Tonight at 7pm in Two Rivers, the 3 Sheboygan Area Lutheran Crusaders 18-7 (13-3) take on the 1 Green Bay N.E.W. Lutheran Blazers 25-0 (14-0) in a WIAA Division 5 Sectional Semi-Final game. Sheboygan Lutheran, the defending Division 5 state champions, come into this game after upsetting Suring 46-33 on the road on Saturday to win the regional championship. Coach Nick Verhagen has a talented group of players led by Tyler Zastrow, a 5-9 junior guard who averages a team best 17.8 points per game. Jacob Jurss, a talented sophmore, chips in 13.9 for the Crusaders. They finished second in the tough Central Lakeshore Conference, only behind 22-2 Oostburg. N.E.W. enters this sectional contest after beating Hilbert 70-58 on Monday night to claim a regional championship. They led by just one after three quarters and trailed 53-49 until Dakota Zinser, a talented transfer from Green Bay Preble, took over and went on a 10-0 run on his own to give the Blazers the lead for good. Travis Voigt, the catalyst for the Blazers balanced attack, leads N.E.W. with an average of 14.7 points per game for coach Mark Meerstein. The Blazers are looking to go to state for the third time in four years. These two teams met on January 7 in Sheboygan, with N.E.W. claiming an 82-61 nonconference road win. Look for this to be just as entertaining, but I think the Blazers are too talented and will keep their undefeated season going with a win.
