Menasha will have to play the majority of its high school football season away from its home stadium because of damage from the recent tornado in Wisconsin. Although it is unfortunate, head coach Jeramie Korth is grateful that it was not much worse.
All of his players were at home and safe.
With that being said, there is less than one month until the first regular season game of the high school football season. The clock is ticking and the Bluejays need to find a temporary home.
Wisconsin was hit by a large and violent tornado.
According to the National Weather Service, a confirmed EF-3 tornado touched down in the western Fox Cities shortly after noon on July 27. The twister, which was 1,500 yards wide, traveled 12.1 miles with wind speeds up to 140 miles per hour. It left behind a trail of destroyed homes and businesses, downed power lines and snapped trees. Menasha and Appleton were hit the hardest.
Images captured by drone show the full extent of destruction across the region. It will take months, if not years, to recover.
United Way is helping families to recover from the natural disaster. If you feel compelled to donate, you can do so HERE.
In the meantime, the community is working together to evaluate the damage and to clean up the debris. That includes the local high school football team. Players joined up to do whatever they can to help the community. In the immediate aftermath of the tornado, Coach Korth sent them home to help their families and to help anyone in need.
The Menasha High School football stadium is destroyed.
Menasha High School, which enrolls approximately 1,000 students in Grades 9-12, was right in the path of the tornado. Its high school football stadium saw significant damage. The bleachers were destroyed and fell on top of the locker room. Lights collapsed. Even the field got torn up.
Here is another look at the damage to Calder Stadium and to the nearby community.
Calder Stadium suffered major damage in Monday's storms, with half its bleachers destroyed. But the devastation extends far beyond the football field. Homes nearby were heavily damaged or destroyed. I spoke with the Menasha football coach and neighbors as the community begins to… pic.twitter.com/OwGbKxrQIo
— Karley Marotta (@Karley_Marotta) July 28, 2026
Junior offensive lineman Noah Kiley was in the building right behind the visitor bleachers. He told NBC 26 that it “sounded like a train was going right through it.” Coach Jeramie Korth is devastated. However, it was the best worst case scenario for his team.
“If you think about a typical Monday, we probably would have been at the stadium with all the football players,” he told the Post Crescent. “The fact that it was a ‘dead week’ was a blessing in disguise in that way, and that the kids were probably all home and not out and about.”
The Bluejays are set to begin the 2026 regular season at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 21. They will need to find a place to play. Several teams have already offered the use of their facilities. Menasha will begin practice on August 4 at Maplewood Middle School, which sustained minimal damage from the storm.