The high school football season is officially moving into conference play, and the fall sports calendar is quickly filling up across the Chippewa Valley. After several weeks of crossover matchups, teams are now beginning to settle into their conference schedules, setting up some intriguing games ove r the next few weeks. High School Football: Conference Play Begins The early part of the season has featured several crossover games, including matchups involving Eau Claire Memorial, Eau Claire North and teams from the Mississippi Valley Conference. One of the more notable crossover games was the longtime rivalry between Memorial and Chi-Hi. The two schools are no longer in the same conference for football, but that hasn’t stopped them from keeping the rivalry alive as a nonconference matchup. Now, however, the focus turns toward conference play. Memorial will face a tough challenge with Marshfield coming to town. Marshfield enters the matchup after an impressive victory over River Falls, making for another difficult test for Memorial. One of the most entertaining games of the week came between Mondovi and Osseo-Fairchild. Both teams have aspirations of making a deep postseason run, and the game turned into an offensive shootout before Mondovi eventually came away with the victory. Another game that went right down to the wire was Regis at Altoona. Altoona played one of its best games of the young season and had a late lead, with Owen Gunderson helping keep the Cardinals in the game. Regis, however, found a way to put together a late drive behind Noah Laver and ultimately pulled out the victory. It was a great rivalry atmosphere, particularly given the history between the two programs as former CloverBelt Conference opponents. For Altoona, despite starting the season 0-2, there were plenty of positives to take from the performance. The Cardinals showed they can compete with quality teams and will look to turn that effort into their first win when they travel to Somerset. Regis, meanwhile, will hit the road to take on Abbotsford. Other Fall Sports Getting Into Gear While football has been the primary focus early in the fall, the rest of the high school sports calendar is beginning to pick up steam. The Stout Polytechnic Sprawl brought volleyball teams from throughout the area together for multiple matches as programs got their seasons underway. There were several strong performances throughout the event, including teams such as Rice Lake, Chi-Hi and McDonell. Cross country is also underway, although runners had to deal with some less-than-ideal weather conditions at the Lowes Creek meet. Saturday morning brought a heavy downpour, forcing runners to compete through the rain. After a relatively dry stretch, the timing of the rain certainly wasn’t ideal for the athletes taking part. Golf is already underway as well, while soccer will begin ramping up this week. With students returning to school, the entire fall sports calendar is about to go into full swing. College Football Returns to the Chippewa Valley The start of September also means the return of college football. Both UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout will begin their seasons this weekend. UW-Stout is scheduled to travel to Dubuque for its season opener, while the Blugolds will host Alma College in a noon kickoff Saturday at Carson Park. There is plenty of anticipation surrounding the UW-Eau Claire football program heading into the season. The Blugolds have enjoyed success in their nonconference games in recent years, and the next step is carrying that success into conference play. That’s no easy task in the WIAC. The conference is consistently one of the toughest in Division III football, and success against WIAC competition can put a team in position to compete nationally. UW-River Falls will also have plenty of attention surrounding its program after winning the national championship last season. The Falcons enter this season with a new head coach and changes throughout the roster, making it interesting to see whether they can maintain their position near the top of the conference. Blugold Volleyball and Soccer Begin Their Seasons It’s not just football getting started at UW-Eau Claire. Blugold volleyball has an exhibition matchup on the schedule as it prepares for the regular season, while women’s and men’s soccer are also getting into action. The soccer programs have already been on the road preparing for the season, including a trip to the East Coast for Coach Yengo’s group. Before long, virtually every fall sport will be in full swing. And for local sports fans, that’s when things get really fun. The calendar is about to flip to September, high school students are returning to the classroom, college athletics are returning to Carson Park and campuses throughout the region, and football season is officially here. The long summer stretch is over. Now it’s time for the fall sports season to take over the Chippewa Valley. ...read more read less