Four teams earn titles on first day of state high school football championships

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – The first day of the WIAA State High School Football Championships resulted in four teams taking home titles.

Kenosha St. Joseph, Darlington, Mayville, and Winneconne were the winners of the first four games of the state finals Thursday.

The remaining three championship games will be played Friday at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. More information on those match-ups is available on the WIAA website.

Division 7: Kenosha St. Joseph (14-0) 35, Cochrane-Fountain City (13-1) 19

Kenosha St. Joseph got up early by scoring on all of its first-half possessions and held off Cochrane-Fountain City to claim its second-ever state title in football.

The Lancers set several D7 championship game passing records en route to the victory, including 226 yards passing.

The game was still in question in the third quarter after a fumble return for a touchdown by the Pirates, bringing it to within 28-13. The teams would trade touchdowns in the fourth quarter to get to the final margin.

It was the first-ever state championship appearance for Cochrane-Fountain City.

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Division 6: Darlington (14-0) 42, Edgar (13-1) 18

A hot start and a big halftime lead helped Darlington win its first state title since 1995 and fifth overall over fellow powerhouse Edgar.

In the first half, the Redbirds scored five touchdowns and led 35-6 at the break. Edgar trimmed the lead to 35-12 in the third quarter and held Darlington to 57 second-half yards, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the big first-half margin.

Darlington ran for nearly 300 yards and recorded five sacks on defense in the victory.

For Edgar, after winning nine previous titles, the Wildcats will take home a seventh silver ball after making a WIAA-record 16th appearance in the state championship game.

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Division 5: Mayville (14-0) 42, Northwestern (13-1) 32

Mayville claimed its second-ever state title after getting a key score in the third quarter to pull away and defeat Northwestern in the championship game.

The Cardinals led 21-14 at halftime, but got a score late in the third quarter to go up by two scores. The teams traded a pair of touchdowns the rest of the way before Northwestern added a score with 2:45 left in the game to get the Tigers to 32 points.

Both teams were nearly even in yardage at 342 for Mayville and 324 for Northwestern. The game featured a blocked punt for a touchdown as well as a kick return for a score.

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Division 4: Winneconne (14-0) 28, Little Chute (12-2) 22

An all-time classic wrapped up the first day of the state high school football finals as Winneconne used a big special teams play late to take the lead and win the Division 4 championship.

Little Chute, which lost to Winneconne all the way back in Week 1 14-6, led 22-13 in the second half. The Wolves were able to rally in the final six minutes of the game, getting their first score with 5:58 left in the fourth quarter.

After Little Chute was forced to punt, the snap went over the punter’s head, and Winneconne was able to take over on a short field to drive 22 yards for the go-ahead score in the final moments to complete the rally.

BOX SCORE / STATS

Finals for Divisions 3, 2, 1 on tap

The final three games of the 2025 high school football season in Wisconsin are on Friday at Camp Randall Stadium.

At 10 a.m., Grafton (13-0) takes on Reedsburg (10-3) in the Division 3 championship. D2’s final is a showdown between undefeated Green Bay-area teams as Notre Dame (13-0) plays West De Pere (13-0). Finally, the Division 1 final is between Arrowhead (12-1) and Bay Port (11-2).

Game information, broadcast and streaming links, and live stats are available on the WIAA website.