Merrill soars to home playoff win

MERRILL, Wis. (WSAW) – Entering Friday, 27 area teams had their spot in the high school football postseason. At night’s end, eleven were left standing.

Beginning with our game of the week, #4 Merrill used their home field advantage they earned in the regular season, beating #5 Lakeland 38-12. Kanin Jahnke scored three touchdowns in the winning effort. Afterward, Jahnke talked about the want to get this done for his seniors.

“They put in all the work and we came out firing.and we needed a win,” said Jahnke. “We haven’t done it in a lot of years. It meant a lot to us. That was a huge factor. We haven’t had a home game in a long while. So it means a lot more when we do that.”

Merrill moves on to play #1 Grafton in the D3 bracket. Grafton beat Medford on Friday night.

Elsewhere in D3, Rhinelander and Wausau East both had their seasons end. The Hodags fell to Edgewood 35-7 while East lost a road battle with Mount Horeb/Barneveld 31-7.

In D1, D.C. Everest lost a close one to Brookfield East 19-13 while Wausau West lost to top seed Arrowhead 56-12. In D2, Marshfield lost to Oshkosh North 28-7.

Moving to D4, #2 Mosinee rolled to a playoff win over #7 Beloit Turner 41-7. Mosinee advances to play Evansville next week in Mosinee.

D5 presented several high seeds from our area. Stratford used their #2 ranking to beat #7 Richland Center 41-9 as they begin the road to a four-peat.

Also in D5, #1 Tomahawk rumbled past #8 Omro with a 41-14 win. The Hatchets will host #5 Spencer/Columbus next week after the Rockets beat #4 New Holstein 31-12.

Amherst also won big on Friday. The #2 Falcons defeated #7 Lancaster 42-12. Amherst will play Brillion next week. Rounding out D5, #5 Witt-Birn shredded #4 Brookfield Academy 42-12. They’ll face #1 Lake Country Lutheran next week.

Playoff football is underway for teams across central Wisconsin

In D6, #1 Edgar survived a scare from #8 Loyal/Greenwood. The Wildcats scored a go-ahead touchdown in the final minute to win 21-14. Edgar moves on to host #4 Poynette next week.

Also in D6, #6 Crandon used their powerful offense to beat #3 Auburndale 40-33. The Cardinals get to come back home next week as they’ll host #7 Belleville. Lastly in D6, #7 Marathon had their season end, losing to #2 Kewaunee 36-6.

In D7, Assumption and Pittsville both lost their playoff openers. The Royals lost 49-7 to Cochrane-Fountain City and Pittsville lose 35-8 to Hilbert.

Finally, in 8-Player, #2 Marion/Tigerton lost to #3 Sevastopol 50-16 and #4 Athens had their run end against #1 Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas 14-6.

Two 8-Player teams are moving on from our area though as #1 Gilman upended the defending champs, Owen-Withee, 55-8. Laona/Wabeno is also moving on, beating Valley Christian 28-14. The Rebels will play Lena/St. Thomas Aquinas and Gilman will host North Crawford.

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