Season Ahead Brings Old Along With the New (8-20-06)
GRAFTON- The last time the Grafton Black Hawks soccer team took the field, it was up in Plymouth in a loss to the Slinger Owls, a squad that would go on to beat Plymouth, Catholic Memorial, Appleton Xavier, and Delavan-Darien to win the WIAA Divison II State Championship. That win would prove to be the last in Divison 2 as we knew it. Now, after a major shake up, Division 2 is quite bare. Three of the four State Tournament participants, Onalaska, Slinger, and Delavan-Darien, have all moved up to Division 1 along with perennial Divison 2 power and Regional rival Plymouth. As for Grafton, the Black Hawks used to belong to Regional A of Sectional 4 with Campbellsport, Kewaskum, Kiel, Plymouth, Sheboygan Falls, Waupun, and Slinger. With three of those teams gone including Grafton, that regional picked up Two Rivers, Mayville, and New Holstein. Regional B now consists of the Black Hawks, Brown Deer, Milwaukee Messmer, Milwaukee Lutheran, Milwaukee Ronald Reagan/Wisconsin Lifelong Learning, New Berling Eisenhower, New Berlin West, and the Shorewood Greyhounds. You may remember two years ago in the 2004 WIAA Sectional Final at Grafton when the Black Hawks squared off with the Greyhounds for a trip to state, with the Greyhounds punching their ticket with a 3-1 victory. This year, Grafton returns 12 players from last years varsity team, including eight seniors and three juniors. The only losses from the starting lineup the Black Hawks suffered were defensive player Zach Zadra and forward Chris Vahsholtz. The Black Hawks will look to improve on their 12-10-3 record from last year, and a 2-4-1 North Shore Conference record. Also, Grafton will add two more new uniforms to their collection this season, adding a long sleeve white and a long sleeve black jersey to go along with their white, black, and orange short sleeve jerseys. Practice begins August 14th at the high school, with five summer contact dates upcoming that will be announced shortly.
