MONROE — While the Monroe Cheesemakers are the defending WIAA Division 3 state champions, head coach Toby Golembiewski reminds the fans that this year’s football squad is a new and different team.
“We are not last year’s team. We have to start over and build these guys up,” Golembiewski said.
For much of the past three seasons, a strong group of big fellas dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball – and that’s without touching on the tenured skill players that also graduated this past spring in the class of 2023. There are many new faces under the facemasks, and many returning players have switched positions in order to benefit the team in the long run.
That’s not to say that expectations still weren’t high for the Cheesemakers this season, nor that a 25-20 Week 1 loss to Beaver Dam on Aug. 18 on home turf at TR Holyoke Field doesn’t sting for the team.
“This won’t happen again — I hate losing,” senior captain Lane Meier told his teammates in a huddle after the game.
“This is why you play nonconference games,” Golembiewski said. “We’ll just go back to the drawing board, rep it up, and find guys who will not make mistakes. We understand right now that we will not be 14-0, but we can definitely build from this and move forward. I think we’re going to have a very successful conference season.”
Beaver Dam — with nearly twice the enrollment as Monroe — hinged its hopes on the health of senior RB/DB Gabe Klatt. And Klatt delivered.
“Klatt’s a legit player. He’s a very effective runner. It’ll be interesting to see — if he stays healthy — how he finishes yardage-wise and recognition-wise in the state of Wisconsin. I haven’t seen a single back that good in a long time,” Golembiewski said. “He showed us more on defense than we thought he was capable of doing. They could overload one side and leave him to the other side and he could do the job of two guys.”
Klatt finished the night with 228 yards rushing on 27 carries with two touchdowns. He added another 10 tackles on defense. When a leg cramp sidelined him for a bit in the second half, the Cheesemakers were able to start finding a rhythm on offense.
“(Klatt) was the difference maker. You can see that when he wasn’t in the game, it was a completely different ballgame,” Golembiewski said.
Monroe trailed 19-7 at halftime and had very little offense to show for it outside of a 7-play, 52-yard scoring drive on the Cheesemakers’ first possession of the game. Monroe had just 31 yards of offense over the other five possessions of the first half.
Beaver Dam had 230 yards of offense in the first two quarters, much of that thanks to Klatt. On the opening drive of the game, Klatt carried the ball seven times in 11 plays, including a 28-yard run on the first play from scrimmage. The Beavers scored on the opening drive on fourth down as QB Eli Bryant checked down to his third target, Brandon Morrissey, who found himself open on a crossing pattern. James Seagreaves blocked the extra point for Monroe.
On the following possession, Monroe rumbled right down the field, starting with a big kick return from Brady Wyss. Tony Wolf had a wide-open 20-yard catch from Ethan Rosenstiel on the drive, and Ben Gatdula added rushes of 12 and 14 yards, with the latter ending at the left pylon for a score. Wes Saunders sent the PAT through the uprights with no problem to give Monroe the early 7-6 advantage.
The Beavers responded with another scoring drive, though they caught two big breaks to make it happen. The first came on the opening play of the drive when Bryant hit Leo George on a swing pass, only for George to fumble the ball and have a teammate land on it nine yards up the field. Later in the drive, with the clock winding down and possession deep in Monroe’s red zone, Bryant rolled out to his right and again found Morrissey for another touchdown. Monroe defenders pleaded with the officials that Morrissey had caught the ball out of bounds, but the play call stood, and the Beavers went ahead 13-7 with just seven seconds left in the first quarter.
The teams traded punts over the next three possessions. Then Klatt struck again, rumbling 42 yards for a score with 4:21 left in the half, giving his team a two-score advantage.
Monroe closed out the half with its final three possessions going punt, interception, and having the clock expire. Halftime meant the team could simply recoup and refocus.
“We had the opportunity for communication. We had a little bit of time to talk about what was happening and how we can respond to it, offensively and defensively. And it gave us a bit of a reset as well,” Rosenstiel said. “I think it went a little better than the first half, but we still have a lot to work on.”
The third quarter showed little promise for either team’s offense, though Monroe’s defense held Beaver Dam to possessions of 2, 3 and -9 yards. Offensively, the Cheesemakers gained 0, 16 and 31 yards on its first three possessions of the half. Monroe’s fourth possessions took up the final 2:01 of the third quarter, and the first 1:09 of the fourth. Wolf caught another pass, and Meier, with a jersey change, added key runs of 11 and 8 yards before hauling in a brilliant highlight-reel 33-yard one-handed grab on fourth-and-11 to keep the possession alive. On the very next play, Kaden Kuester rumbled into the end zone from 10 yards out to bring his team back to within a score.
Beaver Dam again turned to Klatt, who had three carries for 60 yards on the ensuing possession, including a 43-yard score where he broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and then shoved another defender out of the way 20 yards downfield.
The Cheesemakers kept the pressure on, churning up a 10-play, 63-yard drive that culminated in a 16-yard TD pass from Rosenstiel to Keegan Dahmen. The catch in traffic was a bit of redemption for Dahmen, who had dropped a wide-open pass in the first half that could have extended a crucial drive when the Cheesemakers were pinned deep in their own territory.
“Touchdowns are always better than regular catches, but I trust every one of my receivers. We have that connection, so when we do get to throw the ball, I’m confident in them to catch it, and if they miss it, I know they will go and get the next one,” Rosenstiel said.
Monroe’s Seth Schmidt tried to launch a hard squib on the kickoff, but it trickled right to a Beaver Dam player. From there, the Beavers ground out the final 5:08 off the clock, with Klatt carrying the load, gaining 35 yards and two key first downs on seven straight plays. A third first down had been achieved on an offsides penalty by Monroe.
Penalties haunted the Cheesemakers all game. Four first-half penalties hit Monroe at crucial moments that the Cheesemakers were unable to recover from. Five more times in the second half Monroe was flagged, making it nine in the game for 54 yards.
“We have to work on not beating ourselves. We had probably more penalties than all of last year, and it still was a 5-point game,” Golembiewski said.
Rosenstiel finished the game 7-for-15 passing for 119 yards with a TD and INT. Bryant was 10-for-18 for 88 yards and two TDs. Outside of Klatt, the Beavers had just 21 yards rushing on nine carries. Gatdula led Monroe with 60 yards on 13 totes, while Kuester finished with 50 yards on eight carries and Lane Meier 47 yards on nine attempts. Wolf had 45 yards receiving on three catches.
“I just think we have to hit the reset button. Losing isn’t always the worst thing, and we are a little bit younger than last year. This might have been a little bit of a reality check for us,” Rosenstiel said. “We have to go look at the film and learn from the film, but not dwell on it. One nonconference loss isn’t going to break the season. We still have a bright future ahead of us and we’ll be able to do good things.”
Up next for Monroe is former Badger Conference rival Mount Horeb-Barneveld. The two teams have each split the previous two meetings. MHB won its Week 1 game in a rout against McFarland, 51-0.
“We’re going to get another good look out of Mount Horeb this next week — they have some good athletes, too,” Golembiewski said. “But we’re not chucking it in right now. This was a Week 1 deal, but we really have to clean it up.”
