remarkable 78 shots on goal.

For two straight years, Middleton’s boys swimming has gone to the WIAA Division 1 state swimming meet and left with a fourth place finish.

When the Cardinals head back to the UW-Natatorium Saturday, they expect no slippage whatsoever.

Middleton suffered some heavy losses after last season. But the Cardinals have turned in another terrific year, and expect another strong showing at state.

The state diving competition begins at 10 a.m. and the swimming championships start at 3 p.m.

“Our team goal would definitely be top four at state,” Cardinals junior Rory Slattery said. “We've done it the last two years and I know we can do it again.”

Middleton senior Lars Haskins agreed.

“For our team, we've been fourth for the past two years and we would love to make it three years in a row,” Haskins said. “Everyone's excited and focused for this Saturday. It should be great!”

After a disappointing blowout loss to Verona, there were some big questions surrounding the Middleton boys’ basketball team.

Queries about things such as heart and toughness.

Well, any such questions should be put to rest after Middleton, playing with a chip on its shoulder, put together perhaps its finest all-around effort of the season en route to a 54-33 Big Eight Conference victory over second-place Sun Prairie last Saturday night.

“Coach (Kevin) Bavery through the week was talking about how people outside the team were questioning our heart and I think we took offense to that,” said senior forward Max Oelerich. “We played with great intensity the whole game.

“That’s basically the only thing (Bavery) wrote on the board at the beginning of the game was heart and circled it and that’s the key to the whole game. We really played with a lot of heart.”

It had been 50 days since Jeff Kind and Middleton’s girls basketball team felt this way.

And after the Cardinals dropped their first game in more than seven weeks — a 63-61 setback at Janesville Craig last Friday — Kind was certain of one thing.

“This is not a good feeling,” he said.

The good news for Middleton is that it can still reach all of its goals this season.

The Cardinals fell to 17-3 overall and 15-1 in the Big Eight Conference. Middleton leads second-place Verona (18-2, 14-2) by one game and can clinch at least a share of the conference title with a home win Thursday against Madison La Follette.

Middleton — which has won six of the last seven league titles — can also still capture an outright conference title by winning its final two games. And Kind — who heads to his postseason seeding meeting Sunday — is still in the driver’s seat for the No. 1 seed in his regional.

Call them the Dynamic Dozen.

Or perhaps the Terrific Twelve.

Oh yeah, and also call them sectional participants.

Middleton’s wrestlers enjoyed a terrific day at their own regional Saturday. The Cardinals finished second as a team and sent 12 of their 14 entries onto Saturday’s Waunakee Sectional, which begins at 10 a.m.

“I’m happy with that,” Middleton coach Kent Weiler said of qualifying 12 individuals for sectionals. “Every year we seem to get a few more through.

“Last year we had 10 and now we’re at 12. That makes us happy.”

Sauk Prairie won the meet with 248.5 points, while Middleton was second at 197.0. DeForest was third (180.0), followed by Waunakee (176.5), Madison West (115.0), Madison East (64.0) and Madison Memorial (3.0).

The top four finishers at regionals advanced to sectionals. Only the top two finishers at sectionals move on to the state tournament, while runs from Feb. 27-March 1.

It’s been an up and down campaign for Middleton’s girls gymnastics team.

A season filled with enough injuries to rival the Green Bay Packers.

But with the postseason here, the Cardinals are returning to full health. And now, Middleton plans to make its move.

The Cardinals will be at the Big Eight Conference meet Saturday. The event begins at 10 a.m. at Madison Memorial.

Middleton has won the last two conference championships, and has every intention of making it a three-peat.

“I think our conference has been much more competitive than we have seen in previous years,” Middleton third-year coach Kari Steck said. “But I think that (we) thrive off of that competitiveness. It helps push the girls to work harder, learn new skills, and make their routines more difficult.”

The Big Eight has been much improved this season, and the Cardinals will certainly be challenged at the conference meet.

Middleton’s boys basketball team received the No. 3 seed in its regional. The Cardinals (11-9 overall, 9-8 in the Big Eight) will open the postseason Feb. 28 when they host sixth-seeded Madison La Follette (10-11, 7-10) in a regional semifinal.

Madison Memorial (18-3, 16-1), which clinched its 11^th straight Big Eight Conference title earlier this week, is the regional’s No. 1 seed. Sun Prairie (13-8, 11-6) is the No. 2 seed, followed by Middleton, Madison West (10-10, 8-8), Verona (11-10, 8-9), Madison La Follette, Oconomowoc (8-12, 5-8 in the Little Ten), Madison East (6-15, 4-13) and Watertown (6-14, 4-9 Little Ten).

The regional finals will be held March 1. The sectional semifinals are March 6 in Verona and the sectional finals are March 8 in Burlington.

Their year has been filled with chaos and craziness.

There’s been enough drama for their own reality television show.

But with the postseason nearing, things inside Middleton’s hockey program have settled down nicely.

And now, the Cardinals have one overriding thought: Why not us?

“They always say, ‘Beware of the wounded animal,’ ” Middleton interim coach Steffon Walby said. “Well, that could be the Cardinal this year.”

Middleton won a pair of games last week, marking its first two-game winning streak since Dec. 7.

The Cardinals rolled past Madison La Follette/East, 16-1, last Tuesday. Middleton followed that with a 5-4 overtime win over Waunakee last Saturday, which was one of its most impressive victories of the season.

Middleton improved to 10-10-2 overall and moved into a third-place tie in the Big Eight Conference at 7-4-2.

Luke Schafer’s timing couldn’t have been better.

In a span of just 30 seconds, the senior guard converted a three-point play and then drilled a long-range three-pointer at the third quarter buzzer.

Schafer’s standout plays gave Middleton’s boys basketball team a six-point cushion and the Cardinals went on to notch a 67-59 victory over rival Madison West in a Big Eight Conference contest last Friday night.

Schafer’s buzzer-beater came after West’s Malik Clements missed a wild shot that went out of bounds with 3.8 seconds remaining.  Schafer took the inbounds pass and dribbled downcourt before pulling up several feet behind the 3-point line, leaning toward the basket and drilling the shot while being fouled by Ari Davis as the buzzer sounded.

Schafer missed the free throw, but Middleton took a 48-42 lead into the fourth quarter.