FIRST AND SHORT

Games of the Year (regular season edition)

JR Radcliffe
jr.radcliffe@jrn.com

The 2016 football regular season is complete, which gives us a chance to look back and the 10 best games of the year (with plenty great ones left to come).

10. Messmer/Shorewood survives Simuncak. Jake Simuncak willed South Milwaukee into overtime with four rushing touchdowns and another through the air, tying the game with 30 seconds left on a rushing score in Week 4. But Messmer/Shorewood, which had a breakthrough year thanks to a midseason run of five straight wins, won in overtime when Joe Fridman found Aaron Eimers for a 25-yard score for a 41-34 victory.

9. Pewaukee wins Woodland West showdown. New Berlin Eisenhower scored 17 points in the fourth quarter but missed a 2-point conversion in the final 2 minutes in what amounted to a Woodland West title game. Pewaukee emerged, 26-24, and went on to win the overall Woodland crown.

8. New Berlin West TD pass beats Milwaukee Lutheran. Controversy marked the end of this game, when West's Nate Egofske fired a touchdown into the end zone on what amounted to an untimed down. Lutheran thought it had the game won one play earlier. It was a ridiculous early start to the season for Milwaukee Lutheran, which went on to lose back-to-back 1-point games the following two weeks on successful 2-point conversion attempts by the opposition in the final 2 minutes.

7. Oak Creek cool under pressure. Oak Creek appeared to be on the outside looking in on the playoff chase despite a promising season outlook, but the Knights answered the bell in Week 9 to get that fourth conference win. Indian Trail was one of the Southeast Conference's best teams, but the Knights scored 15 unanswered points to prevail, 29-28, including a successful 2-point try with 42 seconds left after what could have been a game-tying touchdown. There's nothing quite like a decision to go for 2 with the season on the line.

6. Marquette stuns Brookfield East. After Sam Santiago-Lloyd scored a go-ahead touchdown with 39 seconds left, it appeared East had defeated Marquette in a Greater Metro battle that at the time seemed like a battle for second place. But Marquette found a way to bounce back, getting a 21-yard touchdown with four seconds left, and a field goal in overtime gave the Hilltoppers a 20-17 win.

5. Oconomowoc vs. Hartford (or just about anyone). Pick one of Oconomowoc's games at random, and chances are you've landed on a crazy shootout. The Raccoons were no stranger to overcoming deficits and putting up a ton of points in the process, but the biggest win may have been against rival Hartford, a 48-42 win that became the first of two overtime victories in the Wisconsin Little Ten. Ben Nienhuis threw for 312 yards, and Zach Clayton caught seven passes for 113 -- far from the best single-game performances those two had in 2016, however.

4, Central and Bay lock horns in overtime. Brookfield Central started its season with a bang, holding on for a zany win in overtime against Whitefish Bay on the first Thursday of the season, 50-43. Bay was supposed to be in rebuilding mode (it wasn't), but Cade Garcia threw for 344 yards and five touchdowns. Central racked up six rushing touchdowns and ultimately won on defense to preserve the first of eight straight wins.

3. Waukesha West beats Muskego at the buzzer. Muskego wound up winning its final three games of the year and would have been a playoff team had it not been for this jaw dropper to open the Classic 8 season on a Thursday night. With top running back Peter MacCudden injured on the previous play -- a moment of controversy, it should be noted -- Robert Kobza snuck in the winning touchdown as time expired to give West a thrilling 26-24 victory.

2. Menomonee Falls defeats Brookfield Central. With all due respect to Waukesha North's win over Arrowhead, this may have to share honors as upset of the year. Coming in the final week of the season, Falls needed a win for a playoff berth, but it was also facing off with an undefeated league champion looking to solidify its playoff seed. But Falls hung close and erased a 17-7 deficit, capped by a 58-yard touchdown pass from Arick Gleissner to Cameron Jemison (who also threw a touchdown in the third quarter on a trick play) for a shocking 21-17 win.

1. Waukesha North tops Arrowhead. The Northstars had everyone's attention following a Week 3 stunner, 26-20, in which the struggling program knocked off a squad that had been to the past four Division 1 state finals. North ultimately fell short of a playoff berth, but for a while, North was the top story around the state. Taylor Anderson caught two scores, and North held off a furious fourth-quarter rally to prevail.