Sutton’s Cade Wiseman has some unfinished family business to tend to when the No. 3 Mustangs (11-1) take on No. 1 Oakland-Craig (12-0) at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday in the Class C-2 state football championship game at Memorial Stadium.
The last time Sutton was in the Class C-2 state football final in 2012, Cade’s older brother, Cole Wiseman, was a junior all-state quarterback for the Mustangs, who fell to Aquinas in the title game.
Even though Cole, an NAIA All-America safety two years ago at Doane, is now a teacher and assistant football coach at rival Sandy Creek, Cade says his older brother is his biggest supporter.
“He’s always the first one to give me a hug after these playoff games,†Cade added. “Cole’s told me plenty of times, maybe like 50, that we need to go down there and take it one step farther than they did.â€
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Cade was in fourth grade when his older brother played in Memorial Stadium, but he remembers it well.
“I was just as excited as he was,†Cade said. “We have pictures of us yelling and screaming in the stands. It’s all come full circle for us and now it’s our turn to try to get it done on the field.â€
Like his older brother, Wiseman has big-play running ability as a quarterback, as the 5-foot-11, 160-pounder has busted loose for 1,523 yards rushing and 21 touchdowns this season. He had 206 yards and four scores in a 38-28 semifinal win over BRLD last Friday, a game in which he attempted just one pass, which fell incomplete.
Wiseman, who has 490 yards passing this season, is 3-of-6 passing in the three previous playoff games for 9 yards. Like his older brother, Cade also makes his presence felt as a defensive back, with 53 tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery this fall.
Speedy senior running back Jackson Perrien, a 6-foot, 200-pounder, is just under 2,000 yards this season (1,941) with 24 touchdowns.
Sutton is averaging 377 yards per game on the ground.
The offensive front is massive, led by 6-4, 315-pound right guard Braden Peterworth. Junior Joe Hinrichs (5-11, 180) handles the center duties, while another standout senior, 6-1, 255-pound Jarvis Smith, completes the right side at tackle.
On the left are 6-1, 245-pound senior Hunter Wiseman (no relation to Cade Wiseman) at guard and 6-5, 200-pound senior Eli Skalka at tackle. Tight ends Tyler Baldwin (6-5, 200, jr.) and Jacob Haight (6-4, 190, sr.) open up the edge for Cade Wiseman and Perrien.
“They do all the dirty work,†said Perrien, who shredded the Wolverines for 250 yards in the semifinals. “I just go where they tell me to go and there’s always room to run.â€