Football Guide: Muskego Opens Playoffs With a Bang

The Muskego Warriors football team kicked off the postseason by throttling Milwaukee Washington 59-6 in the first round of the WIAA Division 1 playoffs Friday night at InPro Stadium.

With the victory, Muskego earned a rematch against Kenosha Bradford on Friday, Oct. 28 in Kenosha.

Here is a closer look at the 2011 Warriors:

Last week: The Warriors (9-1) finished with a second-place record of 6-1 in the Southeast Conference after holding off Oak Creek, 42-40, in the regular-season finale.

Rankings: Muskego was ranked No. 8 in Division 1 in the WisSports.net state coaches poll (http://www.wissports.net/rankings.asp?yid=2011&rid=5&WeekID=8&sportID=3). The Warriors were also ranked No. 7 in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel state poll among all schools (http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/staterank16-131928153.html), tied for No. 16 in the Associated Press large division state poll (http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/aprank18-132022193.html) and No. 4 in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel area poll (http://www.jsonline.com/sports/preps/fbrank-18-132023263.html).

Playoff history: Muskego has qualified for the playoffs for the 14^th time in school history. … Making their first appearance since 2006 last year, the Warriors lost in the second round to Kenosha Tremper. … Muskego has an all-time playoff record of 10-13. … The Warriors lost in the Division 1 championship game to Arrowhead, 19-16, in 1994.

FYI: Muskego and Oak Creek combined for 41 points in a wild opening quarter in last week’s game. The Warriors jumped out to a 28-13 lead as Roland Dunlap had touchdown runs covering 35 and 47 yards, while Brady Simkowski had a 39-yard TD run and Jordan Gruettner had a 13-yard TD run. … Simkowski finished with 213 yards on 24 carries and Dunlap had 106 yards on seven carries. … David Kucharski also chipped in with 88 yards on seven carries. He had an 18-yard TD run in the second quarter and a 24-yard TD run in the third quarter. … Jeff Glisch and Tommy Stark led the defense with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively. Josh Breider also recovered a fumble. … Washington (3-5) enters the postseason having lost its final two City Conference games.

Quoteworthy: The Warriors are excited to be back in the playoffs for the second year in a row.

“This will be our first home playoff game since 2005,” Muskego coach Ken Krause said prior to the victory over Washington (3-6). “Our community and youth football organization has been awesome in attending our games and firing up our varsity football players. We have a ton of respect for Milwaukee Washington. They will be fired up. It is their first playoff appearance in 10 years.”

2011 schedule: http://www.southeastwi.org/g5-bin/client.cgi?cwellOnly=1&G5statusflag=view&schoolname=&school_id=5&G5button=13&G5genie=49&vw_schoolyear=1&vw_agl=1-1-15&category_sel=0&category=