By Natalie Dillon
ndillon@
themonroetimes.com
MONROE — When two of a team’s top running backs go down in the first quarter with injury, it may spell disaster for the rest of the game — but not for the Cheesemakers. Despite Jacob Flom and Ben Gatdula being sidelined for much of the game, Monroe went on to defeat Edgerton 28-7 on Friday, Sept. 13.
“Next man up,” Monroe head coach Tom Witt said matter-of-factly. “That’s why we practice all week making sure your second and even third guys are getting reps. In terms of our offensive preparation, we do what is called half-line, meaning our two backs are getting the same reps at the same time. We are very confident in our guys to step in there.”
In four games, Monroe has had eight different people carry the ball. Five of them have over 100 yards — Flom (411 yards), Tony Wolf (150), Gatdula (146), Cam Newcomer (146) and Nathan Fuchs (126).
So when Flom went down in the first series and Gatdula in the second, Newcomer wasn’t worried.
“When the leading rusher in the conference goes down, it’s hard for a team to come back from that. But, we have depth,” Newcomer said. “We are all seniors. We pretty much have six starting running backs. It’s easy for us to step in and perform.”
Along with offensive prowess — Monroe had 258 yards of total offense compared to 160 for Edgerton — the Cheesemaker defense was stout. In fact, Braedyn Nally caught an interception deep in Monroe’s zone and ran it back near midfield as the first quarter neared a close. The turnover sparked Monroe’s first scoring drive.
Monroe distributed the ball to its three healthy backs — Wolf, Newcomer and Fuchs — to march into Crimson Tide territory. During the drive, Newcomer converted on third-and-2 and fourth-and-1. He was rewarded with the 1-yard scoring run.
On its first play of the subsequent drive, Edgerton turned the ball over yet again. Devan Eastman’s snap went over Brett Appel’s head and it was off to the races. Aaron Benzschawel and Newcomer landed on the ball, and Newcomer came up with it.
With the ball recovered in the red zone, it took the Cheesemakers just seven plays to score. Schmidt lined up on the right side and broke to the middle of the end zone for a touchdown pass from Bryce Roelli. His ensuing PAT was wide right, but Monroe still had a 13-0 lead with just under three minutes left in the half.
The Crimson Tide began on the 20-yard line, as Schmidt’s kick off took a big hop and just eked into the end zone for a touchback. After a 4-yard keeper, Appel completed a first-down pass to Eli Kittleson, who was gang tackled by Noah Spotts, Fuchs and Schmidt.
Whereas three players tackled Kittleson, Monroe had three missed tackles on Fred Geiger-Kittel, who caught a pass from Appel and ran untouched to the end zone for a 69-yard gain.
“It’s just poor tackling,” senior Joe Rufenacht said. “We have to wrap up and keep our eyes on the running back’s hips. It’s just a mental error that should not happen.”
But Monroe essentially erased Edgerton’s score with a touchdown of its own just a minute later. The Cheesemakers had four straight first-down plays — including a one-handed catch by Newcomer — to set themselves up at Edgerton’s 13-yard line. The drive ended in a 1-yard scoring run by Newcomer, who also caught the 2-point pass from Roelli to make it 21-7 Monroe with 35 seconds left on the clock.
“We take pride in our physicality,” Newcomer said. “We knew that if we had time on the clock, we could put it in the end zone. We are very confident in that. We rarely let anybody stop us.”
Because they deferred the coin toss, the Cheesemakers got the ball again to start the second half.
“The coin toss for us goes back to Toby,” Witt said, relying on late head coach Toby Golembiewski’s strategy. “If we win the toss, we are going to defer hoping to gain that extra possession if you have the ball — which we did. We scored right before half and we knew we were getting the ball to start the second half.”
Monroe utilized the double hand-off in the third quarter, with Roelli dishing the ball to Wolf, who would run back in the opposite direction to hand off to Fuchs or Newcomer. The tactic helped the Cheesemakers convert three, third-and-short plays and one fourth-and-3 play.
Methodically running down the field, Monroe capped the 10-minute drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Roelli to Newcomer. With Schmidt’s extra point, the Cheesmakers led 28-7.
That proved to be the final score, as Rufenacht and Peyton Herbst stopped the Crimson Tide in its tracks. With a fresh set of downs in the red zone, Appel broke outside looking for a target. Rufenacht rushed him, forcing a fumble and recovering it at the 22-yard line.
Monroe went 3-and-out, and Schmidt’s punt reached the Edgerton 40-yard line. The Crimson Tide gained momentum with completed passes to Jack Fox, but Rufenacht set Edgerton back twice with tackles for losses. Herbst put the nail in the coffin, forcing a fumble on Appel. The ball squirted down the field, where Edgerton recovered, setting up fourth-and-41.
“Getting those turnovers are huge, especially when they are driving down,” Witt said. “I thought our D-ends did a really good job of getting pressure on their quarterback. They didn’t always get to him for a sack, but at least they made him hurry up and throw a couple times.”
With the win, the Cheesemakers improve to 2-0 in conference and 2-2 overall. Monroe and Evansville are the only teams in the Rock Valley with two wins.
Monroe 28,
Edgerton 7
(Friday, Sept. 13 at Monroe)
Monroe …… 0 21 7 0 — 28
Edgerton …. 0 7 0 0 — 7
First Quarter
No score
Second Quarter
M: Cam Newcomer 1-yd rush (Seth Schmidt PAT good), 7-0, 5:47
M: Schmidt 6-yd pass from Bryce Roelli (Schmidt PAT failed), 13-0, 2:42
E: Fred Geiger-Kittel 69-yd pass from Brett Appel (Noah Knilans PAT good), 13-7, 1:33
M: Newcomer 1-yd rush (Roelli 2-pt pass to Newcomer good), 21-7, 0:35
Third Quarter
M: Newcomer 5-yard pass from Roelli (Schmidt PAT good), 28-7, 2:48
Fourth Quarter
No score
Team Statistics
First downs — M: 21; E: 12. Rushing — M: 49-224 (2 TD); E: 16-(-46). Passing (comp-att-INT, yds-TD) — M: 5-8-0, 34-2; E: 15-26-1, 206-1.
Individual Leaders
Rushing — M: Cam Newcomer 12-67 (2 TD), Nathan Fuchs 14-84, Tony Wolf 12-35; E: Seth Precourt 7-18. Passing — M: Bryce Roelli 5-8-0, 34-2; E: Brett Appel 15-26-1, 206-1. Receiving — M: Newcomer 4-28 (1 TD), Seth Schmidt 1-6 (1 TD); E: Fred Geiger-Kittleson 2-78 (1 TD), Jack Fox 6-78, Eli Kittleson 5-62.
