It's here! It's now! It really happened! The Kenosha Bradford Red Devils are the 2011 State Division I Football Champions for the first time in their long and storied tradition.

In what proved to be the toughest defensive battle of the season, Bradford topped the Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln team 7-0 and thus raising the championship trophy in front of the Bradford Nation crowd at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. The game was exciting and tense at the same time for all 4 quarters. With each defensive stop made by the finalists in this epic game, the sense of urgency increased. The overlying feeling continued to build that whoever scored first was going to win.

One of the mainstays of this football team is it's belief and commitment to being the best conditioned and hardest working team throughout the game but especially in the fourth quarter, raising their hands at the end of the third quarter every game and showing 4 fingers. Never before was that belief going to be put to test than this day.

With the game being played between the two 30 yard lines for the majority of the contest, the Red Devils began to march on an 11 play drive midway through the fourth quarter that needed some incredible teamwork and perseverance to finally put some points on the board. A converted first down on fourth and 1 by Henry Cabrera, Draven Lafayette's 16 yard scamper for another first down, were just a few examples of decisive moments during this march. Behind some great blocking, senior running back John Meyer's left end run included evading Rapids' Wisconsin Badger recruit Vince Biegel for what would be the game's only score with 3:51 to play. That left it up to the defense on what would likely be Rapids last drive to attempt to score. Several players on the defense told the offense to score just once and that would be all they need. It proved to be true. The defense, with every player on the field to a man focused and driven to provide that final stop, held Wisconsin Rapids out of the end zone on fourth down with just a few seconds on the clock and thus sending the 2000 plus Bradford Nation and the sidelines into a frenzy of elation! The offense took the field and went directly into the victory formation. Victory....a victory with historic meaning behind it in so many ways. As has been said many times, Coach Kennedy and his staff have been driving for this ultimate achievement for five years now. In doing so, they have created a program that will undoubtedly be exciting to watch and be a part of for many more years to come.

Teamwork, perseverance, belief, commitment, work ethic, these are just a few cornerstones of not only having a successful football team but a successful life. Well let those cornerstones of Coach Jed Kennedy's and these Red devils first ever State Division I football team Champions now be placed on the foundation for long, long overdue stadium for the oldest high school in Kenosha!