MONROE — Two days before the rest of America was to set the clocks back an hour, the Monroe Cheesemakers rolled the clock back 21 years. That’s because the Cheesemakers rallied from a 14-0 deficit to defeat Jefferson 28-14 in a WIAA Division 3 playoff game — sending Monroe back to Level 4 (the state semifinal) for the first time since 2000.
“I could not be prouder to be a Cheesemaker right now. This is such a great feeling,” junior fullback Alex Hernandez said. In the Level 4 matchup Nov. 12, Monroe (10-2) will face Pewaukee (10-2) at 7 p.m. at Muskego High School.
The Cheesemakers got to play one final game at TR Holyoke Field this season after beating top-ranked Greendale in Level 2. That means senior JT Seagreaves, a Wisconsin-commit, would get one final chance to step onto his home turf after four-years on varsity.
“It feels amazing,” Seagreaves said of the opportunity to play, and win, on his home field one last time. “I’ve never made it to Level 4 and it just makes me want to go further.”
Jefferson (8-3) was able to host the week prior and as visiting underdogs had little nerves to deal with. The Cheesemakers, meanwhile, showed some early on before settling in.
“I feel like, with the home atmosphere, we were almost too hyped,” said junior defensive back Drew Indergand, who had the game-sealing interception late in the fourth quarter. “We thought coming into it — with all the fans and everything — that this was wrapped up, and all of a sudden that first play happens and they take it to the house, and it was an awaking for us.”
Jefferson’s Brady Gotto picked up the opening kickoff pooch kick at his own 12, broke a tackle at the 15, then hit a seem on the right hash and sprinted to paydirt for an 88-yard TD just 13 seconds into the game. An extra point put the Eagles ahead 7-0.
“If you’re going to have one (a big play), then is not a bad time,” Monroe head coach Toby Golembiewski said of giving up a score on the opening kick. “You’ll have everything but 10 seconds in the game to make up for it.”
The Cheesemakers looked to respond right away, but had to overcome an early penalty and some missed blocking assignments on their first drive. Facing a third-and-7 from their own 43, the Cheesemakers picked up gains of 11, 16 and 23 runs by Keatin Sweeney, Seagreaves and Hernandez, with Hernandez gaining extra yardage because of second and third efforts while being wrapped up.
“I knew all week that in order to get to where we wanted to be, everybody has to do their job; everybody has to give it their all,” Hernandez said.
However, two plays later from the Jefferson 5, Seagreaves fumbled for the first time of his football career and the Eagles recovered.
“It was a tough one to lose. It was a drive killer and you hate for it to happen,” Seagreaves said.
Jefferson, which runs an offense similar to Monroe’s wing option, ripped off a 95-yard drive that ate up 5 minutes, 13 seconds of clock and ended with a 2-yard TD run by Ethan Dieckman. The long drive took the game to within four seconds of the end of the first quarter, after Monroe’s previous drive ate up 6:30 of clock.
Then, on the last snap of the first quarter, Hernandez put the ball on the turf, only to recover. Golembiewski went back to the junior fullback on the very next play, and Hernandez responded with a 50-yard pickup, putting Monroe at first-and-goal from the Jefferson 5. On the next snap, Sweeney got to the outside and slipped inside the pylon to put Monroe on the board.
The Cheesemakers defense all but shut Jefferson’s offense down the rest of the way. Over the final three quarters, the Eagles gained just 105 yards of offense — including just 24 in the second half. Meanwhile, Monroe’s offense stayed its steady self, draining time on long drives and finishing with points.
“That’s why we play four quarters. The whole team came together in that second half,” Indergand said.
Despite the 14-7 deficit at halftime, Monroe’s coaches knew all the players needed to do was execute on each play, and victory would be theirs. The players answered the call in the second half — to the tune of 239 yards off offense and scored on the first three possessions of the half. The only possession that Monroe didn’t score on was its fourth — in which the Cheesemakers ran out the clock.
“Coach pointed out the fact that we’ve been in this position before and have faced adversity. We have faced much better teams with much better talent — everything was going to be alright, we just had to keep our heads, keep our cool and keep doing what we do,” Hernandez said.
He finished the night with 214 yards and two scores, while Sweeney had 92 yards on just eight carries with two scores. Seagreaves added 76 yards on 14 totes, and a key two-point conversion that put Monroe up 21-14 with 11:04 left in regulation.
Monroe’s defense as whole was astute throughout, but Indergand made the big plays that came his way when it mattered the most.
On the possession following Sweeney’s 47-yard fourth-down TD run (and Seagreaves’ two-point conversion), Jefferson QB Evan Neitzel chucked up a deep ball on fourth down from midfield that at first appeared to be too long to be caught — only the hangtime was perfect. Indergand stayed with the play in a full sprint and was able to put a hand on it to deflect it away before it could be caught.
On Jefferson’s last possession of the game, Neitzel went deep on the first play, but Indergand misjudged the timing and missed an interception. Two plays later, the Eagles went with the same route, but this time Indergand was able to corral the ball, even with a heavily wrapped hand.
“They ran that route a couple of plays before that, and I took a terrible angle and should have intercepted it. When I saw that same route combo coming, it just led to the interception,” said Indergand, who felt euphoria after making the second chance play. “No words can describe it. It was a game-ending play because they didn’t get another play on offense after it.”
The turnover came with 2:42 left in the game. Hernandez ripped off 25 yards on five carries to bring the clock low enough for one final kneel down by QB George Brukwicki. Golembiewski joked afterwards he would have run more play to his fullback had he known that the kneel down put Monroe a single yard (394) behind its weekly average.
“No one told me ‘don’t kneel, run a play!’” Golembiewski joked.
Up next:
Monroe (10-2) vs. Pewaukee (10-2)
Friday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. at Muskego High School
The last time the two teams played was in the Level 3 playoff game in 2016, when the Pirates knocked off the then-unbeaten (and undermanned) Cheesemakers, which played all but two plays of the game without their top two running backs.
“We’re in good shape right now,” Golembiewski said of the health of his current roster.
Both teams a similar offense and have an equal 10-2 record. Monroe (35.2) averages about a full touchdown more each week than Pewaukee (28.7), though the Pirates have allowed just 65 points (5.9 ppg) this season — and none in the playoffs. They also hold a plus-8 mark in the turnover department, including 16 interceptions. Monroe, meanwhile, has allowed 151 points this season, an average of 12.5 each week and picked off nine passes.
Both teams also run it a lot more than they pass — Monroe has attempted 46 passes in 12 games, while Pewaukee has just 36 attempts in 11 games — a Week 7 win over Pius XI was via forfeit. On the ground, the Pirates have gained 2,481 yards on 401 rushing attempts this fall (6.2 ypc). Meanwhile Monroe has amassed 4,415 yards on 588 carries (7.5 ypc).
“It’s going to be similar systems. They run a little bit of Wing-T out of the shotgun. It’ll be interesting to get film and study them a little bit,” Golembiewski said, adding that he saw some action on YouTube. “They’re big. They are big — and they look like they can run. They have multiple 300-pound guys involved in stuff. They’re going to have a pretty good idea of how to defend some of this stuff, so we’ll have to bring everything we’ve got.”
Pewaukee’s leading rusher is Carter Pearson at 463 yards on 46 carries, followed by Matthew Ciesielczyk (392) and Max Sheridan (382). Nine different Pirates have run for over 100 yards on the season, while 17 total players have tallied at least one carry. Monroe has had 11 backs carry the football, with just five gaining over 100 yards. However, in that mix, the Cheesemakers’ three starters have all run for more than 1,100 yards each. Keatin Sweeney leads the team with 1,306 yards (10.0 ypc), while fullback Alex Hernandez has gained 1,265 yards (5.8), and Badger-bound senior JT Seagreaves has tallied 1,174 yards (9.5) in his first season in the backfield.
The three have all scored more than a dozen TDs each (Sweeney 18, Seagreaves 16, Hernandez 13), while Pewaukee’s Carson Hansen leads his squad with seven.
“We just need to keep focusing on our run defense and make sure we keep our heads and know what we are doing. We’ve got to destroy blocks — that was the key” against Jefferson, Hernandez said. “With the second half shutout, we did our job. That’s something other teams should fear — our run defense. If we do our job, we are an amazing team.”
Hernandez said the Cheesemakers have had their eyes on making it to Camp Randall ever since the alternate fall season ended in April.
“I am not leading this team; JT is not leading this team; Keatin isn’t leading this team — nobody is leading this team. We are all one team and contribute equally, and that’s why we are going to go all the way. I know it — I know we’re going to go,” Hernandez said.
Golembiewski said this fall season is a bit of a continuation from the spring — not just because so many players returned this season, but because those players saw what the 2021 graduates gave up and never had a chance to finish their career in the playoffs. That class had an “end date”.
“Isaac Derrickson made a comment on the radio about how last year’s seniors didn’t get a chance to do this, and that we owe it to them to go as far as we can. It was one of the smartest things I think he’s ever said,” said Golembiewski, who has never coached a team in a state semifinal before. “If we go as far as we could possibly go from here, we would still only get to do this for 14 more days — and two of them are weekend days. At best, I told these guys, you’re going to put a helmet on your head just 10 more times for the rest of your life.”
Should Monroe advance, it would be the ninth time in school history the team will have played on the Badgers’ home field. The Cheesemakers are 5-3 in state championship games, winning it all under Hall of Fame coach Pat Martin in 1986, ’90, ’91, ’92 and ’94. Runner-up appearances came in ’87, ’95 and ’96, meaning Monroe played in eight title games during an 11-year stretch.
Overall, Monroe has a 49-15 record in 21 postseasons. Sixteen playoff appearances come from Martin’s tenure; four are under Golembiewski (’16, ’17, ’19, ’21), with Curt Miller’s 2012 team the only one in the 13-season stretch between Martin’s final year in 2003 and Golembiewski’s first in 2016.
Pewaukee, known most recently as the home of NFL brothers JJ, TJ and Derek Watt, has played in 23 of the last 24 postseasons, though the Pirates have never made it to state.
“I think it’s great” to be in Level 4, Indergand said. “We still have to take it one week at a time. We have to take it day-by-day. Our work starts this Sunday (Nov. 7) when we watch film, and we’ll take it day-by-day from there.”
The Edgewood Situation
In the days leading up to the Level 3 game, Monroe rival Madison Edgewood was making news around the state. The WIAA removed the Crusaders from the tournament field and vacated all wins this year for fielding an ineligible player.
An appeal hearing by the WIAA denied Edgewood the chance to get back on the field, so the school sued in court, only to lose again. Columbus, which was supposed to play visitor to unbeaten Edgewood, instead hosted Kewaskum (Edgewood’s most recent opponent) on Nov. 5, and won convincingly 44-7 to reach the semifinal.
Edgewood senior Cam Fane is 19-years-old and in his fifth year of high school. When he transferred to Wisconsin from Texas in the spring of 2021, the WIAA granted him an exemption to be eligible to play immediately, instead of sitting out a year, as is normal WIAA procedure for transferring seniors. In order to grant Fane a rare ninth and tenth semester of eligibility, Edgewood needed to file additional applications, but didn’t.
The school has since sued the WIAA in hopes of keeping the 11 wins for the program records books. Edgewood was 11-0 when the rulings came down, and had won the Rock Valley Conference. According to the court files, the team suggests it would have won all its games even if Fane didn’t play, while at least one game begs to differ.
In Week 9, with the Rock Valley title on the line, the Crusaders beat Monroe 31-28 on a field goal with 1:13 left in the fourth quarter. The field goal was set up by a long 31-yard catch by Fane. In fact, Fane had nine catches for 118 yards and touchdown in the contest — or 32.5% of Edgewood’s offensive yards.
The lawsuit is expected to take place this week. If Edgewood loses and vacates the Rock Valley title, Monroe would likely receive the honor by the conference. Golembiewski emphasized with his players after the Jefferson victory to not dwell on the Edgewood news — instead focus solely on Pewaukee. Monroe athletic director Jeff Newcomer said he has no comment until the matter is resolved in court.
Edgewood and Monroe played against each other for 19 years in the Badger South, with both moving to the Rock last season. Next year, Edgewood moves to the Capitol Conference, meaning the rivalry has likely ended.
