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SUPPZ.COM SWNEWS4U ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Platteville's Davyn Edge
Platteville senior does it all in 47–46 SWC victory over archrival Lancaster
Edge
Platteville senior Davyn Edge hauls in a 2-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter of Friday’s SWC win over archrival Lancaster. Edge had a game for the ages, hauling in nine passes for 187 yards and four touchdowns; he scored the go-ahead two-point conversion, forced a key fourth-quarter fumble and recorded 11 tackles in Friday’s thrilling 47–46 victory over the Flying Arrows.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal / Fennimore Times / Boscobel Dial

Davyn Edge, Sr., WR/LB, Platteville football
PLATTEVILLE — Platteville senior Davyn Edge did it all in last Friday's 47–46 Southwest Wisconsin Conference victory over archrival Lancaster. Edge caught nine passes for 187 receiving yards and four touchdowns, scored a key two-point conversion in the fourth quarter after a lateral from teammate Zach McClain, then forced a key a fourth-quarter fumble — which was the only Lancaster drive of the game that didn’t end with a touchdown — on Lancaster's very next series. On the very next play he scored his fourth touchdown of the night on a 34-yard reception to give the Hillmen a 47–40 lead with 7:22 to play. Edge also finished the game with 11 tackles.

“Davyn played out of his mind and really proved how much he can impact the game on the football field,” said Arneson. “Davyn made so many amazing plays, like scoring the first touchdown right out of the half, to causing the fumble that gave us the ball back, to scoring a touchdown on the next play that got us up, and then taking a pitch from Zach on the two-point [play] and scoring it. 

Edge scored on a 2-yard TD catch with 6:29 left in the first half, then caught a 26-yard pass to set up Riley Donahoe's 4-yard touchdown run with 13 seconds left before halftime. Edge caught a slant pass on the first play of the third quarter, stiff-armed a Lancaster defender and took it all the way to the house for a 64-yard touchdown to pull the Hillmen within a point at 28–27. Edge caught a 9-yard Edge touchdown on 4th-and-6 with 3:29 left in the third, then scored a key two-point conversion on a lateral from McClain to give the Hillmen their first lead of the night at 41–40 with 9:28 left in the game. He finished his insane night with a 34-yard TD catch on a fly route one play after forcing a fumble midway through the fourth quarter.

“Davyn is a special player with special talent and I told him this all last year and to start the year. He knows how much he can positively impact the game and he is showing that on the field. The other thing that I love seeing from not only him, but the whole team, is their engagement with the youth and being great role models to them. They are showing that you can dominate/compete on the field with a fiery attitude and intensity, but you can also be sincere and kind off the field and be able to connect with others outside of football.”

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order):
Ruah Franzmann-Simmert, Fr., and Kate Pronschinskie, Fr., Tri-State Homeschool girls cross county
Franzmann-Simmert finished second out of 115 runners two weekends ago at the 10-team Mount Horeb Invitational with a time of 19:03, behind only Mount Horeb senior phenom Abigail Sadler (18:07.5).  Fellow Tri-State Homeschool freshman Kate Pronschinske placed ninth (20:25). Last Saturday the freshman duo placed second (20:07) and seventh (21:52) to lead the Lady Falcons to a second-place team finish at the annual Fennimore Golden Eagle Relays.

Brianna Kirsch, Sr., Lancaster girls golf
Kirsch followed up her conference-championship performance from a week ago, by shooting a 3-over-par 75 to win medalist honors by 12 strokes over Southwestern/Cuba City/Benton's Brooklyn Bussan (87) and led her Flying Arrows to the regional championship at last Tuesday's WIAA Division 2 Prairie du Chien Regional.

T.J. Pink, Jr., QB, Platteville football
Pink was nearly perfect in last Friday's 47–46 SWC victory over Division 6 #5-ranked Lancaster, completing 24 of 30 passes for 334 yards and four touchdowns. Pink has completed 98 of 140 passes for 1,297 yards, 15 TDs and 5 interceptions in six games so far this year.

Blake Thiry, Jr., RB/WR/LB, Prairie du Chien football
Thiry ran for 173 yards and 3 TDs, caught three passes for 82 yards and a fourth score, and had a six tackles in the Blackhawks' 43–12 win over River Valley last Friday night.

Gavin Vaassen, Jr., WR/DB, Cuba City football
Vaassen hauled in five catches for a whopping 227 yards and two touchdowns in Cuba City's 40–0 blowout at Orfordville Parkview/Albany.

Nolan Wolf, Jr., QB, Lancaster football
Wolf's incredible performance was somewhat overshadowed due to his team's loss, but the junior QB completed 7 of 9 passes for 118 yards and three TD — all on fourth down plays — and rushed for 142 yards and another score on 21 carries in the Flying Arrows' 47–46 loss at Platteville last Friday night.

SUPPZ.COM SWNEWS4U ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: Fennimore's Kayahna Furrer
Fennimore junior powers softball team to third-place SWAL finish with 12-strikeout perfect game, 8-RBI day
Kayahna Furrer
Fennimore junior Kayahna Furrer went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a homer and a career-high eight RBI, and pitched a five-inning no-hitter with 12 strikeouts in Friday’s 20–0 win at Darlington. (file photo by John Linden)

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Swnews4u.com Athlete of the Week is a web-only feature that will publish each Thursday or Friday throughout the calendar year.

By Jason Nihles, The Platteville Journal, Fennimore Times, Boscobel Dial

Kayahna Furrer, Jr., P, Fennimore softball
DARLINGTON — Fennimore junior pitcher Kayahna Furrer did it all in Monday night’s 20–0 five-inning rout of Darlington. Furuer (12–6) struck out 12 Redbirds and tossed a five-inning perfect to earn her 12th victory in the pitching circle this spring. Only three of the 15 Darlington batters that face Furrer Friday even put the ball in play.

Even more impressive the powerful Furrer went 4-for-5 at the plate with a pair of doubles, a home run and a career-high eight RBI to power the Golden Eagles’ offense. Furrer is now hitting an team-high .640 (48-for-75) with 10 doubles, three triples, and incredible 11 home runs and a leagues-high 48 RBI. She sports an outstanding .689 on-base percentage, an eye-popping 1.267 slugging percentage and an out of this world 1.956 OPS. She also holds a 12–6 pitching record with a 2.95 ERA and 192 strikeouts in 111 2/3 innings pitched.

Furrer hit a pair of long balls in last Thursday’s 13–2 loss to SWAL co-champion Mineral Point (19–5, 13–1 SWAL), but 10 fielding errors doomed the Eagles. Furrer also homered in last Tuesday’s 6–4 non-conference road win at Wisconsin Heights.

The Golden Eagles earned No. 3 seed it their nine-team Division 4 half sectional and a first-round bye Thursday. Fennimore will use Thursday’s open date to add a non-conference home game against River Ridge. The Eagles will then open the playoffs Tuesday with a WIAA regional semifinal against 

HONORABLE MENTION (in alphabetical order)
Bret Connolly, Sr., Iowa–Grant boys track and field
Iowa–Grant senior Bret Connolly won a pair of individual conference titles to lead the Panthers at Monday’s SWAL Conference Championship Meet at Steve “Sparky” Reynolds Memorial Track at Boscobel High School. Connolly nipped Cuba City senior Noah Wood in both the 1,600 and 3,200. Connolly (4:47.83) out-kicked Wood (4:48.75) in the 1,600 and then came back a couple hours later to win the 3,200 in similar fashion with a winning-time of 11:05.34. Wood finished a close second at 11:06.16. Connolly also won a bronze medal with a third-place finish in the boys 400 (52.59) and scored a team-high 26 points with his 13 totals laps around the track Monday night. Sophomore Landon Fries

Issac Henkel, Sr., Fennimore boys track and field
Fennimore senior Isaac Henkel was named the Male Athlete of the Meet at Monday's SWAL Conference Championship after helping the Fennimore boys win a second straight conference title. Henkel, a three-year WIAA State qualifier won the boys 400 in 50.94 seconds, and 800 in 2:05.56, and also ran the third leg of Fennimore’s winning 4x400 relay, combining with senior Matt Winch and sophomores Logan Koestler and Reece Kelley to post a time of 3:38.43.

Nora Jillson, Boscobel girl girls track and field
Boscobel hosted the annual SWAL Conference Championship Meet Monday night at Steve “Sparky” Reynolds Memorial Track. The Boscobel girls, who scored 113 points to finish second behind three-time defending champion Fennimore, were led by senior Nora Jillson, who won the 800-meter run (2:22.41) and the 1,600 (5:17.18). The UW–La Crosse recruit also finished second in the 3,200 at 11:57.97.

Brooklyn Ritchie., So. Fennimore girls track and field
Sophomore Brooklyn Ritchie took home the Female Athlete of the Meet honor at Monday's SWAL Conference Championship Meet after winning four gold medals to help the Fennimore girls win a third consecutive conference title. Ritchie scored 32.5 team points by winning the 100-meter-dash (12.87), 200 (27.02), long jump (16’2”) and the 4x100 relay (53.15), along with junior Peyton Lendosky, sophomore Katie Nelson and freshman Lola Hahn.

Tanner Simmons, Sr., P/OF, Belmont baseball
Simmons (5–1) struck out 12 batters and allowed just two unearned runs on three hits and three walks in six innings to lead Belmont to a 3–2 win at Barneveld last Friday night. Simmons also went 2-for-4 with a run scored as the Braves (17–4, 14–1 SRC) clinched at least a share of this year's Six Rivers Conference title with last week's victory. The D4 #5-ranked Braves will travel to #10-ranked River Ridge (14–6, 13–2) Thursday afternoon to play for this year's conference title. Simmons also went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run scored in a 15–2 win over Monticello/Albany in the opening game of a SRC sweep last Tuesday at UW–Platteville. Simmons had an RBI triple and a run scored in a 6–5 win in Game 2.