Prairie du Chien welcomes back pair of linemen

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, WI — Brandon Granzow didn’t even get a chance to play a single down his junior year of high school.

During Prairie du Chien’s preseason scrimmage, Granzow went down with a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus. His season came to an end before it even started.

Then in Week 1, fellow junior Alex Wasechek suffered a broken ankle. He tried to play with the injury the following week to no avail and his season was also over.

Both Wasechek and Granzow could only watch as Prairie du Chien finished the season with a 3-5 record, and was 1 conference win away from qualifying for the playoffs.

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“I just wanted to be out there and help them,” said Granzow. “So it was a tough year to watch having to watch the seniors struggle.”

Wasechek enters his senior season with a much greater appreciation, after seeing his junior year end in a split-second.

“It’s that realization that I’m only going to have nine more games left. I had a whole season taken away from me. All that work in the summer and all of that is just gone.”

For a complete preview of the Coulee Region football season, tune in to the News 8 Highlight Zone High School Football Preview Show: Sunday, Aug. 18 following News 8 at Ten.

Working On A New Proposal

Prairie du Chien was at the center of the discussion when conference realignment in the Coulee Region surfaced last school year.

Last week the WIAA voted down a football only proposal that would have created crossover games between the Southwest Wisconsin and Coulee conferences.

With only 6 schools, the SWC has a tough task every season putting together a football schedule. Things aren’t much better for the Mississippi Valley and Coulee conferences which consist of 7 schools.

The WIAA Board of Control wants another plan to be drafted at their September meeting.

Prairie du Chien head football coach Jon Boyle would be alright with just about any proposal that doesn’t include playing a conference opponent two times a season.

“There are a bunch of different scenarios out there, what the latest scenario is I do not know because there have been so many thrown around. Hopefully we get something figured out that works for everybody.”

The MVC Facebook page on Wednesday made a post quoting conference commissioner Terry Erickson. He made mention of a couple of possible scenarios.

One was West Salem joining the MVC for football only. The other was building a football schedule around the 20 schools that make up the Mississippi Valley, Coulee, and Southwest Wisconsin conferences.

The WIAA Board of Control will next meet on Friday, September 13.