The Green County Family YMCA Blaze Football teams went 4-1, Saturday, Sept. 12, kicking off the 2009 season.
The fourth-grade team defeated Pec-Argyle Green, the fifth-graders knocked off Verona, sixth-grade ran passed New Glarus-Monticello and the eighth-grade team topped Wisconsin Heights. The seventh-grade team lost to Freeport.
Fourth-grade
Blaze 20, Pecatonica-Argyle 6
ARGYLE - The Blaze fourth-grade team came out strong for their first official game and defeated Pec-Argyle.
Brayden Zettle, David Keegan, and Drake Ingold scored running touchdowns, while a two-point conversion was a passing play from Keegan to Ingold.
The defense was strong, allowing only one touchdown. The score came on a running play up the sideline for over 50 yards.
Dempzy Foley had a great day defensively and was praised by coach Kevin Keegan for several tackles which resulted in loss of yards.
The fourth-grade Blaze travels to Waunakee on Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. game.
Fifth-grade
Blaze 20, Verona 0
MONROE - The Blaze fifth-grader team was led by Brandon Klein's 76 yards rushing and one touchdown.
Monroe gained 271 yards of total offense.
The Blaze defense was led by Nate Smith, Hayden Arneson, and Jake Kind. In all, the Monroe defense held the Wildcats to just 86 total yards.
Monroe hosts McFarland Saturday at 10 a.m. at the YMCA.
Sixth-grade
Blaze 16,
New Glarus-Monticello 6
NEW GLARUS - The Blaze sixth-grade team defeated New Glarus-Monticello to opened its 2009 youth football season with a 16-6 win.
The Blaze scored on the first possession of the game with Jaron Kuester getting into the end zone from one-yard out to cap an eight-play 63-yard drive. McKenzy Foley kicked the point after touchdown (PAT) for an 8-0 lead. New Glarus-Monticello then mounted an 11-play drive that reached Monroe's 10-yard line. The Blaze's Garret Gogin ended the drive with a fourth down tackle for a loss.
Both teams traded punts before Monroe reached the NGM three-yard line as time expired for the first half.
Strong defense continued in the second half, with NGM pushing Monroe back and winning the field position battle.
After a 38-yard punt by NGM, Monroe started the second drive of the half at its own five-yard line. The Blaze traveled the 95-yards in five plays to score, as blocks from Brent Edmunds and Jared Amacher helped spring Kuester for a 77-yard touchdown run. McKenzy Foley kicked his second PAT for a 16-0 lead.
New Glarus-Monticello continued to play hard and was able to turn a Blaze fumble into a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
The Blaze accounted for 264 yards of offense over 34 plays, while NGM had 102 yards on 34 plays.
In addition to Kuester, Jacob Quinn accounted for 65 yards of offense while Sky McGregor contributed 37 yards. Defensively, 19 out of 26 players recorded at least one tackle, with Traiten Gorr leading the way with seven tackles. Second-year players Tristan Schultz and Brandon Dorsey matched Edmunds and Gogin with four tackles each.
The Monroe sixth-grader team travels to Argyle this Saturday to play Pecatonica-Argyle with kick-off scheduled for 8:30 a.m.
Seventh-grade
Freeport 38,
Blaze 18
MONROE - The seventh-grade Blaze lost to Freeport in a non conference game Saturday at the YMCA Dr. Scholl Athletic Field, 38-18.
The Blaze started strong with a nice opening kickoff return and drive to take a 6-0 lead. The seventh-graders then recovered a fumble on the next kickoff, but failed to take advantage of the turnover.
Freeport, led by two outstanding tailbacks, scored its points on the ground with long runs of 62 and 85 yards. Poor tackling aided those runs.
For the Blaze, Desmond Ford scored on a six-yard quarterback keeper, Carter Adkins scored on a 33-yard pass from Ford, and Matt Siegel scored on a nine-yard run.
The Monroe seventh-grade team's next game is at Belleville-Albany on Saturday at 10:45 a.m.
Eighth-grade
Blaze 20,
Wisconsin Heights 8
BLACK EARTH - The Monroe Blaze eighth-grade team kicked off their first game of the season with a win.
Blake Duffy led the Blaze with two scores while Jake Hirsbrunner scored on a quarterback sneak. The final two points came from the Blaze defense, which forced a safety.
On the ground, Alec Treuthardt led the Blaze while Noah Tostrud led the air game. Defensively, the Blaze was led by Landon Baumgartner, Justin Blum, Michael Graham Ryan Hughes, Kyle Olson, Tony Sink, Noah Thompson, Eric Timm, Brett Zimmerman, Ethan Moehn, Troy Gorr, Grant Keith, Charlie Kind and Alec Treuthardt.
The Blaze wasted many opportunities to score, as penalties forced them out of scoring range.
"I am proud of the kids," coach Olson said. "Considering it is our first game, the kids played hard ad never gave up. A win is a win and we will take it. We can learn from our mistakes and work harder next week to correct them."
On Saturday, the Monroe eighth-grade team hosts Sun Prairie, with kickoff set for 11:30 a.m. at the YMCA.
The fourth-grade team defeated Pec-Argyle Green, the fifth-graders knocked off Verona, sixth-grade ran passed New Glarus-Monticello and the eighth-grade team topped Wisconsin Heights. The seventh-grade team lost to Freeport.
Fourth-grade
Blaze 20, Pecatonica-Argyle 6
ARGYLE - The Blaze fourth-grade team came out strong for their first official game and defeated Pec-Argyle.
Brayden Zettle, David Keegan, and Drake Ingold scored running touchdowns, while a two-point conversion was a passing play from Keegan to Ingold.
The defense was strong, allowing only one touchdown. The score came on a running play up the sideline for over 50 yards.
Dempzy Foley had a great day defensively and was praised by coach Kevin Keegan for several tackles which resulted in loss of yards.
The fourth-grade Blaze travels to Waunakee on Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. game.
Fifth-grade
Blaze 20, Verona 0
MONROE - The Blaze fifth-grader team was led by Brandon Klein's 76 yards rushing and one touchdown.
Monroe gained 271 yards of total offense.
The Blaze defense was led by Nate Smith, Hayden Arneson, and Jake Kind. In all, the Monroe defense held the Wildcats to just 86 total yards.
Monroe hosts McFarland Saturday at 10 a.m. at the YMCA.
Sixth-grade
Blaze 16,
New Glarus-Monticello 6
NEW GLARUS - The Blaze sixth-grade team defeated New Glarus-Monticello to opened its 2009 youth football season with a 16-6 win.
The Blaze scored on the first possession of the game with Jaron Kuester getting into the end zone from one-yard out to cap an eight-play 63-yard drive. McKenzy Foley kicked the point after touchdown (PAT) for an 8-0 lead. New Glarus-Monticello then mounted an 11-play drive that reached Monroe's 10-yard line. The Blaze's Garret Gogin ended the drive with a fourth down tackle for a loss.
Both teams traded punts before Monroe reached the NGM three-yard line as time expired for the first half.
Strong defense continued in the second half, with NGM pushing Monroe back and winning the field position battle.
After a 38-yard punt by NGM, Monroe started the second drive of the half at its own five-yard line. The Blaze traveled the 95-yards in five plays to score, as blocks from Brent Edmunds and Jared Amacher helped spring Kuester for a 77-yard touchdown run. McKenzy Foley kicked his second PAT for a 16-0 lead.
New Glarus-Monticello continued to play hard and was able to turn a Blaze fumble into a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
The Blaze accounted for 264 yards of offense over 34 plays, while NGM had 102 yards on 34 plays.
In addition to Kuester, Jacob Quinn accounted for 65 yards of offense while Sky McGregor contributed 37 yards. Defensively, 19 out of 26 players recorded at least one tackle, with Traiten Gorr leading the way with seven tackles. Second-year players Tristan Schultz and Brandon Dorsey matched Edmunds and Gogin with four tackles each.
The Monroe sixth-grader team travels to Argyle this Saturday to play Pecatonica-Argyle with kick-off scheduled for 8:30 a.m.
Seventh-grade
Freeport 38,
Blaze 18
MONROE - The seventh-grade Blaze lost to Freeport in a non conference game Saturday at the YMCA Dr. Scholl Athletic Field, 38-18.
The Blaze started strong with a nice opening kickoff return and drive to take a 6-0 lead. The seventh-graders then recovered a fumble on the next kickoff, but failed to take advantage of the turnover.
Freeport, led by two outstanding tailbacks, scored its points on the ground with long runs of 62 and 85 yards. Poor tackling aided those runs.
For the Blaze, Desmond Ford scored on a six-yard quarterback keeper, Carter Adkins scored on a 33-yard pass from Ford, and Matt Siegel scored on a nine-yard run.
The Monroe seventh-grade team's next game is at Belleville-Albany on Saturday at 10:45 a.m.
Eighth-grade
Blaze 20,
Wisconsin Heights 8
BLACK EARTH - The Monroe Blaze eighth-grade team kicked off their first game of the season with a win.
Blake Duffy led the Blaze with two scores while Jake Hirsbrunner scored on a quarterback sneak. The final two points came from the Blaze defense, which forced a safety.
On the ground, Alec Treuthardt led the Blaze while Noah Tostrud led the air game. Defensively, the Blaze was led by Landon Baumgartner, Justin Blum, Michael Graham Ryan Hughes, Kyle Olson, Tony Sink, Noah Thompson, Eric Timm, Brett Zimmerman, Ethan Moehn, Troy Gorr, Grant Keith, Charlie Kind and Alec Treuthardt.
The Blaze wasted many opportunities to score, as penalties forced them out of scoring range.
"I am proud of the kids," coach Olson said. "Considering it is our first game, the kids played hard ad never gave up. A win is a win and we will take it. We can learn from our mistakes and work harder next week to correct them."
On Saturday, the Monroe eighth-grade team hosts Sun Prairie, with kickoff set for 11:30 a.m. at the YMCA.
