Will Arrowhead Make it to State?

The stakes are higher than ever for Arrowhead High School’s football team. Football season is winding down and in the final rounds of the playoffs, the opposing teams are getting tougher to defeat.

Just last Friday, on November 6th, Arrowhead beat Oconomowoc High School with a 28 to 21 score, scoring a touchdown in the last five seconds of the game. The “gators” were screaming and cheering on the defensive line.

It was a huge relief for senior Gracie Brookes when Arrowhead won.

“There definitely were moments when I thought we were going to lose,” said Brookes.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again,” Brookes said to senior Jeremy Beres, a member of the football team.

“The first half of the Oconomowoc game we played great, the second half we lost our edge,” said senior football player Michael Foulkrod. “Then the last four minutes of the game, we were in panic mode and got our stuff together.”

This week, on Friday, November 13th, Arrowhead will be paired up against Franklin High School, who have remained undefeated throughout the entire season. Arrowhead suffered one loss to Muskego. The game was on Friday the 16th with the score being 27-20.

Unlike games in the past, this football game will not be located at either school’s home field. It will instead be hosted at neutral territory Kettle Moraine High School in order for neither school to have a “home field advantage.”

As the Friday the 13th game approaches, every Arrowhead student is aware that if Arrowhead can defeat Franklin, they will be the first Division One school since 1947 to play the State game four years in a row.

For some, this season has been building up since the 2012 state game. Others might think Arrowhead’s winning streak is over.

“I think we’re doing pretty well,” said senior Nicole Hospel. “But I still think two years ago we were better than we are now.”

Foulkrod says it’s crucial Arrowhead plays well in the first half of the game against Franklin, “Otherwise we’ll get killed out there.”

Stakes are high for the game against Franklin. “Whoever wins this game will probably also win state,” Foulkrod said.“[Franklin’s] whole line is huge…they’re very disciplined and well coached.”

State will be located at Camp Randall in Madison. The game will start at 4:00p.m. When asked if he believed whether Arrowhead would win this Friday, Foulkrod gave a hesitant “yes.” However Hospel disagreed.

“Honestly we’ll probably lose,” she said.

Depending on the Franklin game’s outcome, the following Friday, on November the 20th, Arrowhead students may be loading into cars and school provided busses and driving up to Camp Randall to support the team. Meanwhile the football team, who Foulkrod said was “pretty spoiled,” will be driven to Camp Randall coach busses.

Foulkrod said he believed would be the opposing team at the State game, would “more than likely [be] Kimberly High School. I’m excited for that because a lot of the guys on the team want revenge for last year.”

Arrowhead lost to Kimberly High at last year’s state game with a score of 31-6. It was the Arrowhead football team’s only loss of the 2014-2015 season.

Foulkrod says, “All of [Kimberly’s] players last year were seniors, so it’ll be interesting how they play this year.”

The whole team is “very excited,” according to Foulkrod. “It’s senior year, it’s time to go big or go home.”