The Ellsworth High School football team finished the regular season with a 32-14 win at home against Saint Croix Central on Friday, Oct. 14. Now, the Panthers get ready for what they hope is a long and fruitful run through the postseason.

Ellsworth’s win over Saint Croix Central on Friday night wasn’t exactly a guarantee. Saint Croix Central went into the game 6-2 overall and 4-2 in Middle Border Conference games. The two losses in league play came against Rice Lake and Somerset.

Throughout the 2022 season, Ellsworth head coach Rob Heller had spoken highly of Saint Croix Central, particularly about their success at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. However, it was Ellsworth that won at the line of scrimmage on Friday night.

The Ellsworth Panthers got on the board first with just over six minutes remaining in the first quarter when senior running back Bo Hines capped ou a long scoring drive with a one-yard touchdown run. Ellsworth took a 6-0 lead, after a failed two-point conversion attempt.

Then with under two minutes left in the opening frame, Ellsworth senior lineback- er Tyler Boley picked ou a pass by Saint Croix Central quarterback Caden Wester and returned it for a touchdown. Another failed two-point conversion meant Ellsworth’s lead stayed at 12-0 going to the second quarter. Heller spoke about his team getting out to another early lead.

“As far as our starts have been concerned these past few weeks, I have been very pleased with the guys’ ability to get out of the gates well,” Heller said. “It proves they are buying in and playing some good football at a critical time in the season.”

After a scoreless second quarter by both teams, Bo Hines added another score in the third quarter when he found the endzone on a 15-yard touchdown run that gave Ellsworth an 18-0 advantage. Ellsworth’s dominance through the first three quarters helped the Panthers cruise to a 32-14 win.

Hines led the charge for the Panthers with 40 carries for 230 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Junior quarterback Grivn Blomberg balanced the ouensive attack with 12 completions on 20 attempts for 146 passing yards and two touchdowns.

Ellsworth improved to 8-1 for the season and 7-0 in the Middle Border Conference with the win over Saint Croix Central. Coach Heller spoke about finishing the regular sea son against a tough opponent in SCC.

“Saint Croix Central did come into the game on a hot streak for sure. They are a well-coached group and they are very big and physical on both of their ouensive and defen sive fronts,” Heller said. “I was pleased with how our guys played and executed our game plan on Friday. As I mentioned each week is a grind in the Middle Border, it is always nice to get any win you can, it feels a little better doing it against one of the better teams in the league.”

Despite having an 8-1 record and not having a loss in the conference, Ellsworth was again given a #2 seed in the WIAA Division 4 playou bracket. It’s the second year in a row that the Panthers have felt their record deserved a #1 seed and didn’t get it. Heller spoke candidly about not getting the top seed.

“I think our seed is frankly ridiculous. When you can play in our league for three years without a loss, and lose two games overall in three seasons, to get back-to-back #2 seeds is laughable,” Heller said. “I think the seeding process should be looked into, it is a bit peculiar to have a team from the other side of Madison in this bracket as well.”

Heller’s comments refer to Columbus, a Division 4 school located in the Capitol Conference on the eastern side of Madison. They were placed on Ellsworth’s side of the bracket, instead of on the opposite side with Catholic Memorial, the defending state champions.

Three of the top four Division 4 teams, according to the weekly Wissports.com coaches’ poll, are on Ellsworth’s side of the bracket, including Columbus (#2 ranked), Little Chute (#3 ranked), and Ellsworth at #4. Catholic Memorial is the only team on the other side of the bracket ranked in the top five of the coaches’ poll.

Regardless of the opponents, Heller refuses to make excuses for what may or may not happen in the 2022 postseason. He spoke about focusing on what they can control and not letting outside factors impact the team.

“We will continue to work hard and try to go 1 – 0 each week. That’s all you can do at this point in the season,” Heller said. “The bottom line is if you want to make a deep run you are going to run into stiu competition eventually, we need to focus on what we can control which is our attitude and euort day in and day out. I think our players embrace the challenge and look forward to proving certain folks wrong.”

Ellsworth will begin its postseason run on Friday, Oct. 21, at home against Mauston. Mauston enters the game with a 4-5 over- all record and is coming ou a 40-point loss against Adams-Friendship. The first-round playou game is slated to begin at 7 p.m.