BRODHEAD — The Cardinals ran roughshod through the SWC a season ago, finishing a perfect 7-0 in the conference and 11-1 overall, reaching Level 3 of the WIAA Division 5 playoffs.
Gage Boegli led the league in rushing and was named offensive player of the year in the Southwest Wisconsin Conference. Colton Buttke was the SWC lineman of the year. Head coach Jim Matthys and assistant Dave Knuth were the coaches of the year in the SWC. In fact, 18 all-conference honors went to Cardinal players.
Outside of the coaches, just seven all-conference players return. For Brodhead-Juda, the mentality is just “next man up” and re-loading, rather than rebuilding.
“We have some big playmakers to replace on both sides of the ball. We have the players to step in, just who will it be? Creating our own identity this year will be the focus,” Matthys said.
Returning will be running backs Aidyn Vondra, Leon Saunders, Blake Matthys and Marcus McIntyre. Tight end Jaxon Dooley is back, as are linemen Owen Hillstrom, CJ Streuly, Emmitt Allen and Austin Moe, plus all-conference wideout Gunner Boegli. On defense, Blake Matthys, Vondra, Saunders, Moe, McIntyre, Streuly and Allen all return as two-way players, with Isaac Saunders, Sean Huffman and Joe Lohmar in the mix as well.
“We return a lot of starters on both sides of the ball,” Matthys said. “Good speed at the skilled positions will be a plus. We also return several other underclassmen that played a lot of varsity football last year. Leadership will be the key for us this year.”
Last year Brodhead-Juda outscored opponents 483-113 — winning by an average of more than 31 points per game. The team gained 3,480 yards on the ground, and threw for nearly 900 more — all while allowing just over 1,600 total yards on defense.
This fall, Prairie du Chien, Lancaster, Richland Center and River Valley all pose threats to the Cardinals for supremacy of the SWC. A tough nonconference schedule could also pay dividends as Brodhead-Juda gears up in hopes of another deep run in the postseason.
“We have a very tough schedule up front with Edgerton, Evansville and Richland Center. We will need to find some early success if we want to get any momentum going into a tough conference schedule,” coach Matthys said.
In 15 years as the head of the program, Matthys’ teams have gone 104-51. He’s spent 25 years total in the Brodhead-Juda football program.
