Football playoff preview: A look at every area team in the field

DIVISION 1

Arrowhead (6-3): The Warhawks have won five of their last six games with the victory of note against Kettle Moraine, 28-26, in Week 4. Injured last year, senior Jeff Holtz has come back to lead the team in passing (703 yards) and rushing (602).

Badger (8-1): The Badgers won their third straight Southern Lakes title and have a seasoned squad with a number of players who helped the team reach the state semifinals the past two seasons. The team’s only loss came in a non-conference game to Kenosha Bradford in Week. 2.

Franklin (8-1): The only loss this season for last year’s state runner-up came in the rain to Southeast Conference champion Racine Horlick when standout quarterback Max Alba and the rest of the team’s pass-oriented attack struggled to move the ball.

Kenosha Bradford (6-3): The Red Devils overcame the loss of senior running back Erick Doke III, a Northern Illinois recruit, to make their second straight playoff appearance.

Kettle Moraine (6-3): The Lasers are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2008 with help of senior linebacker Mike Timm, who enters the postseason with 117 tackles.

Marquette (5-4): The Hilltoppers hope the return of senior quarterback Josh Horning, who missed four games due to an injured shoulder, is good news. He has completed 66% of his passes for 372 yards in the last three games.

Milwaukee Hamilton (6-3): Senior quarterback Xavier Davis, who is leading the Wildcats to the playoffs for the fourth time as the starter, has 6,061 yards of total offense for his career.

Milwaukee King (6-3): The Generals’ 40-game City Conference winning streak was snapped, but the team has a lot of non-seniors who will benefit from the playing experience they received. Quarterback Noland Dixon is a junior and leading rushers Kai Ross (690 yards) and Mike Dupree (488) are sophomores.

Milwaukee Marshall (6-3): The Eagles won a share of City Blackbourn Division title with their lone loss coming by forfeit. Watch out for senior quarterback Dennis Brown and sophomore running back Amarion Allen, the offense’s top weapons, and junior linebacker Soloman Sumlin, the team’s top tackler.

Milwaukee Riverside (5-4): Big-play junior Chris Sykes, the team’s leading rusher and receiver, is averaging 13.2 yards per touch for the Tigers, the Richardson Division runner-up.

Muskego (6-3): The Warriors finished third in the Classic 8 with their victories of note coming over Arrowhead and Catholic Memorial. The team has a thunder and lightning combination in the backfield in senior fullback Cody Krause (895 rushing yards) and junior RJ Bosshart (722).

Oak Creek (6-3): Senior Zach Reader ranked 10th in the area with 1,457 passing yards. Three receivers — seniors Ryan Harvey-Turner and James Carter and junior Quinn Stulo — are averaging more than 14.5 yards per catch.

Racine Horlick (9-0): The Southeast Conference champion posted the school’s first undefeated regular season since 1976 with a diverse running game that has produced three backs with more than 600 yards: seniors Joe Garcia (1,296) and George Sims (947) and junior Jager Clark (655).

Sussex Hamilton: Junior quarterback Patton German has 1,254 yards rushing/passing for the Chargers, who overcame a stretch of four losses in five weeks to return to the playoffs after a two-year absence.

DIVISION 2 

Brookfield East (8-1): Senior Brad Dati has been a tackling machine for the Spartans, averaging 10 per game for a unit that has posted three shutouts and held two other teams to seven points or fewer.

Brookfield Central (9-0): The Lancers are a No. 1 seed for the third straight season. Senior linebacker Nick Lesczynski is the leading tackler for a defense that has four shutouts and two other games when it allowed seven points or fewer.

Burlington (6-3): Led by senior Nick Klug, a dangerous passer and runner, the Demons closed the season with four straight victories to finish in third in the Southern Lakes.

Germantown (4-5): The Warhawks tied for fifth in the Greater Metro, but this is a dangerous team. Losses to Brookfield Central, Brookfield East and Sussex Hamilton came by no more than three points and a 10-point loss to Marquette was just a three-point affair late in the fourth quarter.

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Greenfield (4-5): The Woodland East’s third-place team turned to a sophomore at quarterback and Omarion Bartlett responded by completing 50% of his passes for 765 yards in the last six games.

Hartford (7-2): Last week’s 28-7 victory over previously undefeated Whitefish Bay could provide a spark for the Orioles, who finished third in the North Shore behind co-champions Bay and Homestead.

Homestead (8-1): Senior Bradley Woldt (865 yards) has raised his average yards per carry from 5.6 last season to 6.8 this year and is closing in on his second straight 1,000-yards season for the North Shore’s co-champion.

Menomonee Falls (4-5): Human-highlight film Julius Davis, a junior, finished the regular season ranked second in the area in rushing with 1,674 yards in 234 carries.

Milwaukee Bay View (7-2): The City Richardson Division champion is led by the area’s leading rusher, senior quarterback Isiah Wright, who finished the regular season with 1,711 yards and 25 touchdowns in 153 carries.

Milwaukee Reagan (4-5): The Huskies, a program in its third year, earned their first playoff berth with the help of senior Max Gullard, the team’s leading rusher with 708 yards in 121 carries and top receiver with eight catches for 90 yards.

Milwaukee Washington (5-4): Senior LeRon Burroughs, who has caught 27 passes for 536 yards, has been a big-play threat for the Purgolders, who are in the postseason for the third straight season.

Slinger (6-3): Senior Jason Klink (1,174 rushing yards) is the first 1,000-yard rusher since 2014 for the Owls, who would be 8-1 if they could have held on to fourth-quarter leads against Hartford and Homestead.

Waukesha West (9-0): With 1,507 rushing yards, senior running back Peter MacCudden, is having another big season for the area’s top-ranked team, which appears poised for another deep playoff run.

West Bend East (4-5): The Suns overcame a four-game midseason losing streak and a season-ending loss to West Bend West to qualify for the postseason for the first time since 2011. Their biggest victory came in Week 7 over Division 3 qualifier Port Washington.

Waterford (7-2): Senior linebacker Dan Noll reached double-digit tackles in five of his seven games this season for the Southern Lakes runner-up.

Wilmot (4-5): The Panthers could be one of the sleepers in the field. This team suffered last-second losses to Division 1 Franklin and Southern Lakes champion Badger and was in one-possession games in the fourth quarter of losses to Burlington and Kenosha Bradford.

DIVISION 3

Catholic Memorial (7-2): Wisconsin recruit C.J. Goetz anchors the defense, while the spark of the offense has been junior Tate Kopulos, who had a couple of 300-yard games on the way to a 1,400-yard season.

East Troy (5-4): The Trojans can pile up the points. Six times they scored at least 28 and for the season are averaging 35.

Greendale (7-2): The Panthers, the runner-up in the Woodland West, had one bad week, a 31-0 loss to New Berlin Eisenhower in Week 4. The team’s other loss came by one point to Division 1 Badger in Week 1.

Kewaskum (9-0): Tony Steger’s transformation from all-conference receiver last season to do-it-all quarterback this year was key to the team’s third straight conference title. He leads the team in rushing and passing and ranks second in receiving.

Milwaukee Lutheran (5-4): The Red Knights are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2011 thanks, in part, to the play of quarterback Josiah Hedrington, a senior with four games in which he rushed and passed for 100 yards each.

New Berlin Eisenhower (9-0): Senior linebacker Joey Lang and junior defensive lineman Mark Shields rank 1-2 in tackles for a Lions defense that is holding opponents to an average of 181 yards of total offense and has shut out four teams.

New Berlin West (6-3): Senior quarterback Joe Robey, who also leads the team in rushing, has helped West reach the playoffs for the second straight year.

Pewaukee (7-2): Back-to-back losses to Eisenhower and Greendale in Weeks 2 and 3 knocked the Pirates out of the Woodland West race, but senior running back/defensive lineman Seth Bickett had another monster season. He leads the team in rushing (1,081) and tackles (84).

Port Washington (5-4): Quarterback Adam Baierl, running back Deron Spicer and receiver Jacob Lippe lead a strong core of juniors for the Pirates, who needed season-ending wins over West Bend West and Grafton to reach the playoffs for the second straight year.

St. Francis (7-2): Sophomore Ismael Bastardo came on strong during the final five weeks when he ran for 626 of his 968 yards to help the Mariners take third in the Midwest Classic.

Whitefish Bay (8-1): No area quarterback in the playoffs has more passing yards than Blue Dukes senior Cade Garcia, who has completed 61% of his passes for 1,841 yards and 25 touchdowns for the North Shore co-champion.

Whitnall (8-1): Senior running back Andrew Mallmann’s return to health this year paid off in a 900-yard season and an outright league title for the Woodland East champion.

DIVISION 4

Racine St. Catherine’s (9-0): Da’Shaun Brown, a junior quarterback/defensive back with a scholarship offer from Wisconsin, is the Angels' player to watch. The team won its second straight Metro Classic title, scoring all but one of those conference victories by double digits.

Milwaukee SCTE (5-4): This will be the Cougars’ first playoff appearance since the school resurrected the program in 2014. Ahmad Blake, a junior defensive lineman, has 54 tackles and 22 sacks.

Martin Luther (5-4): Judging from the team’s overtime loss to undefeated Racine St. Catherine’s in Week 7, the Spartans could be dangerous. Keep an eye on junior Darios Crawley-Reid, a running back/defensive back who leads the team 1,388 yards rushing and about eight tackles per game.

University School (6-2): Senior running back/linebacker Will Kennedy leads the Midwest Classic runner-up in rushing with 649 yards and tackles with 17 tackles per game.

DIVISION 5

Brookfield Academy (4-5): Senior Connor Guest finished with a team-high 83 tackles for the Knights, who are in the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

Kenosha St. Joseph (5-4): The Lancers closed the season with three victories in their last four games with the average margin of victory 43 points.

Lake Country Lutheran (9-0): The Lightning won its fourth straight Midwest Classic title on the strength of its defense, which shut out four teams and held three others to single digits. The linebacker combination of junior Isaac Simons and sophomore Jack Leverenz is tough.

DIVISION 6

Racine Lutheran (8-1): Sophomore running back/defensive back/return man Tyler Tenner is a blossoming standout for the Crusaders, whose only loss came to undefeated Racine St. Catherine’s, 33-14, in Week 4.