Allen and Baker Run Their Way to State and Other Top Performances

The final round of battles have been concluded. We have our 14 teams ready to go to war for a State Championship. Level 4 was no joke. We already discussed the thrilling double OT victory and its standouts from the Lourdes Academy vs Cochrane- Fountain City game. You can find that on PRZ WI. Now it is time to look at the tape of the other top individual efforts from the past week. Whether it was a win or a loss, these kids gave it everything they had to try and earn 48 more minutes on the field inside Camp Randall Stadium. Let's click play and talk about what these student athletes did last Friday night on offense and defense.    Stats: 73 Pass Yards, 2 Pass TDs, 101 Rush Yards, 2 TDs, 1 Tackle, 1 INT   Junior QB/ATH [player_tooltip player_id='1620343' first='Zeke' last='Zuberbuhler'] continues to step up and make huge plays for his offense through these playoffs. In Level 4 we saw him lead the way on the ground and provide big spark plays through the air. The tape starts off with a flex of the arm strength as he completes the Hail Mary to end the half. His 2nd TD pass showed off the touch as he dropped a dime in the bucket to his target in the endzone. Zeke is a high quality athlete on top of being a natural passer. The playmaker demonstrated the range and closing speed on his INT at safety. Easily covering ground and attacking the ball. As a ball carrier Zeke looks impressively natural. Vision, acceleration, and instincts help him quickly get through the front seven or around the edge and then that second gear kills defenses. The junior is an intriguing dual threat and multi-positional recruit. He is working his way into becoming a need to know athlete in the Class of 2027.      Stats: 5 Receptions, 72 Yards, 1 TD, 13 Rushing Yards   Jackson is building a very impactful career on a D1 team that is making its 2nd straight trip to State. We have seen Jackson make plays on defense and offense over the past couple seasons. This week in particular was his role on offense. The junior picked apart the secondary with how quickly he was able to find soft spots in coverage and settle in for his QB to have an easy target. The TD reception highlighted the playmaker's speed, quickly eating up the cushion and opening up separation behind the DB. I'm very excited to see the 2027 playmaker at Camp Randall on Friday night!      Stats: 33 Carries, 211 Yards, 1 TD, 8 Tackles   Coming into this game I thought the matchup would be a huge test for the Mayville rushing attack. Landen and the team passed that test with flying colors. The senior RB toted the rock to a massive workload that churned out yards at a high rate. Landen found a ton of success off-tackle. He ran patiently and decisively. He found daylight and got downhill in a hurry. Once in traffic the senior showed off the agility and ability to make you miss in tight spaces. The 5'8" 175 lbs back once again impressed me with how strong he would finish carries too. The Mayville product has been consistently impressing me. I'm fired up that we will get to watch him live in Madtown!      Stats: 36 Carries, 139 Yards, 2 TDs   In possibly the Game of the Night, junior RB [player_tooltip player_id='1228462' first='Jack' last='Nelson'] put together a great outing. Catholic Memorial has a fast defense, yet the first thing that stands out on the tape is how fast Jack looks through traffic. He hits the hole at nearly top speed and was able to cut and juke while staying at or near that top speed. His ability to get to the second level before LBs or DBs could close on him kept the Grafton offense moving up and down the field as they worked to come from behind and win this game. Also very impressive was how strong the 175 lbs junior finished his runs. It is great to have Grafton back in Madison, and they have a ton of talent to watch during their game including this RB.      Stats: 9 Tackles, 3 TFLs   What a night for the senior DE out of Grafton. The majority of his highlights from the night shined the spotlight on his power. Power to set the edge, hold the line of scrimmage, and also violently shed OL before making tackles. We also got a flash of his range to chase down plays across the backfield. The senior DE made his presence felt and Grafton will need that later this week again as they look for a State Championship victory. Dive into the film of this senior DL steal.      Stats: 7/8, 176 Yards, 2 TDs, 57 Rush Yards   Lee played QB for Homestead this season and led them right to the verge of a State appearance. They came up just short Friday night, but the junior athlete did a great job of giving his team a chance. He picked apart the secondary with his arm, finding wide open targets leading to huge plays for his offense. He did a great job with ball placement throughout the night. The ball handling on some of his fakes were elite too. Forcing the defense to lose the ball and lose track of where receivers were. That speed to play out at WR looked unfair at the QB position as he was able to get the edge and beat angles. The junior was a playmaker this season, and looks like he will be poised for a monster senior season.      Stats: 17/35, 245 Yards, 3 TDs   Unfortunately the historic run came to an end for Whitefish Bay, but they put up a strong fight to the end. Junior QB [player_tooltip player_id='1336950' first='Chase' last='Wolter'] led the way on offense. The first major takeaway is that Chase's arm talent overall has made a huge stride compared to where he was a year ago. He is able to drive the ball on a rope into spots, giving him the ability to hit windows he couldn't before. That arm strength really opened up the entire field for him and he wasn't afraid to attack all of it. He showed that deep accuracy on the first TD of his highlights. The mechanics looks quick, crisp, and clean too which aids in his accuracy while attacking all over the field. It's sad the season is over for Wolter and this team, but I'm excited for this next year for Chase. This is a QB to get on campus and out to camps this coming spring/summer.      Stats: 32 Carries, 238 Yards, 6 TDs   This was supposed to be a big test for Kingston and Notre Dame's offense/defense. Safe to say they passed it with flying colors as they secured a trip back to Madison. Watching these highlights only continue my massive fandom of the junior RB. The vision to find the holes and the way he instantly had a plan of how to attack every scenario during a carry was elite. Whether it was lower the shoulder, or spin, or juke, or beat the angle with speed, it seemed like Kingston never had to slow down. He could read and attack without sacrificing speed. The 2027 RB is one of the best players in the state and his OL is dominating. It is a dangerous combo that I can't wait to watch live in a few days.      Stats: 13 Carries, 262 Yards, 3 TDs, 11 Tackles, 2 TFLs   What a night by the junior playmaker out of Little Chute. Reece Joten dominated on offense and defense to help earn a berth to the State Championship. Reece won with power and elusiveness Friday night. One carry he would bounce off tackle attempts while keeping perfectly balanced and the next he would have defenders tripping over their own feet trying to stay in front of him to make a tackle. The junior clearly has that playmaker gene that allows him to make things out of the ordinary happen on a consistent basis. The junior RB has great vision through traffic as well. On top of it, Reece also was flying around at LB quickly putting an end to run plays. This will be one of the top players to watch at State.      Stats: 11 Tackles, 3 TFLs   Even while playing around 210 lbs the senior DE out of Northwestern dominated Friday night with how strong and stout he was on the edge. Over and over we see him stand up OTs with his lower body strength and shove them aside with his strong upper body. Gage can go from that stout play to pursuing the ball very quickly, closing violently. The senior can also go from power to speed/range and fly through gaps and make tackles across the formation for a loss. When he gets a free release he closes like he is shot out of a cannon. I'm fired up to watch Gage and this Northwestern roster on Thursday!

The final round of battles have been concluded. We have our 14 teams ready to go to war for a State Championship. Level 4 was no joke. We already discussed the thrilling double OT victory and its standouts from the Lourdes Academy vs Cochrane- Fountain City game. You can find that on PRZ WI. Now it is time to look at the tape of the other top individual efforts from the past week. Whether it was a win or a loss, these kids gave it everything they had to try and earn 48 more minutes on the field inside Camp Randall Stadium. Let's click play and talk about what these student athletes did last Friday night on offense and defense.