Aquinas High School football coach Tom Lee’s favorite practices take place in the dark and under the lights of a baseball field.
The Blugolds don’t abandon their regular practice field until the postseason begins, and that’s when they invade the outfield playing surface at Carroll Field for a couple of hours each night to work on knocking out another playoff opponent.
Aquinas (11-1) has succeeded with this formula 20 straight times and hasn’t lost a WIAA playoff game since Nov. 1, 2019 in Galesville.
Something about the atmosphere — when couple with the coaching and talent executing the game plan — has brought out the best in the Blugolds, who used a crazy 29-28 victory over Columbus last week to move within one victory of qualifying for a fourth straight trip to Camp Randall Stadium in Madison.
“Cold and dark and two good things for us, man,” Lee said with a smile during a quick break from Tuesday’s practice. “We just have to hope the wind is blowing the right way from the sewage disposal plant.”
These coaches and these players have carved out three straight Division 5 state championships while laboring on this field at this time of the year, and the hope is that they can run that streak to four next week after jumping to Division 4 this week. The obstacle in earning that chance is Racine St. Catherine’s (12-0) in a 7 p.m. state semifinal scheduled for Madison La Follette on Friday.
The Angels needed a fourth-quarter touchdown to beat Lake Mills 19-14 last week and earn their spot in this game. It was the first time St. Cat’s had been challenged since early in the season.
“They are really explosive,” said Lee, whose team scored two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter to beat the Cardinals last week. “They scored 446 points and gave up 45 (prior to the Lake Mills win) all season. That’s pretty impressive.”
Lee’s defense will be focused on limiting big plays by senior running back Imarion Holder and junior wide receiver Lamont Hamilton.
Holder has rushed for 360 yards on 37 carries and scored five touchdowns during three postseason games. Hamilton had just one catch against the L-Cats, but he had eight for 158 yards and four touchdowns in a win over Delavan-Darien in the second round.
“The tailback runs inside zone and is super-patient,” Lee said. “He’s a bounce guy, a cutback guy.
“The quarterback (Eddie Vinson) stays alive. I have film with him getting 9 seconds to throw the ball, and (Hamilton) can go up there and rip the ball down.”
Vinson has passed for 1,200 yards with 25 touchdowns and just one interception, so there is some pressure on the Aquinas defense to push him out of a comfort zone. Junior Will Flottmeyer has been the most effective with that has a team-high six sacks, while junior Tyson Martin has added three.
Aquinas will also try to keep the Angels offense off the field by moving the ball consistently themselves. St. Cat’s has done a good job against the run this season, but Aquinas senior Kyle White has scored at least one touchdown in six straight games.
White rushed for 137 yards in a 14-10 first-round win over Madison Edgewood, then 141 in a 29-0 second-round win over Lodi. He carried 16 times for 58 yards in last week’s victory over Columbus and scored two touchdowns.
“They have some big D-linemen and big linebackers,” said White, who has 960 yards and is trying to become a 1,000-yard rusher for the second time. “Like a lot of the teams we’ve played, they are going to try and stop the run, but we’re not going to be scared to run the ball.”
Senior Jon Kearney thinks the offensive line has taken some positive steps since the regular season ended, and the late progress makes sense when considering it has used just two seniors.
Kearney, the center, and left tackle Max Maliszewski are those two experienced players. Flottmeyer started at right guard before shifting to right tackle to make room for sophomore Isaac Miller. Sophomore Casey Schams is the left guard, and sophomore William Horihan has played some right tackle.
“(Adding Miller) really allowed us to move the ball outside more with screens and get faster guys out there,” Kearney said. “I think we’re a lot faster now than we were at the beginning of the season, and that’s everyone.
“We can use our line in different ways. We can flip each side and go wherever we need to go. That’s an advantage for us.”
Getting the ball in the right hands in space always pays dividends for the Blugolds, so that means looking for Trey Bahr and Logan Becker. Bahr destroyed Columbus with seven catches for 155 yards and the tying touchdown last week.
Becker had a huge first-down catch on a fourth-down play during the drive that produced the winning point and leads the team with 43 catches for 674 yards and nine touchdowns.
Getting one of them — or White out of the backfield — early will be a key for Aquinas.
