Morning State News Briefs: UW's Smith out for season with injury

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MADISON - University of Wisconsin senior defensive back Devin Smith is out for the remainder of the regular season, with a left foot injury suffered in Saturday’s Badger shutout of Oregon State.

Coach Bret Bielema made the announcement today during a teleconference of Big Ten coaches. Smith was a starter at corner. The seventh-ranked Badgers are gearing up to play Northern Illinois in Chicago on Saturday.

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Former Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Doeren says he’s disappointed that he didn’t leave Madison on a winning note. Doeren left to become the new head coach at Northern Illinois, which will play the seventh-ranked Badgers on Saturday in Chicago. He says he does not have a lot of regrets over his final game at Wisconsin – the 21-19 loss to TCU in the Rose Bowl. He said he felt good about the game plan he developed for the Badger defense – and his players executed it for most of the game. Doeren said he felt good about holding TCU to 21 points, after the Horned Frogs averaged 43 points the rest of the season.

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Three players from Wisconsin made the national small college Team-of-the-Week from D3football.com. They are Tyler Mazur of Lawrence in Appleton, Ryan Pearcy of UW-Stout, and Zak Brinkman of UW-Platteville. Mazur caught four touchdown passes in a 62-42 Lawrence victory over Knox College. The junior receiver caught a total of eight passes on the day for 220 yards. That included a 92-yard scoring catch, the fourth-longest pass play in Lawrence history. Pearcy, a senior linebacker, had an interception, a forced fumble, and 20 tackles in Stout’s 20-17 win over Jamestown. Brinkman, a senior punter, placed four-of-his-seven punts inside the opponents’ 10-yard line in a 26-3 non-conference win over Stevens Point.

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Austin Neu of UW-Eau Claire is the WIAC’s football player-of-the-week on offense. Neu, a junior quarterback, threw for 242 yards and three touchdowns in Eau Claire’s 47-19 romp of 25th-ranked Saint John’s of Minnesota. Neu also had a rushing touchdown as part of his 37 yards on the ground. Ryan Pearcy of UW-Stout is the honored player on defense. The senior linebacker had 20 tackles and an interception in Stout’s 20-to-17 win over Jamestown. Zak Brinkman of UW-Platteville was named the league’s top special teams’ player. Brinkman, a senior punter, landed five-of-his-seven kicks inside the opponents’ 20-yard line in Platteville’s 26-to-3 non-conference win over Stevens Point. The WIAC also honored Alberto Rivero of Superior and James Pike of Oshkosh in men’s soccer – Sammy Greer of Stevens Point and Nina Behrenbrinker of Eau Claire in women’s soccer - Jared Brandenburg of River Falls and Laura Mead of La Crosse in cross country – Mary Welch of Oshkosh in women’s golf – Taylor Heltne of Eau Claire in women’s singles tennis – and Jenny Maruyama and Abby Tresedder of La Crosse in doubles’ tennis.

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Luke Barthelmess and Cody Robel, both of Lawrence, and Petr Bohacek of Saint Norbert have been named the Midwest Conference football performers-of-the-week. Barthelmess, a sophomore quarterback, threw for a league-record 549 yards in a 62-42 Lawrence victory over Knox College. Barthelmess also broke a school record with six touchdown passes. And he ran for 45 yards and a score of his own. Robel, a junior kicker, tied a Lawrence record with eight extra points in that game. Bohacek, a lineman, won the league honors on defense. He had three-and-a-half sacks and a team-high 10 tackles in Saint Norbert’s 30-14 win over Beloit, in which the Green Knights held Beloit to negative rushing yards. Also, the Midwest Conference recognized Adam Haefner of Ripon College in men’s soccer

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Strong safety Alex Vitkauskas of Carthage has been named the CCIW’s football defensive player-of-the-week. The junior had two interceptions in a 38-nothing Carthage rout of Lakeland. Vitkauskas returned his first pick 38 yards for a touchdown. Also, Carthage sophomore Katie Kummerer is the CCIW women’s cross country runner-of-the-week. She finished third at last weekend’s Aurora “Spartan Classic.”

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Jake Semmann of Wisconsin Lutheran and Jessica Axt of Milwaukee Engineering are the men’s-and-women’s soccer players-of-the-week in the Northern Athletics Conference. Semmann, a freshman forward, had two goals and an assist last week – including a game-winning score against Bethany Lutheran. Axt scored four goals in MSOE’s 6-0 shutout of Ripon College. The NAC also gave weekly honors to Brent Quade of Edgewood in men’s golf, and Kaitlyn Strehlow of Wisconsin Lutheran in women’s tennis.

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