Morning State Sports Roundup: High school football season off and running

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Wisconsin high schools kicked off their 2012 football season last night with five games around the state. Most teams will play tonight, and Week-One will wrap up tomorrow for a number of schools. The schedule is one week shorter this year, to avoid a mid-August start to the season. Teams will play eight regular season games before the playoffs. For the second year in a row, all playoff contests will be held on the weekends, so schools no longer have to play their first three post-season games in as little as 10 days. Also, the WIAA is bringing back eight-player teams for 16 smaller schools, so they can maintain football.

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In golf, Steve Stricker of Madison is tied for 26th after his first round in the PGA Playoffs. Stricker shot a two-under-par 69 yesterday, as The Barclays’ tournament opened in Farmingdale New York. It’s the first of four tournaments in the Fed-Ex Cup playoff series. Pewaukee native Mark Wilson is tied for 104th place, after shooting a four-over-par 75 in his first round. Jerry Kelly of Madison – who just barely made the playoff field of 125 – struggled to a five-over-76. He’s tied for 114th. Padraig Harrington is the first-round leader at seven-under. The top 100 in the Fed-Ex point standings after this weekend will advance to next weekend’s tournament.

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The Horizon League released its men’s basketball schedule yesterday, the first without perennial powerhouse Butler. The Bulldogs moved to the Atlantic-10 Conference a few months ago, thus leaving title prospects wide open for a number of Horizon League teams. UW-Green Bay will open its conference schedule on January third at Wright State, while UW-Milwaukee opens on the road the same day at Detroit. Each team will play 16 games – home-and-road contests against each school. All five Horizon League first-team players from a year ago are back – including center Alec Brown of Green Bay.

Tags: wisconsin sports, sports, football, prep