For the first time in 35 years, a Madison public school is playing in a state football semifinal game. The Memorial Spartans face defending Division 1 champion Muskego tonight in Oconomowoc in a game that will be aired on The Big 1070.
This week, Spartans coach Mike Harris spoke about the opportunity, noting that while history has already been made, there's still plenty on the table for this year's team.
Harris credited the maturity, character, and hard work of Madison Memorial for getting to this point.
Memorial was the last public school from the city of Madison to make it to a state semifinal, back in 1984. Madison West advanced to Level 3, a state quarterfinal, two seasons ago. Memorial was state runner-up in 1978 and 1984, while West won it all 1977 while finishing as runner-up in 1981. The only other Madison public school to win even two playoff games was La Follette in 2002. Memorial this year became the first-ever Madison public school to win three playoff games.