PAGE DESIGN: Nov. 8, 2014

Packers hope 2 things are favorable

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Nov. 8, 2014

Packers hope 2 things are favorable

Green Bay better in 2nd half lately

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

GREEN BAY — The Packers have two things working in their favor as the second half of the season is set to begin Sunday at Lambeau Field against NFC North rival Chicago.

Green Bay has scored on its first possession of the game in four of its last five games. When that was brought to coach Mike McCarthy’s attention, he went “pfft.”

“Don’t jinx it,” he said with a smile.

But by doing that, it has helped the Packers turn a 1-2 start into a 5-3 record, one game behind Detroit for the division lead.

Getting out to good starts has also been a habit since McCarthy took over before the 2006 season.

The Packers are tied for the NFL’s best record in games after a bye week (7-1) in that span, and McCarthy’s record is tied for second-best in NFL history with Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid. Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy has the best record at 8-1.

“Any time you have your bye week, you go back and do a lot of self-evaluation and evaluate the things that were good in the first half of the season and the things you’ve got to improve upon,” Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers said. “One of the things that we have been able to do, most of the time, is improve our play in the second half of the season.

“We’ve played better in the second half than we have in the first.”

Under McCarthy, the Packers are 41-22-1 in the second half. Only twice have the Packers been under .500 in the final eight games of the regular season. The first was in 2008 (2-6) and the Packers finished 6-10. The other time was last year. The Packers went 3-4-1 in the second half, but won the division. Twice the Packers have been 7-1 in the second half.

In 2010, the year the Packers won the Super Bowl, they went 5-3.

“What we have to do is seek more consistency,” Capers said. “There’s some real good spots and there’s spots where we weren’t consistent enough.” However, if there is one statistic to worry about, it’s the Bears are also 7-1 in games after the bye week since 2006. Like the Packers, the Bears were on a bye last week.

At 3-5, the Bears need something to go their way or they’re going to fall out of the division race picture and maybe even playoff contention. A Bears loss coupled with a Lions victory put the “Monsters of the Midway” four games out of the division lead with seven games left in the regular season.

“I know they’re a talented team,” Capers said. “Our challenge is to go out and start the second half of the season playing our best football. That’s what our goal is; that’s what our focus is.”

The Packers have won five straight in their first game after the bye week. Their only loss in games after the bye since 2006 was to the Tennessee Titans in overtime in 2008.

In 2009, Capers’ first season as the Packers’ defensive coordinator, the Packers were 4-4, but went 7-1, only losing at Pittsburgh, 37-36, to end a five-game winning streak.

“We know we’re capable of those things,” Capers said.

Also that season, with help from the improved play in the second half, the Packers set a franchise record in run defense, allowing 83.3 yards per game.

The run defense has been the Packers’ biggest downfall so far, ranking last in the NFL (153.5 yards per game).

“If you’re able to take the one part that you felt you need to change, it would’ve been changed a long time ago,” McCarthy said. “Run defense or run offense, It comes down to trusting the guy next to you and everybody doing your job. That’s where the play starts.

“You need to whoop the man over ya and make a tackle. I think we try to do things too right. We just got to get back to the basics.”

As for the fast starts in the last five games, there is no script to it. Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh liked to script the first 15 plays of a game and because of his success during the 1980s with the San Francisco 49ers, many coaches followed suit.

Despite being a one-time 49ers coach, McCarthy doesn’t like to script the first 15 plays, instead scripting plays more closely associated with the down-and-distance situation.

“I was never truly comfortable going down for the first 15,” he said.

What the Packers are doing well is creating turnovers. They rank third in the NFL in turnover margin at plus-8.

“I think we can turn it around,” Capers said about the run defense. “The way I look at it is this is the start of the second half of the season. To me, it’s all about what we do in the second half of the season.”

Offense getting back on track for Packers after bye

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Nov. 7, 2014

Offense getting back on track for Packers after bye

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

GREEN BAY — Packers coach Mike McCarthy is optimistic he’ll have half of the core of his offense ready for Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.

Aaron Rodgers is not counted in that mix, but don’t worry. The MVP quarterback is expected to play after suffering a minor hamstring injury in the Packers’ 44-23 loss Oct. 26 at New Orleans.

Offensive guards Josh Sitton and T.J. Lang were held out of practice for the second day in a row Thursday. Sitton is nursing a toe injury, while Lang is working through an ankle injury.

McCarthy said both will likely do some drill work as part of the rehabilitation process today. And it may not be until game day when the Packers know if Sitton and/or Lang will play in Sunday’s primetime matchup.

“I’d be very comfortable with TJ and Josh (playing in the game) without any practice time, field work that is,” McCarthy said. “They’ll try everything (to play).”

Rodgers participated in practice Thursday.

Morgan Burnett (calf), Datone Jones (ankle) and Sam Shields (knee) also fully participated in practice.

Packers offensive coordinator Tom Clements said there is no concern for Rodgers’ hamstring, adding Rodgers has had a good week of practice thus far.

The pending frigid temperatures and possible snow at kickoff aren’t a worry either as it pertains to how he’ll call the game.

“It hasn’t affected the way we’ve planned (for the game),” Clements said. “We’re still going to try and run our offense. Josh and T.J. still have a ways to go and hopefully they’ll be able to play.”

“The only thing that impacts (the game plan) is if it gets real windy.”

The Packers enter Sunday night’s contest 5-3, which sounds good on the surface, but a 21-point loss on the road to New Orleans didn’t make the bye week enjoyable. Thus, the Packers are eager to get back onto the field.

“We’ve had two very good practices; the energy’s been real good,” Clements said.

If Sitton and/or Lang can’t go, McCarthy is confident the offense can still succeed.

“They’re both veteran guys and they’re doing everything they can to be ready to play,” Clements said. “They’re our starters and they’re both good players, so you’d like to have them in there. That’s what we’re working toward.”

In the Packers’ offense, the center and the two guards are key.

“The reality is our guards are trained the same way the centers are for communication, particularly on the road,” McCarthy said. “We emphasize that in loud stadiums. The guards may have a better view point as far what we’re looking for.

“I always refer to the two guards, the center and the quarterback as the core of our offense from a communication, responsibility (standpoint). They all work hand in hand.” And with Rodgers, there’s always a chance for a victory.

“He’s the most important piece of the puzzle,” McCarthy said. “This offensive system has always been built to make the quarterback successful. When you have the same quarterback as Aaron Rodgers, great talent, great player, it gives the opportunity to go in directions.

“Pro football is a big cycle. Trying to stay in front of the trend is important and Aaron Rodgers gives us that ability.”

The Packers rank 17th in total offense (13th passing, 24th rushing) going into the game against the 3-5 Bears.

After Eddie Lacy’s breakout rookie season in 2013, the Packers have lacked consistency, especially in the run game. It continues to be a point of emphasis in practice.

Plus, Lacy is consistently working on catching drills in practice.

“He’s a powerful man,” Clements said. “He gets out in space and has some blockers out in front of him or he doesn’t have any blockers in front of him, he’s usually running against smaller defenders. So it’s hard to bring him down. You just hope when you call (the screen), it works.”

VOLLEYBALL: G’town sweeps way into semis

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Nov. 7, 2014

G’town sweeps way into semis

Warhawks to play Divine Savior Holy Angels at 7 p.m. today in semifinals

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

ASHWAUBENON — Germantown is just continuing what it started more than a month ago.

And all Merrill could do was stand aside and be another team off the checklist as Germantown chases its first state championship.

After a slow start, the Warhawks controlled Thursday’s WIAA Division 1 girls volleyball state quarterfinal and rolled to a convincing three-set victory, 25-15, 25-22, 25-14, at the Resch Center.

The victory advanced the Warhawks (37-13) to the state semifinal for the first time in school history. They will play Divine Savior Holy Angels, last year’s state runner-up, at 7 p.m. today.

“It’s a great win,” Germantown coach Ted Gollakner said.

In the other semifinal, it’ll be Muskego (28-12) against Burlington (43-3), the 2011 and 2012 state champion. Muskego beat DeForest in five sets, while Burlington cruised in three sets against Manitowoc Lincoln.

It’s an intriguing matchup between the Warhawks and the Dashers.

DSHA beat Germantown twice this season, but they were tightly contested matches. In addition, Gollakner was an assistant for DSHA before arriving at Germantown.

“That’s what we came here for,” Gollakner said about being one of the final four teams still playing in the state. “We have to play our best game to get to the finals.”

Carly Townsend and Chloe Bingenheimer each had 11 kills to lead the Warhawks. Townsend also had 16 assists, as did Christina Nennig.

“Chloe was finishing strong,” Gollakner said. “They were some pretty monster kills that she had.”

As a No. 6 seed, the highest in the tournament since at least 2001, the Warhawks have played throughout the postseason angry and with a chip on their shoulder. It was more of the same Thursday against the Blue Jays, who were making their second appearance at state in three years after waiting 30 years from the previous trip.

Merrill, the champion of the Wisconsin Valley Conference, had little chance to compete against a determined Germantown squad.

“They’re a seasoned team; you can tell they’ve been playing together for a long time,” Merrill coach Kris Krug said. “So they’re no strangers to high pressure, high competition.”

“Their schedule, they’re playing against some high-caliber teams,” she added about Germantown being a surprise team in the field. “That’s the fuel for their fire.

“They’re mad because they got a six seed because they view themselves as a much greater team than that.”

Since Oct. 1, the Warhawks are 18-3, including winners of now 14 matches in a row, with two of those losses coming to DSHA. The other loss was to Burlington.

The reason for the hot streak is because of its added versatility on the attack. The Warhawks had four players attempt at least 17 kills against the Blue Jays. They were also precise.

The Warhawks had a .347 attack percentage, with only nine attack errors, while Merrill’s was .023 and 26 attack errors.

The versatility took a step up when Mel Heupel returned to the lineup from an ankle injury suffered in the preseason. Merrill struggled with where to put up its block because of it. “They have some big hitters,” Krug said.

Merrill had the upper-hand early in the match, jumping out to leads of 5-2, 7-4 and 9-6. From there, the nerves had settled and the Warhawks returned to the form they’ve shown all postseason. They went on an 8-1 run to take a 1410 lead and cruised to the first-set victory. But hanging close early in the match helped get the girls calmed down and focused.

“It was crazy; I was shaking,” Townsend said about her nerves, especially during warmups.

It was the closing points of the first set Townsend said she believed she and her teammates had found a groove.

“We should’ve come out much stronger,” she added. “But we did come back and we did play our game.” It was much of the same in the second set. It was close early, but with the score knotted at 14, Germantown went on another run, this time 6-1 to take a 20-15 lead.

And in the third, Germantown put the finishing touch on the match with a 12-4 run to end the set and the match. If Germantown wasn’t spot on, it was close to it.

“We’ve peaked at the right time,” Bingenheimer said.

GERMANTOWN 3, MERRILL 0

Merrill...............................................................15 22 14

Germantown....................................................25 25 25

Germantown stat leaders— Kills: Chloe Bingenheimer 11, Carly Townsend 11; Assists: Christina Nennig 16, Townsend 16; Digs: Rachel Scaduto 11; Aces: Kayla Budgins 2, Nennig 2; Blocks: Anika Swoboda 2, Megan Marks 2, Budgins 2

Spring vs. summer ball: The debate continues

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Nov. 7, 2014

Spring vs. summer ball: The debate continues

Play in warm weather or during the school year are main arguments

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

Summer high school baseball coaches are seeking to double its membership and want to do so relatively soon.

In a letter sent to high school coaches, athletic directors and school administrators whose schools play spring baseball, the Wisconsin Summer Baseball Coaches Association wants more teams to switch from spring to summer.

“Weather is the No. 1 thing,” East baseball coach Mike Heisdorf said. “You’re not going to have as many rainouts.”

Fifty-five schools play summer high school baseball in Wisconsin. In Washington County, West Bend East, West Bend West, Germantown and Kewaskum play in the summer. Slinger played its last season of summer baseball this season and will play spring baseball in 2015.

Kettle Moraine Lutheran, Hartford Union and Living Word Lutheran also play spring baseball.

“One of the big things is, I think, kids have the summer free,” Slinger Athletic Director Dan Karius told the Slinger School Board in February.

“A lot of these graduating seniors need to have full-time employment to pay for those (college tuition) bills,” Slinger baseball coach Steve Dummer said at February’s board meeting. “It’s easier for the kids to do their camps. ... It makes it more of a school sport again.”

KML coach Darrell Washburn agrees with Dummer.

“We felt a little separated,” he said.

The Chargers played summer baseball as members of the Parkland Conference. When that conference folded and KML went to the Wisconsin Flyway, it went to spring baseball.

“One of the biggest debates is weather,” Washburn said. “To me, it’s not the biggest deal. The weather is not that bad. Being a high school sport, I like it during the school year.”

The points the summer baseball coaches addressed in their letter include hours, money and headaches saved trying to reschedule games, umpires and bus companies, the potential to add athletes to spring teams, increase scholarship opportunities and maximize class time, instead of releasing students early for games.

Debate has grown in the last few years of whether summer baseball has a future in Wisconsin as a high school sport.

Heisdorf said there is a future, and others who field summer baseball teams agree. Kewaskum coach Doug Gonring is another emphatic supporter of summer baseball. However, the sport is lacking participation numbers, which is why the future of the sport is in question.

In 1999, there were 110 high school summer baseball teams — an all-time high — which included nine WISAA schools. Two years later, after WISAA and WIAA consolidated, the number of summer baseball teams dropped to 99 and it’s been going down ever since.

Two of the biggest drops have happened in the last eight years. In 2007, the numbers of teams went from 78 to 67. In 2012, it went down from 67 to 56.

“I don’t want to play spring baseball,” Heisdorf said, adding he and many of the other summer baseball coaches will continue to fight to keep the sport going. That includes branching away from the WIAA and becoming an independent sport.

Heisdorf isn’t a believer of summer baseball being disconnected from the school.

During the spring, he said, baseball players have to choose if they want to play baseball, tennis or golf, or compete in track and field.

In the summer, there is no choosing one sport or the other. He believes summer baseball is another way for student-athletes to be engaged in a school activity.

Washburn likes spring baseball the same reason Slinger does, it frees up a student’s summer to do whatever he or she wants, which includes playing amateur baseball through leagues such as Land O’ Lakes or Rock River.

There has also been talk about consolidating the sport into “sprummer,” spring and summer baseball as one season. The suggested start date would be around April 15 and the state tournament would be complete before the Fourth of July.

“Sooner or later, it has to go down to spring or summer,” Washburn said. “I hope it does soon.”

“But there’s a lot of tradition with summer baseball,” he added. “It’s not easy to give up. It’s going to be tough either way.”

PAGE DESIGN: Nov. 6, 2014

New championship format cause for tension, area crewman says

Daily News (West Bend, Wis.)
Published: Nov. 5, 2014

New championship format cause for tension, area crewman says

Jackson’s Emmer in middle of battle

By NICHOLAS DETTMANN

Daily News

What NASCAR drivers, owners and crew members are going through and fans are seeing is unlike anything the sport has experienced.

It’s all because of the new Chase for the Sprint Cup championship format.

“The tensions are high, the stakes are high; every single point and position means a lot,” said Greg Emmer, a native of Jackson who is a front-end mechanic for Carl Edwards’ No. 99 car in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

“Nobody has gone through this before,” he added. “The pressure throughout the Chase has just escalated.”

On Sunday, a fight broke out on pit road after the race at Texas Motor Speedway between the crews for Jeff Gordon and Brad Keselowski.

Gordon, a four-time series champion, was unhappy with a late-race move by Keselowski and approached Keselowski, the 2012 series champion. The two were separated until Kevin Harvick appeared to push Keselowski toward Gordon and a melee broke out. The crews pushed, shoved and appeared to throw punches.

On Tuesday, NASCAR announced it suspended and fined four crew members (three from Gordon and one from Kasey Kahne, a teammate of Gordon) and fined Gordon’s and Kahne’s crew chiefs $50,000.

“While the intensity and emotions are high as we continue through the final rounds of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, the actions that we saw from several crew members Sunday following the race at Texas are unacceptable,” wrote Robin Pemberton, NASCAR senior vice president, competition and racing development, in a statement. “We reviewed the content that was available to us of the post-race incident along pit road and identified several crew members who crossed the line with their actions, specifically punching others.”

Sunday’s fiasco was the second in four races NASCAR has had to deal with.

All the hostility is the result of a change to the championship format and it may get worse Sunday.

“I think the format has forced the drivers to take a lot more opportunities and chances than they have ever before,” said Robbie Reiser, an Allenton native and the vice president of Roush Fenway Racing. “You’re seeing more aggressive driving because of it.”

The old format had 12 drivers qualify for a 10-race p l a y o f f system for the championship.

This year, 16 drivers were made eligible for the championship with 10 races left in the season — the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

This year, NASCAR changed the format where the bottom four drivers in points after every three races was eliminated from the Chase, unless that driver won a race. If a driver won a race, he would advance to the next round.

On Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway, the final elimination will be made. At the last race, which is Nov. 16 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the final four drivers still eligible for the championship will compete in a winner-take- all race for the series championship.

Going into Phoenix, the top-eight drivers in points are separated by 18 points. One slip-up could cost a driver a championship.

Emmer said under the old format, at this point in the season, two or three drivers would still be battling for the title. Now eight drivers are still eligible for the championship.

Edwards is one of those drivers still eligible.

Emmer said crew members get involved in drivers’ problems because they put as much effort if not more into each race with car setups and repairs.

When the change was made, Emmer and Reiser weren’t fans.

However, Emmer likes it now.

“I think it’s great for the sport,” he said. “As a fan, has it brought more attention to the Chase? It’s kept people interested. For the last couple of years, the NFL has been the No. 1 sport. What NASCAR did was it came up with something interesting and I think they found it.”

“Everybody is scratching for everything they can get,” he added. “That’s the environment NASCAR has set up.”