FIRST AND SHORT

First state champ, 1976 Falls East team, to celebrate 40 years

JR Radcliffe
jr.radcliffe@jrn.com

I included it in my links roundup, but I wanted to give special attention to Steven L. Tietz's story about the 1976 Menomonee Falls East football team, the first state champion in the current WIAA playoff system in Division 2.

Tietz (a Falls graduate himself) notes than the members of that team haven't really celebrated their accomplishment since they graduated, and this will give them a first chance before the current Falls team (a high school on the grounds of the former Falls East) takes on Sussex Hamilton in a critical Greater Metro game.

For me, the biggest takeaway was how amped up the players were and how big of a deal it was for the school, even though the playoffs were a brand new construct. There was certainly nothing lost in the "experimental" nature of the postseason.