BRODHEAD — Headed into the homecoming game against Adams-Friendship on Friday, Sept. 29, Brodhead-Juda head coach Jim Matthys knew his team would have to show up. Last year, the Green Devils defeated the Cardinals 25-13. Brodhead-Juda flipped the script, beating Adams-Friendship 42-21 thanks to a 21-point second quarter.
“It was huge. After losing to them up there last year, it was one we certainly had circled on the schedule,” coach Matthys said. “I was proud of how we came out. They [Adams-Friendship] are a good football team — a playoff team, too.”
Brodhead-Juda was bolstered by the return of senior Blake Matthys, who suffered an ACL tear in Week 1 against Edgerton. The reigning SWC Defensive Player of the Year had 16 tackles in the game.
With the win, Brodhead-Juda, ranked No. 6 in Division 5, clinched a spot in the WIAA playoffs. The Cardinals look to make a deep run in the postseason, after exiting in the Level 3 last year.
“I’m very happy about that,” Blake Matthys said about qualifying for playoffs. “Let’s keep the season going and get to the state championship.”
On its opening drive, Adams-Friendship got in the red zone with a 49-yard pass from Lincoln Smith to Tyler Erickson, but the Green Devils were unable to score. A Cardinal tackle for loss set up fourth-and-10, where Gunner Boegli broke up a pass intended again for Erickson.
Capitalizing on the stop, Brodhead-Juda took just over two minutes to score on its opening possession. After a first-down run by Marcus McIntyre, Gabe Bockhop kept the ball and ran 61 yards into enemy territory. Isaac Saunders completed the drive with a 13-yard TD rush. With Boegli’s extra point, the Cardinals took a 7-0 lead with 4:24 left in the first quarter.
In the final four minutes of the frame, the Green Devils knotted the score. Robert Irey ran for back-to-back first downs before hauling in a 46-yard TD pass from Smith. Irey found a hole in the secondary and faced no pressure on the catch or on his way to the end zone. Despite a 10-yard Devil holding penalty pushing the XP back, Rylan Beaver still made the kick.
Although Adams-Friendship failed to convert an onside kick, the Green Devils got the ball back with an interception by Smith. Bockhop targeted Boegli, but Smith timed the jump better and came away with the ball.
The Cardinal defense made another big stop, though, forcing a turnover on downs at their own 37-yard line. Despite gaining momentum, Brodhead-Juda also turned the ball over on downs at Adams-Friendship’s 14-yard line.
“That’s why teams get stalled out in the red zone — good defenses,” coach Matthys said. “When you get inside the red zone, the field gets compressed. It takes away some of the things that the offense can do. It’s not as easy as people think it is [to score].”
Midway through the second quarter, Brodhead-Juda received the ball again at its own 48-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Saunders ran down to the Devils’ 20-yard line. Two plays later, he moved the chains yet again. Bockhop’s touchdown pass to Boegli was broken up, but Bockhop found Brody Riese on the next play for a 13-7 lead. Boegli’s extra point extended it to 14-7 with just over five minutes left in the half.
In the last three minutes of the second quarter, there were three scores, and Brodhead-Juda extended its lead to 21-7, capped by 6-yard TD run by Saunders.
On the ensuing kick off, the Green Devils returned the ball to midfield, but a personal foul on the Cardinals brought Adams-Friendship up to Brodhead-Juda’s 40-yard line. Facing a second-and-10 situation, Smith completed yet another TD pass to Erickson, as defensive back Jameson Wallin fell down mid-route.
The Green Devils attempted another onside kick, which Dane Huffman covered at Brodhead-Juda’s 44-yard line. With seven seconds left on the clock and a 21-14 lead, coach Matthys was content on kneeling out the half, but his quarterback had other ideas.
In the huddle, Bockhop changed the play and passed to Boegli, who ran 56 yards down field to the end zone as time expired. Boegli completed the drive with the extra point, putting Brodhead-Juda ahead 28-14 at halftime.
“I give all credit to quarterback Gabe Bockhop,” Boegli said. “I believe coach wanted to take a knee, but he audibled. I appreciate my quarterback a lot.”
Another failed onside kick by Adams-Friendship to begin the third quarter resulted in prime field position for Brodhead-Juda. From midfield, Bockhop connected with Boegli once again for a 39-yard pass. On three carries, Saunders took it the rest of the way for a 35-14 lead two minutes into the half.
Following a 3-and-out by the Green Devils, the Cardinals went to work again at their own 35-yard line. Although the drive was littered with penalties — three in a row — McIntyre managed an 8-yard TD run to ultimately put the game away 42-14. Adams-Friendship managed one more score with six seconds left in the game, but the damage had been done.
Bockhop finished the game 9-for-17 passing for 186 yards with two TDs and one INT. He targeted Riese (6 rec, 85 yds) and Boegli (2 rec, 95 yds) for a touchdown each, and David Masloske for one catch. On the ground, Saunders accounted for three of the four rushing touchdowns. The senior running back tallied 100 yards on 14 carries. McIntyre also ran for over 100 yards (14 att, 115 yds) with the other touchdown.
Defensively, Boegli hauled in an interception in the third quarter. Three other defenders had 10 or more tackles — McIntyre (26), Owen Hillstrom (12) and Blake Matthys (16).
