UW-River Falls won its first ever national title on Sunday, January 4 in a 24-14 victory against North Central (Illinois) in the Stagg Bowl. In their first playoff appearance since 1996, the Falcons defeated the defending champions, North Central (Illinois), to clinch the 2025 DIII football championship.

Editor’s note: The above is from the NCAA website, where the championship bracket may be viewed. This article, North Central: The Dynasty You’ve Never Heard Of, from Mikefarrellsports.com, makes clear what a surprise it was for UW-RF to beat North Central in its sixth consecutive Stagg Bowl appearance, having won three of the last five games.

To close out 2025, the Whippet Wrestling Team hosted the 53rd annual Mid-States Wrestling Classic held at UWW and hosted by Whitewater High School. The field of teams this year was as usual quite competitive with teams from Illinois and Wisconsin competing over the two-day event. As a fan following the tournament for the first time who is familiar with Illinois wrestling told me, “Boy those are some top notch teams in that tournament.” That it was, and it proved to be a good test for the Whitewater Team.

Leading the way for the Whippets was freshman Gabe Crane who had some very tough matches over the course of the two days. He was in some very tight battles three times over the tournament, which is exactly what Gabe needed, and he proved that he has improved since the first competition of the season in early December. The Mid-States medals the top 8 individuals in their weight classes. Gabe found himself reaching the podium as a freshman in 8th place.

Also having a good tournament was Brady Friend who was 4-3 over the course of the two days with again some very competitive matches for himself. Brady had a couple of pins as well as a couple of hard-fought wins along the way. Brady ended up finishing in 11th place at 138 lbs. Although he stated he should have been on the podium, as a coaching staff we are seeing steady improvement from Brady, and he shows that desire to want to better no matter the outcome.

Austin Retzlaff at 215 lbs had a nice two days as he finished in 12th place going 4-4 over the course of the two days. Austin had some really significant wins on day one that placed him in contention for a medal on day two. He dropped a couple of close matches dropping him into 12th place.

The Whippets have a busy week as we head back to school from the winter break. On Thursday, January 8, the team travels to Monroe to take on the Cheesemakers in a big Rock Valley Conference Dual meet. Saturday, the Varsity then travels to Clinton to take part in a 12-team tournament. The JV boys will be staying in Whitewater as they host a 21 team JV Challenge Series where the top 3 contestants at each weight class earn a trip to the JV Challenge Series Finals. And finally, the Girls will travel to Muskego to take part in a large girls’ tournament on Saturday.

Article and Photo Submitted by John Schimming
Whitewater High School Head Wrestling Coach
jschimming@wwusd.org

The Whitewater Whippets rode the hot shooting of Matthew Carollo and a frenetic defense to edge the Johnson Creek Bluejays, 61-56, in a non-conference boys’ basketball game, Saturday, January 3rd.

Carollo made 11 out of 16 three-pointers and finished with 35 points and 14 rebounds. Casey Lyon contributed 10 points and 5 assists, as the Whippets played their first game in two weeks.

The game was close throughout, with neither team able to build a lead, until Johnson Creek scored the last six points to go up at halftime, 33-28. Whitewater was able to fight back and tie the game at 35 after four minutes into the second half. The teams continued to trade the lead back and forth, until an Aaron Garcia layup pushed Whitewater ahead by five points with a minute and a half left. Connor Brummeyer finished off an outstanding defensive effort with a steal with 30 seconds left to help seal the win for the Whippets.

Whitewater will get back into conference play on Friday, January 9th, with an away game at Monroe.

Article Submitted by Dwayne Lange
Whitewater High School Assistant Boys’ Varsity Basketball Coach

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears; 7 p.m. CST on Prime Video (Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreit)