Four UW-Oshkosh Alumni Coach At WIAA Football Championships

The UW-Oshkosh football program was well represented at the 2008 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association State High School Football Championships on Nov. 20-21 at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison as three former Titans won state titles and a fourth led his team to a second-place finish.

In Division 2, 1985 UW-Oshkosh graduate Steve Jorgensen saw his Kimberly squad defeat Verona, 28-14, for its second straight title and 28th consecutive win. Jorgensen and his Papermakers concluded a 14-0 campaign for the second consecutive year. In his five years at Kimberly, Jorgensen has posted a 46-11 record. He also directed Oshkosh North to a Division 1 state championship in 2000. Jorgensen earned All-WIAC first team honors as a defensive end for the Titans in 1983.

Waupaca captured the Division 3 state championship as John Koronkiewicz and his Comets took down Reedsburg, 21-20, to cap a 14-0 season. The 1976 UW-Oshkosh graduate had previously taken his squad to the Division 3 state title in 2006. Koronkiewicz owns a 206-70 record in his 33 seasons as Waupaca's head coach.

Dennis Moon kept the UW-Oshkosh momentum going in Division 4, leading Wautoma to a 20-0 victory over Big Foot in the final. The win earned Wautoma its first state championship and finished off a 13-1 season. Moon, a 1977 UW-Oshkosh graduate, has led the Hornets to a 64-89 record in his 16 years at the helm.

Tom Taraska, a 1975 UW-Oshkosh graduate, took his 13-0 Hartland Arrowhead squad to the Division 1 final, where it lost to Mequon Homestead by a score of 13-11. The loss snapped a 27-game winning streak for the Warhawks, which included a state title in 2007. Taraska, who owns a 27-year coaching record of 246-92 at Hartland Arrowhead, also guided the Warhawks to Division I state championships in 1993, 1994 and 1996.