MENASHA – The Banta Bowl will be the home for the Menasha High School football team for games during the 2026 season.
Menasha football coach Jeramie Korth confirmed Aug. 4 that the Lawrence University football field, located at 1201 E. John St. in Appleton, will host the Bluejays for four home games beginning with the Aug. 21 season opener against Plymouth.
The Bluejays also have home games at the Banta Bowl on Sept. 18 (Green Bay West), Oct. 2 (Green Bay Notre Dame) and Oct. 16 (Green Bay East).
Calder Stadium, Menasha’s home field, was heavily damaged by the EF-3 tornado that struck the city July 27. It rendered the facility unusable for the football season.
Korth said he reached out to Lawrence University assistant director of athletics Jason Fast, who is a Menasha graduate. The two were able to get things in motion to have the Banta Bowl host the Bluejays’ home slate.
“[Lawrence’s coaches] have been all around trying to get inside and talking with coaches in the Valley,” Korth said. “They’re trying to resurrect that program and get that program on its feet and they’ve been great as well. I just messaged a couple of people and they got on it.”
Menasha senior starting quarterback Paul Schmolinske likes the area around the Banta Bowl and thinks it will be a good facility.
“I feel like it’s a great facility,” he said. “We sometimes go down there to fish and stuff and I see it and I’m like, ‘It’s pretty nice out there.’ I didn’t really know where we were gonna play until yesterday and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m kind of excited for that.’ It’s a nice college facility.”
The Bluejays, who also used Calder Stadium as their practice field, held their first practice of the 2026 season Aug. 4 on the impressive turf field at Maplewood Middle School in Menasha.
Korth said the team will continue to use the facility for practice through Aug. 27, when it will shift to Menasha High School.
“I would say this is one of the best facilities around for a middle school,” Korth said. “I think the people who put it up said they’ve never done this out of a middle school before. So the fact that we have the same exact turf that we have out at Calder Stadium here … we have a great facility, obviously, and the school is state of the art. We got lights here if we need to go at night. We’ll play our JV games here. And people will pull up – I mean, we have some stands – but they’ll all pull up with their chairs and stuff. Our kids will not have to play in other cities for JV football and stuff like that.
“It’s never going to be exactly what we had, but I think our administration and the powers that be hit some home runs with the backup plans.”
Menasha football players stay upbeat during the chaos
Schmolinske said the aftermath of the storm has galvanized the Menasha community.
“I know I’m safe, but there are some people on our team, their houses are gone,” he said. “But I think it’s going to [unite] us as a community. I give my friends rides because their cars were smashed in. I was out in the community and people were so supportive. We just gotta help the city. … It made everyone come together and realize how tight-knit this community really is. I’ve never seen that.”
Menasha senior defensive back Shamir Senyange said he’s experienced a few tornadoes recently, but nothing like what struck Menasha on July 27.
“The past few years they’ve been a few tornadoes and stuff like that, so I didn’t really take it as seriously,” he said. “And then the power went out and then I wasn’t able to communicate with any of my friends and stuff. Once the storm went out, I went to go outside and look and it was just like it was crazy. The stadium’s damaged and all that and that like opened my eyes to show that this is real.”
Senyange added he and the other players were relieved to return to a bit of normalcy in their daily lives with the start of football practice.
“We’re just all happy to get out here and be able to still play football,” he said. “And still have – technically – home games and stuff like that. So we’re just all excited to get back on the field.”
Korth said his players have been great dealing with the difficult situation.
“This isn’t some of their first times dealing with adversity,” he said. “I think our kids are very resilient in Menasha. I think they can adapt to different surroundings. I just love our culture and I think we have a really good group of kids, and I think that they’re locked in and ready to play some football.”
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Menasha football team returns to practice field in aftermath of tornado
Reporting by Ricardo Arguello, Appleton Post-Crescent / Appleton Post-Crescent
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ricardo Arguello, Appleton Post-Crescent | USA TODAY Network
