The Girls Soccer season may give local athletes a glimmer of hope for their seasons, as two local teams will participate in the Notre Dame Quad this weekend. 

The Luxemburg-Casco Spartans start off the season locally playing at 5:00 P.M. against the host school of Notre Dame Academy. The Spartans will look to improve on their 7-10 record from last season. 

In the second match of the night, Sturgeon Bay will take the turf against Lakeland Union at 7:00 P.M. The Clippers were 7-7-2 last season, and will need to replace the production from their two lost EWC/Packerland All-Conference selections due to graduation. 

The Quad will continue into Saturday. 

Two local area Track and Field teams will held to the center of the state to compete at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point on Friday night. 

The boys Kewaunee Track and Field team have been in full gear since the start of their season, finishing top 5 in many meets in the indoor season. Jordan Lamack (High Jump) and Christopher Cullen (400m) are coming off of 1st place finishes in their last competition. 

Sevastopol will compete in their second indoor meet of the season, with their other meet coming at Ripon College for the Waters Meet. Bea Dramm is fresh off of a win in the 1600m Run and Kylie Duessler finished in the Top 10 in the 1600m and 60m events. 

The meet is set to begin at 4:00 P.M. 

The Southern Door School Board will continue to look into the future of its district administrator during a special meeting to be held on Monday.

Earlier this month, the school board held a pair of closed sessions to consider the employment of District Administrator Chris Peterson. The language of the special meeting agenda is similar to what it was in the first closed session: "considering the employment and performance evaluation data as well as social or personal history or disciplinary data of District administrators and staff members over which the Board of Education has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility, including the District Administrator, which, if discussed in public, would be likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of said administrators and staff and to confer with legal counsel for the District who will render oral advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the Board with respect to litigation in which it is likely to become involved." 

Peterson, who was hired in 2021 to replace the retiring Patti Vickman after over a decade at Howards Grove School District, has been on leave since at least March 16th.

The board will meet at 6 p.m. inside the Southern Door High School Library briefly before adjourning into closed session, though it may convene in open session to take any necessary action.

The Green Bay Blizzard hope they will be able to snag their first win of the season when they welcome the Iowa Barnstormers to the Resch Center Friday night.
 

The second quarter proved fatal for the Green Bay Blizzard as they dropped their second straight game to start the season 55-41 to the Massachusetts Pirates. Both the Blizzard's Ja'rome Johnson and the Pirates' Ale Bennefield threw for approximately 190 yards and three touchdowns, though it was Johnson that threw a costly pick. Both quarterbacks also ran for a pair of scores in the game.

The Barnstormers enter the game 0-1 after losing to Las Vegas 57-44 last weekend.

Kickoff is set for 6:05 p.m.

The Green Bay Gamblers and the Dubuque Fighting Saints will share hosting duties this weekend beginning in Iowa Friday night.

The Gamblers have posted a forgettable March up to this point, winning just two of its 11 games in the month, including three shootout losses. That includes Sunday's second straight shootout loss to the Youngstown Phantoms. At the very least, the Gamblers showed excitement during the weekend as they scored a second last-second goal of the weekend when Raimonds Vitolins found the back of the net with a second to spare to tie the game at 1-1. After a scoreless overtime, the two teams needed six shootout participants to settle the game with the Phantoms' Jake Rozzi ending the game to pick up the extra point.

The Fighting Saints can overtake the Gamblers in the USHL standings with a pair of wins this weekend. 

After playing in Dubuque on Friday at 7:05 p.m., the Gamblers will be the hosts on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. 

The Milwaukee Brewers started their 2023 campaign with a loss on Thursday afternoon at chilly Wrigley Field, losing to the Chicago Cubs 4-0.

The Brewers' Corbin Burnes and the Cubs' Marcus Stroman were locked in a pitchers' duel early with the visitors' biggest threat coming in the third inning with the bases loaded and one out before Rowdy Tellez grounded into a double play. The Cubs would take control in the bottom half of the frame when Dansby Swanson singled home one run and a throwing error by Willy Adames brought home another to make 2-0. Trey Mancini and Yan Gomes would drive in the other runs to make it 4-0. 

The combination of Stroman, Keegan Thompson, Brad Boxberger, and Carson Fulmer would collaborate on a four-hitter that also saw them strike out 12 Brewers. Adames, William Contreas, Brian Anderson, and Brice Turang go the lone hits for the Brewers while Christian Yelich drew two walks.

The Brewers will try to even the series on Saturday at 1:20 p.m.

He has been in town for well over a week, but new Green Bay Phoenix men's basketball coach Sundance Wicks received his formal introduction to the community at the Kress Events Center on Wednesday morning.

Wicks thanked the university leadership and the community for the warm welcome during his opening days in Green Bay, which included a pair of appearances during the women's basketball run in the WNIT. After giving credit to his family and his coaches, Wicks began to outline the future of his program, which only garnered three wins last season and will see its third straight offseason with approximately half of its roster leaving the program through the transfer portal. Contagious energy, belief, active ownership, humility-driven leadership, and community-driven culture were four of the facets Wicks outlined during his opening comments. He said the open Green Bay job was the greatest in the country because the only direction the program can go is up. 

You can watch the full press conference below:

Screenshot from press conference streamed by the Green Bay Athletics Department

After a long winter offseason for the Milwaukee Brewers that involved sending away two former players in trades and going to arbitration with their star pitcher Corbin Burnes, the team will open their season against their rival, the Chicago Cubs.

Milwaukee opened up their season in Chicago last season as well, ultimately splitting the series after one of the games had to be played later in May due to a rain out. Thursday’s opening day game looks clear of any precipitation, but Saturday’s forecast calls for rain and snow. Milwaukee has many new faces to the team and potentially the starting lineup this year. Jesse Winker, Brian Anderson, William Contreras and Luke Voit are all new to the team, and Brice Turang made the team after a strong year in the minors last season and a good spring training. 

A potential bounceback year from Christian Yelich may be in the cards, and the pitching will take the team as far as they want to carry them. The only question for the Crew this season is if the bullpen will thrive or fail with all the new faces. 

The Cubs also had an active offseason, signing one of the best shortstops on the market in Dansby Swanson. Other faces becoming Cubs included Cody Bellinger and Jameson Taillon. Chicago won the season series against Milwaukee last season, which included many different series wins for the Cubs. 

First pitch from Wrigley Park is set for 1:20 P.M. 

Giannis Antetokounmpo registered the fastest triple-double of his career, but it was Jrue Holiday that stole the show in the Milwaukee Bucks' 149-136 win over the Indiana Pacers Wednesday night.

Antetokounmpo contributed 38 points, 17 rebounds, and 12 assists on the night for the triple-double, a feat he nearly had by halftime. The difference was Holiday, who scored 51 points on the night including 18 points in what proved to be a pivotal third quarter for the Bucks. Brook Lopez added 21 in the win.

The Pacers were without three of their top scorers, so it was rookie Bennedict Mathurin carrying the load for the home team with 29 points.

The Bucks flew out to Boston right after the game for their Thursday night matchup against the Boston Celtics in a challenge for the top-seed in the Eastern Conference. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m.

If it is not on turf, you likely will not see area teams compete in their respective sports for a few more days yet.

Thursday's slate of games have been postponed and canceled including

• Kewaunee baseball vs Green Bay Preble
• Gibraltar softball at Manitowoc Lutheran
• Kewaunee softball at Wrightstown
• Luxemburg-Casco JV baseball at Green Bay Southwest
• Southern Door JV Softball vs Algoma

Friday's schedule of games is also changed due to postponements and cancellations. Those games include: 

• Sturgeon Bay baseball and softball at Manitowoc Lutheran
• Luxemburg-Casco softball at Denmark
• Algoma softball vs. Reedsville

As of Wednesday, a soccer quad hosted by Green Bay Notre Dame Academy and involving Luxemburg-Casco and Sturgeon Bay on Friday and Saturday and Luxemburg-Casco baseball's game against Shawano Community at Capital Credit Union Park are still on the calendar. Those matchups will all take place on a turf surface.

The Milwaukee Bucks narrowly squeaked out a win over the Detroit Pistons on Monday night 126-117, although the game was closer than the scoreboard may read. The Bucks will move onto the first game of their crucial back to back, taking a trip to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers. 

Milwaukee will match up against the Boston Celtics after the game with the Pacers, which could be the telling sign of who will grab the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The team will have to focus on the Pacers first however, as the Bucks fell to Indiana the last time the two teams played. No Brook Lopez, Jae Crowder, Khris Middleton or Grayson Allen did not help the Bucks in that matchup, but the Pacers are a feisty trap game if Milwaukee is caught looking ahead. 

Indiana is currently 3.5 games out of the final play-in spot for the tournament, and will look to give it their all down the stretch. At 33-43, the team is led by Wisconsin native Tyrese Haliburton. Haliburton averages just over 20 points per game, and is a combo guard who can score on multiple levels. The Pacers are one of the best transition offenses in the NBA, so the Bucks will need to be crisp in transition. 

Tipoff from Gainbridge Fieldhouse is set for 6:00 P.M. 

The Wisconsin Badgers basketball season came to a crashing end on Tuesday night, as the North Texas Mean Green overcame a 14-point deficit to win 56-54 in the NIT semi-finals in Las Vegas.

Held scoreless over the last nine minutes of the game, the Badgers were unable to get a shot off in their final possession after turning the ball over nine times in the second half.

Chucky Hepburn scored all his team-high 15 points in the first half, as the Badgers led 41-29 at halftime.  Tyler Wahl and Connor Essegian added 12 points each, but it was not enough as the Badgers managed only 13 points after intermission. 

Tylor Perry scored a game-high 16 points for the Mean Green,

Wisconsin ends the season 20-15, while North Texas (30-7) will play in the NIT Championship Game on Thursday night.

Allianna Dufek of Southern Door and Bailey Rikkola of Sevastopol were named to the 2023 Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association All Star Game for each player's respective division. 

Dufek will play for the Division 4 North team, whereas Rikkola will play for the Division 5 North team. This event showcases seniors of each division who possess great talent and tremendous character. The WBCA All-Star games started back in 1978 and each year the purpose of these games is to raise funds to help fight against childhood cancer. Since 1978, the WBCA has donated over $3 Million to the MACC Fund (Midwest Athletes Against Childhood Cancer) in the effort to combat childhood cancer.

The two players were named to the Packerland All-Conference 1st Team this season, and Rikkola has compiled many recognitions and awards, including the Packerland Conference Player of the Year and a Division 5 All-State team nomination. 

Dufek led the Eagles to a 14-11 record on the season, a strong jump from last season’s record. This was her first season back after suffering a torn ACL in the 2021 Volleyball season. Rikkola led the Pioneers to historic heights, finishing with a 25-2 record and the school’s first Regional Title in Girls Basketball since 1985. 

Both players will be fundraising for charity for the game. The Division 5 game is set for 9:00 A.M. The Division Four game will follow at 11:00 A.M. at Justagame Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells on June 28th. 

Baseball and softball diamonds will largely sit silently on Tuesday after another round of winter weather added more snow to the equation over the weekend.

According to the Packerland Conference and Northeastern Conference athletic schedule website, these games have been postponed:

• Baseball: Two Rivers vs. Gibraltar @ Gibraltar High School 
• Baseball: Algoma vs. Luxemburg-Casco @ Luxemburg-Casco High School 
• Softball: Chilton vs. Kewaunee @ Kewaunee High School 
• Softball: Sevastopol vs. Algoma @ Algoma High School (JV 1 game)

Southern Door softball's matchup against Two Rivers at Vietnam Memorial Park is still scheduled to take place. The first pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

The Luxemburg-Casco's soccer team's scrimmage against De Pere is also still on with the first touch scheduled for 5 p.m.

Many of he area's track teams head back to work on Tuesday at UW-Oshkosh, but Algoma got a head start on the week.

The Algoma track team brought their throwers and jumpers to Oconto Falls Monday night and post several top-five performances, including one event winner. Emily Kirchman won the girls' shotput competition with a personal best of 36-4 with teammate Faith Gerdmann right behind. Mason Melohn and Chris-Alan Ritchie rounded out the top five in the boys' competition with season-bests. Vivika Meverdenand Braden Crewe each leaped to top-five finishes in the high jump. 

Some of the girls' team will head to UW-Oshkosh for a meet Tuesday night. They will be joined by Lake Country Lutheran, Valley Christian, Lakeside Lutheran, Suring, Horicon, Seymour, Berlin, Brillion, Campbellsport, Chilton, Clintonville, Dodgeland, Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, Fox Valley Lutheran, Freedom, Gillett, Hustisford, Johnson Creek, Kiel
Laconia, Little Chute, Manawa, Lomira, Omro, Pacelli, Pardeeville, Peshtigo, Randolph, Rosholt, St. Mary Catholic, Sheboygan Falls, Shiocton, Two Rivers, Winnebago Lutheran Academy, New London, St. Mary's Springs Academy, Xavier, Southern Door, Green Lake/Princeton, Denmark, and Wrightstown.

Picture courtesy of Algoma Track and Field

Despite all of the drama in the NCAA Tournament, the Wisconsin Badgers remain alive and in the Final Four in the NIT. Wisconsin is set to take on the North Texas Mean Green on Tuesday night. 

With all of the upsets and with the Badgers being on the NCAA Tournament bubble, who knows what would have happened if Wisconsin made the big dance, but we do know that with one more win they will be playing for a championship. The team has taken down some formidable opponents throughout their NIT run, defeating Bradley and Liberty at home, and recently taking down the top seeded Oregon Ducks in Eugene. 

Wisconsin will head to Vegas for the Final Four, and have found success there as of recently. Last season, the Badgers came back from Vegas with a different kind of trophy, after winning the Maui Jim Invitational last season en route to their 25-8 record and Big Ten Regular Season Championship. 

North Texas enters the matchup 29-7 and coming off a  65-59 win over the overall #1 Seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys. The Mean Green are led by their suffocating defense, as North Texas allows 55.7 points per game compared to the Badgers 63.8 points per game. 

Tip Off from Vegas is set for 6 PM on ESPN. 

After over 20+ years of coaching, John Berns will put the managerial cap back on for yet again another season, this time coaching his High School Alma Mater, Southern Door. 

After playing for the Eagles in the late 60’s, Berns returns to Southern Door to coach, replacing former Eagles head coach Dave Neinas. Neinas submitted his resignation in February, and the search for the next head coach had been ongoing since then. Coach Berns has recently been a coach at Sevastopol and Sturgeon Bay, and now after being inducted into the Southern Door Hall of Fame in early February, the longtime coach can finally call the Eagles his team. 

How Berns was hired however, was a bit of an interesting story. NRSN’s Gary Barta had a chance to sit down with the new Eagles coach, and was given some insight on how the job landed in his hands. 

Not only is he respected by the Eagles players, he is well known and respected by opposing coaches and fans as well. Sturgeon Bay’s new Baseball Head Coach Neal Henrigillis comes over from Peshtigo, and has had many battles with the coach. Henrigillis offered some thoughts and praises about the new Southern Door manager. 

With the beginning of the season pending due to the past snow storms and winter weather, the Eagles players will get an extended opportunity to gel with their one of a kind coach. Whether it be getting the swings back to normal, or ramping up their pitchers for game action, the Eagles of Southern Door are ready to chase their third straight Packerland Conference title. 

You can listen to the entire interview with Coach John Berns here. 

The second quarter proved fatal for the Green Bay Blizzard as they dropped their second straight game to start the season 55-41 to the Massachusetts Pirates.

The Blizzard were outscored 17-0 in the second quarter, rendering any attempt at a comeback against the Pirates futile. Trailing 31-7 in the third quarter, the Blizzard scored touchdowns on two straight possessions before they ended up trading scores with the Pirates the rest of the way.

Both the Blizzard's Ja'rome Johnson and the Pirates' Ale Bennefield threw for approximately 190 yards and three touchdowns, though it was Johnson that threw a costly pick. Both quarterbacks also ran for a pair of scores in the game.

The Blizzard's search for a win continues on Friday when they host Iowa at 6:05 p.m.

In between snow piles, you may find some athletes sneaking in their first workouts of the season.

According to the WIAA, calendar, Monday marks the first day of practice for the area's boys' golf and tennis teams. They could compete as soon as Thursday for golf and Friday for tennis, but Mother Nature may put the season on ice for the time being. Temperatures should at the very least be above freezing.

That is hopeful news for the area's baseball and girls' soccer teams, which can compete for the first time on Tuesday. 

The Green Bay Gamblers lost their second straight game by shootout Sunday afternoon 2-1 to the Youngstown Phantoms.

At the very least, the Gamblers showed excitement during the weekend as they scored a second last-second goal of the weekend when Raimonds Vitolins found the back of the net with a second to spare to tie the game at 1-1. After a scoreless overtime, the two teams needed six shootout participants to settle the game with the Phantoms' Jake Rozzi ending the game to pick up the extra point.

A Friday night matchup against Dubuque is all that separates the Gamblers from a forgettable Match for the team winning just two of its 11 games in the month, including three shootout losses. 

Two Packerland Conference school teams will open their week with an indoor track meet on the road Monday afternoon.

Algoma and Southern Door will be joined by the host school. Coleman, and Crivitz for the meet that will feature both the girls and boys' teams. 

In their last meet, the Algoma Wolves' track team only had five kids compete but all five placed in the top six at Tuesday's indoor meet at Oconto Falls. Faith Gerdmann was the only girl to compete on Tuesday, taking second in the shot put with a season-best. For boys', Austin Miller won the pole vault while Braden Crewe's personal best leap was good enough for second place.

The first events begin at 4 p.m.

The Green Bay Gamblers and the Chicago Steel traded goals until the bitter end of a 5-4 shootout loss Saturday night at the Resch Center.

After a scoreless first, the Gamblers' Jimmy Clark and Jayson Shaugabay answered goals by the Steel to make it 2-2 at the end of two. The Steel would be the ones answering the Gamblers' goals by Jimmy Clark and Matthew DiMarisco to tie the game at 4-4 at the end of regulation. After a scoreless overtime period, the Steel's Grayden Slipec scored the only goal in the shootout to give the visitors the victory.

The Gamblers are back in action on Sunday at 3:05 p.m. against Youngstown.  

The Green Bay Blizzard head east in hopes of capturing a victory away from the Massachusetts Pirates.

The Green Bay Blizzard closed out each half by being outscored by at least three touchdowns in a 76-30 loss last Sunday afternoon at the Resch Center to the Frisco Fighters. Blizzard quarterbacks Max Meylor and Ja'rome Johnson each threw one touchdown and a pair of interceptions while Terrence Johnson rushed for two touchdowns.

This is the first game of the season for the Pirates.

Kickoff is set for 1:05 p.m.

With the team's biggest move still lurking somewhere between Wisconsin and New York, the Green Bay Packers have been making a number of smaller moves to make up their depth.

From Packers.com:

The Packers re-signed LB Justin Hollins. General Manager Brian Gutekunst announced the transaction Thursday. Hollins (6-5, 248), a fifth-year player out of the University of Oregon, played in six games for Green Bay last season after he was claimed off waivers from the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 24, 2022. In those six contests for the Packers, he posted nine tackles (four solo), 2.5 sacks, four QB hits and three tackles for a loss.

The Packers re-signed LB Eric Wilson. General Manager Brian Gutekunst announced the transaction Saturday.

Wilson (6-1, 230), a seventh-year player out of the University of Cincinnati, was signed by the Packers off the New Orleans Saints' practice squad on Oct. 4, 2022. He went on to play in 13 games for the Packers and tied for the team lead with 13 special teams tackles. Wilson also recorded four tackles (two solo), a tackle for a loss and a sack on defense last season for Green Bay.

The Milwaukee Brewers announced many things on Friday, but the one that could mean the most is Corbin Burnes being named the Opening Day starter. 

Burnes figured to be the man that Manager Craig Counsell would appoint as the opening day starter, and it was confirmed early Friday morning. Counsell also released the starters for the Cubs series, which you can see down below in a tweet from Brewers beat report Adam McCalvy. 

Craig Counsell wasn't ready to lay out his pitching probables beyond Opening Day, but here's how they are currently lined up in the Cactus League:

3/30 at Cubs: Burnes
4/1 at Cubs: Woodruff
4/2 at Cubs: Lauer

4/3 vs. Mets: Peralta

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) March 24, 2023

The Cubs will throw Marcus Stroman as their opening day starter against the Brewers, who have moved on from their longtime prized prospect Keston Huira. Huira was notified mid-day yesterday that he would miss the Brewers opening day roster along with camp invite Tyler Naquin. 

#Brewers GM Matt Arnold announces the team has informed Keston Hiura he will not make the club.

They are beginning the process to pursue trades and other avenues for him.

— Dominic Cotroneo (@Dom_Cotroneo) March 24, 2023

Opening day for Major League Baseball is March 30th.