WINNECONNE – Winneconne and Little Chute have met before. It was Week 1 of the 2025 season and Winneconne won the game 14-6.
Since then, neither team has lost a game as Winneconne is undefeated with 13 wins and Little Chute is 12-1.
“I think we made the comment after Week 1 that we were fortunate to get away with a W and also, we thought they were going to be probably undefeated on the season after playing us. We knew they were a real good team,” Winneconne co-coach Nathan Ryf said.
Now, Winneconne and Little Chute will meet on the biggest stage the state has to offer, in the WIAA Division 4 state championship. The game will be played at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 20, at Camp Randall in Madison.
It’s Winneconne’s second appearance in a state championship in school history. The last time was in 2013 when Winneconne won the Division 4 state championship.
The buildup to playing in a state championship for Winneconne started years ago, but the 18 seniors on the team got a taste of a postseason run in 2024 when they made it to Level 4. Winneconne won its first 12 games of the season before losing to Baldwin-Woodville 40-16 in Level 4.
“I think that semifinal game last year, that was the first really big game that they were put in front of. It was probably a little bit of an awakening for them,” Winneconne co-coach Ryan Krings said. “This year they went into that game (state semifinal) having that behind them. Now we go to Madison we get them back on the track for that and keep working the way we’ve been all season. It’s another week, it’s the biggest week of the season but we got to continue working like we have all season.”
To make it to the state championship, Winneconne beat Milwaukee North/Lifelong Learning 71-0 in Level 1, Altoona 28-6 in Level 2, Freedom 31-15 in Level 3 and then Baldwin-Woodville 28-8 in Level 4. Winneconne has outscored its opponents 158-29 in the playoffs.
Little Chute’s journey to the state championship started with a 40-2 Level 1 win over Ripon, 49-20 win against West Salem in Level 2, beat Racine St. Catherine’s 23-12 in Level 3 and Columbus 35-25 in Level 4.
Winneconne is led by University of Iowa football commit, Brody Schaffer. He plays quarterback and defensive back for the Wolves.
“Not very often,” Krings said on if Schaffer ever leaves the field. “We try and give him a break when we can, but he doesn’t ask for it, doesn’t show that he needs it a lot. … He’s going to put a lot of weight on his shoulders, he’s going to do what he does out there, and he’s been doing that for the last couple years for us.”
Schaffer isn’t the only Division I commit on the team as defensive/offensive lineman Hudson Samolinski is committed to play at Illinois State University. In Winneconne’s win over Baldwin-Woodville he had three tackles for loss, five solo tackles and eight total tackles.
“He showed a real gritty performance. He didn’t come off the field. He was all over the place,” Ryf said. “He’s definitely a game changer when teams are trying to run the ball.”
Key Players
By the numbers
About the game
Contact or send game stats/info to Ben Schultz at BSchultz@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @benschultz52.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: WIAA Division 4 state championship will be a Week 1 rematch for Winneconne and Little Chute
Reporting by Ben Schultz, Oshkosh Northwestern / Oshkosh Northwestern
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
