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Video Highlights: Homestead beats Slinger, 28-14
Video highlights from Homestead football’s 28-14 victory over Slinger on Oct. 10, 2025.
- The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association has a new playoff matrix that determines postseason qualification.
- Teams are jockeying for playoff positions and seeding as the regular season enters its final week.
- A team’s playoff qualifying score is based on wins and the strength of defeated opponents.
- Official playoff brackets and pairings will be released by the WIAA on October 18.
Milwaukee area high school football programs are jockeying for playoff positions as the WIAA regular season enters its final week. While it is a bit more complicated than simply “win and in” for teams on the bubble entering Week 9, we have a good sense of where teams stand based on the official WIAA preliminary qualifying report through Week 8 results.
Under the new playoff matrix implemented by the WIAA Board of Control in February, four conference wins is no longer the threshold for postseason qualification. Wins both inside and outside a team’s conference count toward a scoring system that weighs them based on division level of the opponent defeated, as well as that defeated opponent’s strength of defeated programs. Those two factors form a two-tier playoff qualifying score that is put against the rest of the teams in that division to determine playoff seeding. The top four scores in each division receive a No. 1 seed, with No. 2 through No. 8 seeds awarded by a combination of playoff qualifying score and travel time factors.
Here is the current playoff field entering Week 9 of the regular season.
Muskego back in as No. 1 seed, Hamilton falls with loss in Division 1
Sussex Hamilton had risen to a potential No. 1 seed after Week 7 results, but a 21-20 loss to Arrowhead in Week 8 dropped it to being a fringe No. 2 seed with the eighth highest Playoff Qualifying Score in Division 1 (27.328). The win for Arrowhead all but locks it into a No. 1 seed pending what should be a favorable result in Week 9 at 2-6 Kettle Moraine. Franklin nearly ran into trouble late in Week 8’s 24-17 win over Kenosha Indian Trail, but remained undefeated while maintaining the second-best PQS in D1 (33.602). Muskego (31.102) climbed back into the top four in PQS with its 41-10 win over Oconomowoc, as it sits right below the Neenah (31.570) team it lost to in Week 1 and right above Waunakee (29.109). Muskego’s Week 9 matchup with Mukwonago will not only carry significant Classic 8 Conference ramifications, but also have an impact on playoff seeding for both teams. Mukwonago (21.367) enters the week with the 13th-best PQS in D1.
Milwaukee Reagan (27.938) continues its climb over the past couple weeks as it sits just above Sussex Hamilton in seventh. The middle third of seeds also includes Brookfield East (22.258) in 12th, Kenosha Bradford (20.273) in 15th, Milwaukee Pulaski Co-op (20.031) in 16th, Oconomowoc (16.984) in 19th, Milwaukee Hamilton/Audubon (20th, 16.090) in 20th and Racine Case (15.727) in 21st. Four more area teams appear potentially on the bubble in the final third of current seeds, including Marquette (13.328) in 23rd, Milwaukee Bradley Tech (12.387) in 26th, Oak Creek (10.734) in 30th and Milwaukee Riverside (10.416) in 31st.
Stevens Point Area Senior High (9.344) holds the 32nd and final qualifying spot entering Week 9, with a cluster of six teams on the bubble within two PQS points. Milwaukee Marshall Co-op is the closest area team in 39th with its PQS of 6.482.
Homestead buoyed to No. 1 seed in D2 by win over Slinger
Homestead picked up a huge 28-14 home win over Slinger last week that has vaulted it into a No. 1 seed entering Week 9. The Highlanders (25.703) trail only West De Pere (30.086) and River Falls (28.289) and would very likely hold that No. 1 seed with a win over a 7-1 West Bend West team this week. Slinger (20.125) falls from ninth to 12th. Also appearing in the middle third of seeds this week are Germantown (19.078) in 14th, Milwaukee Rufus King (17.790) in 16th, West Bend West (16.648) in 18th, Milwaukee Bay View (13.859) in 19th, Wauwatosa East (11.719) in 21st and Wauwatosa West (11.328) in 22nd.
Another dozen area teams appear on the bubble in Division 2 across the final third of seeds and among those currently just outside the playoff field. Those currently in include Waukesha West (10.281) in 24th, Nicolet (10.000) in 25th, Brookfield Central (9.914) in 26th, Menomonee Falls (9.633) in 27th, Greenfield (8.922) in 28th, Obama SCTE (6.598) in 30th and Kettle Moraine (6.492) holding the 32nd spot.
The latter half of that list will face pressure from a tight field of statewide teams just outside the field, including Green Bay East (6.414), Waukesha South (6.266), Hartford Union (6.195), Ashwaubenon (5.688), Milwaukee Vincent/Destiny (5.346), Racine Horlick (5.134) and West Allis Hale (5.008) appearing in the 33rd-39th spots.
Grafton, New Berlin West, Catholic Memorial holding top seeds in Division 3
Grafton (31.781), New Berlin West (26.844) and Catholic Memorial (24.953) continue to hold the top three spots in Division 3 that would each earn No. 1 seeds. Behind Edgewood (23.867) in fourth is Whitnall (20.335), which is not likely to make enough inroads even with a win over D3 opponent Greendale in Week 9 to climb into that top four.
Martin Luther (17.906) also appears in the top 10 in eighth. The latter half of seeds includes a cluster of area reps including Pewaukee (13.352) in 16th, New Berlin Eisenhower (12.008) in 17th, Milwaukee Washington (11.146) in 18th, Port Washington (10.461) in 19th and Wisconsin Lutheran (10.458) in 20th. Two area teams to watch that could be on the bubble in the final third of seeds are Pius XI Catholic (9.039) in 26th and Whitefish Bay (6.609) in 30th.
Rhinelander (6.070) holds the 32nd spot just ahead of Waukesha North (5.422) as the first team out. Cudahy (4.355) at 36th and Greendale (3.929) in 38th could also each be in striking distance of those final spots.
Saint Francis, Brown Deer, Milwaukee North and University School all in for now
Racine St. Catherine’s (22.898) held its third place in Division 4 that would grant it one of the four No. 1 seeds. Three area teams appear in the bottom third of seeds, with a fourth among those just outside the playoff field. Saint Francis (7.719) sits in 27th, followed by Brown Deer (6.859) in 30th and Milwaukee North (6.565) holding the final qualifying spot. St. Thomas More (4.688), which fell out of the playoff field last week, dropped another spot to 34th.
Lake Country Lutheran (17.977) fell a spot to seventh in the Division 5 field, while Brookfield Academy (10.573) is back up a spot to 19th. Milwaukee Academy of Science (7.852) rejoined the field last week in 27th and climbed to 25th entering Week 9.
Omro (4.195) holds the final spot in Division 5, just ahead of Spooner (4.018) and University School of Milwaukee (3.227).
The WIAA will release official brackets and pairings during a one-hour live program airing Oct. 18 at 10 a.m. on the WIAA State Tournament Network stations and those stations’ websites. For more information, go to wiaawi.org.
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