NEW GLARUS — In a battle of unbeatens, Brodhead-Juda narrowly escaped a comeback from New Glarus-Monticello to win their April 16 Week 4 matchup 23-22.

“I think we took care of what we had to take care of. It was just a good game of two really good football teams that haven’t really been tested to this point,” Brodhead-Juda head coach Jim Matthys said. “Two tough teams, and it’s too bad someone has to lose. They are a fantastic football team and have been putting up a lot of points.”

The Knights rallied from a 16-0 hole, and with 1:53 remaining in the fourth quarter, quarterback Darris Schuett scored on a 22-yard scramble to bring his team to within a point. 

Instead of kicking for the tie, the Knights went for two and the win. Schuett rolled out to his right, and with the Cardinals defense quickly cutting off his route to the pylon, Schuett flipped the ball to running back Cade Femrite, who had just a fraction of a second earlier turned his head up field to block. The ball hit the turf, and Brodhead-Juda had the victory well within reach.

“It’s a tough one. I guess a way to look at it is they made one more play than we did,” NGM coach Jeff Eichelkraut said. “A great deal of respect for them (Brodhead-Juda). It’s a great program. To dig ourselves a hole and be able to come back like that I think speaks to the resolve of these guys in this locker room. It just came down to one more play.”

The two schools have contrasting styles of offense. Brodhead-Juda likes to pound the ball inside with its rushing attack, while NGM spreads out and lets Schuett mix his legs and his arm to move the ball down the field. 

“Their quarterback is a heck of a player. He’s got to be one of the better quarterbacks we’ve seen in a long time,” Brodhead-Juda coach Jim Matthys said. “We’re just kind of holding on at the end — we didn’t want to give them the ball back, obviously, because of him.”

Brodhead-Juda got on the scoreboard on its first possession, capping an 11-play drive as Conner Green scored on a run from 8-yards out with 4:55 left in the opening quarter. 

The Knights struggled to get snaps to Schuett, with several going over his head or hitting the turf. That led to a 4th-and-36 on NGM’s second possession. In the second quarter, the Knights recovered a fumble at their own 12, stifling a long Cardinal drive. However, on second down a low snap to Schuett led a sack in the end zone for a safety. 

Eichelkraut called a timeout and brought his entire team into the huddle in an attempt to refocus and motivate his squad.

Brodhead-Juda’s offense kept right on churning out yards on the ground, and the next possession ended in Gage Boegli’s 22-yard scamper for a score, making it 16-0 with 2:22 left in the half.

“We’re supposed to be a high-powered offense. Sixteen points isn’t a big deal, but you really can’t dig yourself any deeper. If you get into a hole, you have to stop digging,” Eichelkraut said. “It’s disappointing, but it is what it is. These are two great teams.”

Back on offense, the Knights were refocused. Schuett hit Nathan Streiff on a seem route for 27 yards on the first play, and two plays later Schuett found Peter Gustafson for 10 yards and a first down at the Brodhead-Juda 25. After Brady Malkow knocked down a Schuett pass, the QB then used his feet to beat the defense, scrambling 25 yards for the score. A two-point conversion pass on a wheel route to Femrite made it 16-8 with 57 seconds left before halftime.

Brodhead-Juda opened the second half in a big way. Boegli dashed for 50 yards on the first play from scrimmage, and Braden Cook needed two plays to gain the final nine yards for a touchdown and a 23-8 lead.

The score stayed the same until the 10:18 mark of the fourth quarter, when Schuett hit Streiff in the end zone for a 4-yard TD pass. Schuett then added two more points on a run play out of shotgun.

Braydon Sommerfeldt nearly took the ensuing kickoff to the house, but a holding call brought the ball back nearly 60 yards. A big 30-yard gain by Boegli on the next snap was nixed because of yet another holding call. 

“I think we shot ourselves in the foot a lot, especially in that first half,” Matthys said. “Then that big kick return called back because of a penalty — we’ve got a lot of things to address and clean up.”

A punt with 3:02 left in the game gave NGM the ball near midfield. The coaches on the sideline saw the depth of the Cardinals secondary and opted for Schuett to use his legs to pick up yardage on draws and runs. It worked, as Schuett gained 10 and 20 yards on consecutive plays before a pass was dropped on the third snap. On the fourth snap, Schuett zigzagged defenders for the late TD.

“It’s what we’ve done all year — you take what they give you. He understands the game and has eyes on the field. We were cruising,” Eichelkraut said.

An onside kick attempt just barely rolled out of bounds, as a diving Streiff was inches from batting the ball back in play on the home sideline. After exhausting all remaining timeouts, NGM forced a 4th-and-1 near midfield with just 19 seconds left in regulation. Rather than punting and giving Schuett & Co. another shot on offense, Matthys gambled with his ground game. 

With both teams all-in on a play up the middle, it was Brodhead-Juda’s offensive line and Cook with the rock up the middle that won, gaining three yards and clinching the victory.

“We grounded it out. Hats off to our defense,” Matthys said. “This is a big win — a huge win. At the beginning of the season, we said it was our goal to get the program back to its winning ways, and we’re headed in that direction — we’re not there, but we’re heading in that direction.”

Boegli finished the night with 158 yards rushing on 24 carries, while Cook had 53 yards on 18 touches. Quarterback Cade Walker was 10 of 16 passing for 118 yards and an interception. Malkow had five catches for 47 yards.

Schuett was 10 of 19 passing for 135 yards, and he added 74 yards on the ground on 16 carries, all despite the 30-yards lost based on wild snaps from center.

Streiff had 53 yards on 5 catches, with Gustafson hauling in two passes for 47 yards — and an interception on defense. Femrite had 35 yards on 3 catches and added 16 rushing yards for the Knights. Streiff led the team with 15 tackles, with Jack Parman collecting 13 tackles. 

Up next for Brodhead-Juda is the team’s lone home game of the shortened spring season. Fennimore will come to town for the Cardinals’ Homecoming contest April 23. A victory would put the Cardinals in position to win the COVID Spring Large Conference title.

“Our goal this week was to get a win tonight and put ourselves into a drivers’ seat for a conference championship,” Matthys said.

Adding Homecoming week festivities to a school that was also celebrating a state championship appearance in volleyball means a lot of red, white and black pride in the hallways,

“It’s like a dream. My daughter is a senior on the volleyball team, my son is on the football team here. I’ve got all these guys,” Matthys said, pointing at his players celebrating in a huddle behind him, “we’ve worked so hard and after everything we went through last summer and finding out the season was going to be moved — they didn’t waver. These guys stuck to it and were focused.”

The Glarner Knights will travel to Cuba City April 23.

“We’re going to continue to …,” Eichelkraut said before pausing to collect his thoughts. 

“This was a loss. It’s a learning opportunity. (We’re going to) stay strong and keep moving forward. It’s all we can do and we’ve had a great season to this point, and one game doesn’t define that.”