A DECADE OF SUCCESS: 10 PREP FOOTBALL PROGRAMS THAT HAVE WON BIG

The high school football season starts Thursday in Wisconsin.

Every season provides team a fresh start, but some program's track record is better than others. These are the area's winningest programs of the past 10 seasons.

Lake Country Lutheran (105-16, .868):

Not only does the Lightning have the highest winning percentage of any area team but also the largest win total. The banner season was 2019 when it went 13-1 and won the Division 5 state championship. The Lightning has advanced to Level 3 or better in the playoffs seven times in the last nine seasons and last year it won both its postseason contests in the WIAA's shortened postseason. It amounted to 23 playoff wins over those 10 years.

Franklin (96-20, .828): The Sabers played in two state finals in the past decade, falling to Arrowhead in 2013 and going down to Kimberly, 29-14, in 2016. Some of the top quarterbacks the area has seen in the last 10 years have been key to the Sabers' success: Sean McGuire, an all-state player, led the 2013 team; Matt Alba, a Division I talent, was under center in 2016; and the past two seasons have come with Myles Burkett, a Wisconsin recruit.

Homestead (100-21, .826): An impressive aspect of the Highlanders' position in the No. 3 slot is that it came even though they've gone a relatively modest 12-8 over the past two seasons. But six times they won at least 10 games in the last decade, including a run of five straight seasons (2012-16). The Highlanders also has won three state championship (2012, '15 and '18).

Catholic Memorial (101-23, .815): Competing against the Golliaths of the Classic 8 conference, Memorial, by far the smallest school in the league, still made the list and did so easily. It won conference titles in 2014 and '16 and top contender most of the other seasons.

Racine St. Catherine’s (91-23 .798): The high point for the program was three years ago when it went 14-0 and won the Division 4 state title. The Angels' championship capped a long run of dominance in the Metro Classic. They didn't lose a league game from 2011-14.

Milwaukee King (73-19, .793): Five straight undefeated seasons in City Conference play helped the Generals land in the top 10. One of the highlights of that stretch was a 2014 road playoff victory over a Menomonee Falls squad that finished second in the Greater Metro. That season marked the start of three straight 10-win seasons for King.

Greendale (83-24, .776): Before Rob Stoltz resigned as Panthers coach in May, he led the program to what is believed to be its first undefeated season.The program, however, might have been better in 2013 and '14 when it won 24 games and fell a few minutes short of winning the Division 3 state title in '13. Each of those teams finished the regular season undefeated. The 2014 team had to move up to Division 2 and lost a heartbreaker in the quarterfinals.

Muskego (86-25, .775): The Warriors'

37-game winning streak over the past three seasons has done wonders for its 10-year winning percentage. The seeds of that success were planted by the program's previous core of players. They shared Classic 8 titles in 2014 and '15 and reached the state semifinals in 2017.

Waterford (81-25, 764): This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Wolverines' state final team. The 12 wins that team had that season are the most for Waterford during the decade, but it won at least nine games on four other occasions. Waterford has won seven Southern Lakes titles in the last 10 years.

Brookfield East (84-29, .743): In the past 10 years the Spartans established themselves as one of the state's top programs, using a hard-nosed brand of play on both sides of the ball to win state championships in 2016 and '19. The victories made coach Ben Farley one of the few coaches in the state with more than one state title.

Mark Stewart