Division 6 champion: Regis Ramblers
Final record: 14-0
State-title game: Regis 27, Darlington 14
Conference: 8-0 in Cloverbelt Conference
Championship moment: Samuel Forden hauled in a 55-yard pass late in the third quarter for a touchdown that put the game well in hand at 27-0. Darlington eventually found some offense in the late going, but it was too late. Regis won its second title in five trips and first in Division 6. The Ramblers won the 2003 Division 7 title.
Title-game stats: Noel Ortiz rushed for 132 yards on 24 carries for the winners, with a touchdown. Caleb Brickner ran for 45 yards and a touchdown but also did huge work on defense, hauling in two of his team's four interceptions on the day. Forden finished with four catches for 124 yards and the score. Darlington workhorse Hunter Johnson was limited to 95 yards on 17 carries. Laith Kidess had two sacks and finished with nine for the year.
Playoff ladder: Regis defeated Unity (50-14), Chetek-Weyerhauser (35-29), Grantsburg (21-20) and Abbotsford (22-14).
Of note: The Regis title game may not have been overly dramatic, but the build to the playoffs sure was. Alex Rocksvold’s interception in the end zone with 9 seconds left sealed a 35-29 win over Chetek-Weyerhauser in Level 2 after CW had marched down to the red zone. In Level 3 against Grantsburg, Regis went for a 2-point conversion with 22 seconds to play and won, 21-20, after being down by a 20-6 score with roughly 4 minutes to play. A halfback option pass contributed to the comeback and avenged a playoff loss a year ago. By comparison, a 22-14 Level 4 win over Abbostford was uneventful, though Regis did have to fend off a late Abby rally.
The near-shutout (Darlington scored its first points with 6:19 to go) in the championship game was a heck of an accomplishment for a Regis defense that has yielded its share of offense. The Ramblers did have three shutouts on the docket this season but also six games in which they yielded at least 20 points, and four games of 29 or more.
Leaders: Paul Petit threw for 1,471 yards and 22 touchdowns, and Noel Ortiz ran for 1,190 yards and 12 scores. The leading receiver was far and away Samuel Forden, with 724 yards receiving and 11 touchdowns. Ortiz was also named honorable-mention All State as a defensive lineman despite standing just 5-9, and he came up with a huge sack late in the title game as Darlington was adding some late pressure looking for a third touchdown after recovering an onside kick.
Runner-up: Darlington (12-1) became the first program to finish as state runner-up four straight years and bid adieu to 2,000-yard rusher Hunter Johnson, a University of Wisconsin preferred walk-on. Darlington also finished as runner-up four times in a five-year stretch (1993, 94, 96, 97), and Lancaster took second three straight years (2011, 12, 13) before winning the 2014 title. Arrowhead also took a runner-up finish four times in seven years (2000, 02, 03, 06).