By John Raffel
MaxPreps.com
Wautoma/Faith Christian senior Jared Abbrederis won a state championship in track last spring.
Now he has a football championship to go with it.
Abbrederis was dominant in leading the Hornets to their first state championship with a 20-0 victory over Big Foot in the Division 4 title game last weekend. Wautoma/Faith Christian ended the season at 14-0.
At quarterback, Abbrederis ran for one touchdown and threw for another. As a defensive back, he intercepted two second-half passes to frustrate the Big Foot offense.
“We knew we had the opportunity,” Abbrederis said. “We worked really hard and we knew we had a good group of seniors. We knew we could make it to state and win it all.
“Defensively, it was our best game. Offensively, we put up 46 points at our Homecoming game before the first half. We've had better offensive games.”
Thanks in part to Abbrederis, Wautoma/Faith Christian (14-0) registered 11 tackles for loss and limited Big Foot (12-2) to 18 yards rushing, a Division 4 championship game record.
“We got to level three last year and we were playing a lot of juniors,” Wautoma/Faith Christian coach Dennis Moon said. “With all of those guys coming back, we thought we could at least go to another level or maybe to the state finals. That's what happened.
“We played really solid run defense all year. I believe only one team rushed for more than 100 yards on our starters. Our run defense was good all year and carried over into the playoffs. We played three run-oriented teams in the playoffs. We did really well against them.”
Big Foot had just 34 yards of total offense until its final drive, which went 75 yards before Abbrederis got the interception.
He scored on a 9-yard option keeper in the first half and had a 5-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
Abbrederis also considers himself a quarterback of sorts on defense.
“I lead the defensive backs on which guys we have to cover. I try to be a leader on defense,” he said.
Abbrederis said he hopes to be involved in college sports either for football or track. He's gotten interest in track from Division I schools and in football from Division II teams. If he has the chance to do both sports, he said he'll take advantage of it.
“I wouldn't mind focusing on one if necessary,” he said.
His best track events are the hurdles. Last season, he was first in the state in the 110s and second in the 300s in Division 2.
“He's very elusive,” Moon said. “He has great vision. He finishes off his runs. He's so strong. He's a hard kid to bring down. That and his speed and elusiveness make him one heck of a football player.”
Division 5 Championship
Senior running back Adam Esselman had a big game in the Division 5 finals, leading Colby over Cedar Grove-Belgium 42-13. Esselman had 157 yards on 19 carries for the champions, who ended the season at 14-0
Colby started out with a 35-0 lead.
Brandon Garcia of the Rockets ran for more than 2,000 yards during the season, but the Colby defense limited Cedar Grove-Belgium to 84 yards rushing (2.3 yards per carry) and 223 yards overall.
Garcia had 52 yards and a touchdown.
It was the first state title for Colby since winning Division 4 in 1998.
“Once we finished our regular season, we were confident going into the playoffs,” Colby coach Jeff Rosemeyer said. “The offensive and defensive lines were the question marks coming into the season. The guys on the line had not played much varsity.
“Cedar Grove-Belgium had a high caliber offense.”
Rosemeyer was especially impressed with Esselman's performance in the title game. Esselman had 1,650 yards rushing this season.
“When he gets to the goal line, he has the instinct to get there,” Rosemeyer said.
Esselman started for Colby since his sophomore season.
Division 1 Championship
Homestead gained revenge for losing to Arrowhead in the 2007 state finals by winning Friday at Camp Randall Stadium 13-11. Tom Engel had two interceptions for the winners.
Arrowhead got 132 rushing yards from Calvin Ramsey, whose team had built a 5-0 lead on a field goal and safety but could only score one touchdown, a 34-yard TD run by Ramsey late in the game. But the try for two points to tie the game failed
Temperature for the game was 25 degrees.
Division 2 Championship
Kimberly finished the season again at 14-0 with a 28-14 victory over Verona, which ended with a 12-2 mark.
Jayme Wells had an explosive game with an 88-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. He also had a 5-yard TD run and caught a 34-yard scoring pass.
But Benny DeBruin had a big rushing game with 164 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown for the champs.
Division 3 Championship
Reedsburg went for the two points with 2:59 left in the game but failed and wound up losing the title game 21-20 to Waupon. The game was played in 17-degree weather.
Mike Solberg had two touchdown runs for Waupon. He had 103 yards rushing.
Division 6 Championship
Ryan Schalow made the big play for Stratford against Edgar in the Division 6 state title game for a 7-3 victory.
He intercepted a Justin Sinz pass late in the game, helping Stratford earn its sixth straight state championship.
On Oct. 17, Edgar had snapped Stratford's 76-game win string against Wisconsin opponents with a 16-8 victory.
Division 7 Championship
Burlington Catholic Central defeated Hilbert 37-14, thanks to three touchdown receptions by B.J. Ritzman from Reese Hartlage.
Ritzman had six catches for 136 yards. Catholic Central finished the season at 14-0 and was led in rushing by Max Voss with 155 rushing yards.
