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Box Score

GREEN BAY - It was no real surprise in the Division 2 state championship as overwhelming favorite Catholic Memorial swept Tomahawk 25-18, 25-13, 25-19 to win its third straight state title and fourth since 2006.

Though with as talented of a bunch as head coach Ted Schulte has in his program, the expectations he places on his athletes has obviously produced results.

“Playing for me is a lot of pressure, I hold kids to a high standard,” Schulte said.

That standard is not only winning, but developing athletes for the next level—whatever level that entails. Four players on this year’s roster have already signed with NCAA Division I programs, by far the most of any team in any division in the 2011 state tournament.

Yet according to Schulte, all he had to do was take a chance on a bunch of 14-year-olds to set the wheels in motion.

“Five years ago when I put four freshmen on varsity that were varsity-ready, I said OK, we’re going to win a state championship when they are seniors,” Schulte said. “The next year, I put three freshmen on the floor and by now we’re so crowded that I’m putting really good players down on JV that are varsity ready to make some room.”

Though with years of dominance and a well that seemingly grows deeper each season, many ask why Catholic Memorial, which plays a schedule against almost entirely Division 1 teams within and outside the state boundaries, doesn’t choose to prove itself against those larger schools and generally stronger programs. Schulte said that despite discussing that option in the past, the reason they remain in D2 is two-fold.

“Our soccer coach and I talked about this at length one day and two things come into play,” Schulte said. “If you opt up one year and don’t opt up the second year, the message you send to that team is they’re not very good. So you almost set yourself up for failure by not doing that. Two, there’s an argument that the Division 2 field is maybe tougher than the division 1 field.”

There’s little discussion that last year’s Division 2 state title match pitting Catholic Memorial against Madison Edgewood featured the best to teams in the state. But this season the depth of Division 2 was much more watered down and the majority of the D2 talent was focused in the southeastern sectional, more specifically in Catholic Memorial’s ridiculously stacked regional.

“I think last year when we played Edgewood, they were the second-best team in the state,” Schulte said. “This season we got through Kettle Moraine Lutheran and KML plays very well at those big tournaments. There also were six conference champions in our regional this year.”

Per WIAA rules, in order to actually opt up a division a school must do so long before the rosters are finalized at the beginning of the season. And in such a fluid private-school environment like Catholic Memorial, a risk of the unknown is a chance Schulte doesn’t feel is necessary.

“I don’t know where my team is going to be, who will make the team so we’re just going to play our enrollment. For the last couple years I’ve been very very lucky, but down the road we might not get the same kids we’ve been getting as of late.”

One thing that won’t change is CMH’s intent on putting together as difficult a schedule as any team in the state.

“We play as tough a schedule as we possibly can,” Schultz said. “That prepares you for these things—at the end of the day I can certainly say that we’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the state out of anyone here. There’s nothing we’re going to see here that we haven’t seen before.”

That is quite the understatement, as Catholic Memorial has had just two total set losses and two opponents score at least 20 points against the Crusaders in six state tournament matches.