The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association State Football Championships were held at Camp Randall Stadium Nov. 20-21, bringing high school teams from all over Wisconsin to Madison to play for a title.
Seven divisions played their final game of the season on campus, starting with the Division 7 championship game between the undefeated Kenosha St. Joseph Catholic Lancers and the 13-1 Cochrane-Fountain City Pirates.
The Lancers, led by senior quarterback Zach Rizzo, defeated the Pirates, 35-19. Rizzo threw for 226 yards and three touchdowns, two of which going to his top receiver, senior Dominic Rinaldi, who had a record-breaking night. Rinaldi caught 10 passes for 177 yards, setting new D7 championship game records in both.
Rizzo will be playing baseball for the University of Wisconsin-Parkside next year. The other two touchdowns came from receiver senior Tomas Baez and junior running back Christopher Kenesie.
Cochrane-Fountain City put up a good effort, behind their junior quarterback Parker Kujak, who threw for 176 yards and one touchdown to senior Steve Meyer, his fellow quarterback. Junior running back Aidan Lisowski ran one in as well.
Up next was Division 6: Darlington (14-0) vs Edgar (13-1). Darlington dominated the Wildcats, winning 42-18 behind the huge rushing performance by the Redbirds, led by junior quarterback Zeke Zuberbuhler. Zuberbuhler ran for 133 yards and three touchdowns, as well as throwing for one additional score, to senior Broker Buschor. Junior Calum Crist had a huge game on both sides of the ball, running for 104 yards on offense and in interception and defense.
Edgar also had a good game on the ground, with all of their touchdowns coming from their senior running back duo of Gavin Mauer and Maverick Butt.
.sno-692788d4515d2 {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-692788d4515d2 h5 {
color: #000000;
}
The third game of the day on Thursday was between undefeated Mayville and 13-1 Northwestern, for the Division 5 Championship. Mayville won for the first time since 1994, beating the Northwestern Tigers 42-32.
Surprisingly, the biggest impact of this game came from the special teams units of each team. Mayville scored a whopping two punt return touchdowns, from senior Owen Steger and junior Weston Teeters. Northwestern got in on the action as well, with a touchdown off a kick return from senior Anthony Calore.
Outside of special teams, the runs made a huge mark on the game as well. Mayville’s senior Landen Baker and junior Joe Promersberger both ran for over 100 yards and two touchdowns each, and Northwestern’s junior Tysen Teal ran in three, and caught one from his quarterback, junior Kamden Kroll.
Division 4 closed out play on Thursday, with a close game between Winneconne (14-0) and Little Chute (12-2). Winneconne made the undefeated teams 4-0 on the day, beating Little Chute 28-22.
Senior quarterback Brody Schaffer put the team on his back, throwing for two touchdowns, both to senior Karter Hawthorne, and running in one himself. Schaffer also achieved a double-double, earning over 100 yards throwing and rushing, as well as making a key interception on the defensive side. Junior running back Mason Mathe scored the deciding last touchdown of the game for the Wolves.
Schaffer will be heading to Iowa City next year to play D1 football for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The Little Chute Mustangs put up a great effort, led by junior running back Reece Joten, who ran for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Their other touchdown of the game was scored by fellow junior running back Tyler Hietpas.
The Division 3 championship game started off play on Friday strong, with another nailbiter between the undefeated Grafton and the Cinderella story of 10-3 Reedsburg. Grafton snuck by, winning 17-15 on a last-second field goal by the day’s hero, senior Graysen Bollech.
Both of Grafton’s touchdowns came from junior running back Jack Nelson, who ran for a total of 167 yards on the day. It was a similar story for Reedsburg, as their star running back, senior Will Mikonowicz, accounted for all of their points, ran for 255 yards, and added an interception to his already impressive statline. Mikonowicz is committed to play D2 football at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
.sno-692788d452220 {
background-color: #ffffff;border: 5px solid #888888;box-shadow: -1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 1px 0 2px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 12%), 0 1px 1px 0 rgb(0 0 0 / 24%);margin: 30px auto; float: none;}
.sno-692788d452220 h5 {
color: #000000;
}
So far, every undefeated team has remained undefeated by winning their championship game. This changed in the battle of the unbeatens in Division 2, Notre Dame vs West De Pere. These teams know each other well, as they are both from the same general area, in Brown County.
West De Pere took the title, winning 28-14 behind a strong performance from their senior quarterback Patrick Greisen, who became the first player in D1 and 2 history to throw for over 300 yards in a championship game. Greisen threw for 304 yards and two touchdowns, one to senior Judeah Kniskern and the other to junior Landon Kibbe.
Kniskern’s 164 yards was also a championship game record for most receiving yards. Senior running back Ryan Lutz accounted for the Phantom’s other two touchdowns.
Notre Dame’s fight came mostly from their star running back, junior Kingston Allen. Allen ran for 231 yards and scored both of the team’s touchdowns in the game.
Greisen is committed to play D1 football at San Diego State next year, while Kniskern will be playing D2 for the University of Sioux Falls.
For the finale of the 2025 WIAA State Football Championships, Arrowhead (12-1) and Bay Port (11-2) played on Friday night for the Division 1 title.
Arrowhead beat Bay Port in a tight game, winning 18-15 and knocking off the defending champions. Warhawk quarterback, junior Nolan Hanson, threw for 88 yards, 66 of them to senior Harper Hughes, and one touchdown, also to Hughes.
Hughes is committed to play D1 football for Western Michigan University in 2026.
But, the hero of the game is senior Ryan Heiman, who ran a kickoff back for the deciding touchdown, late in the fourth quarter.
Bay Port performed well, with touchdowns from seniors Brady Moon and Matt Stevens. They had a chance with seconds on the clock, but were unable to get in field goal range as the clock ran out.
Moon will be playing D2 football for Northern State University.
To recap: the 2025 Football State Champions are, for Division 1 through 7, Arrowhead, West De Pere, Grafton, Winneconne, Mayville, Darlington and Kenosha St. Joseph Catholic, respectively.
While there weren’t any Wisconsin Football commits playing in the State Championship games, there will be one in the class of 2026 from the state. Inside linebacker Ben Wenzel will be joining the Badgers from Appleton North High School in 2026.