MONROE — It was almost like normal times at T.R. Holyoke Field on April 23 when Monroe trounced East Troy 40-13 in the Homecoming football game.

Almost.

Temperatures sat in the mid-50s. The pep band blared the school song and a handful of pop music favorites. The cheerleaders shook their poms. A Homecoming court was presented to the crowd at halftime, and the Homecoming King had 156 yards rushing and a dazzling 67-yard touchdown run.

“All year we haven’t had a lot of student section or very many people (at our games), and this is a big group. It feels like last year again when we had a real stadium. There was a lot of energy,” said senior running back Trevor Rodebaugh.

It was the fifth and final football game of the season for Monroe. There is no postseason this spring, and the Cheesemakers were just glad to be back onto the field getting a chance to play the game they love. For seven weeks the players and coaches schemed and practiced for the five games, and in the end, they could hold their heads high with an unblemished 5-0 record.

“For us to pack the student section and have homecoming and do dress up days even — being on court was really cool — and then coming out here and winning tonight 40-13, it was really a good way to go out — besides playoffs. We mentally prepared and knew when we were done. We all knew when the season ended — there was no surprise. I think it’s been a great experience,” Tyler Matley, a senior

Even after the game the emotions were mixed. Usually, when a team wins the final game of the season they are either state champions — or out of contention entirely.

“Definitely mixed emotions (coming off the field). We were happy we got the job done — 5-0, you can’t do any better than that with what we were given,” said Max Golembiewski, senior quarterback.

Two-way senior lineman Caleb Bunker spent the final minutes of the contest seated on a bench on the sideline. He and the rest of the starters were pulled early in the fourth quarter with the Cheesemakers leading 40-7. Even as the game ended, Bunker left the postgame huddle and returned to the bench to soak up the moment of his final game on his home turf.

“I was thinking during the week that when I get subbed out I would sit down and I kind of think about all the memories I had, all the fun I had playing next to my brother Isaac. The whole football team is really a family (to me),” said Bunker, a two-way lineman and member of the homecoming court. “I put everything I could into Monroe football, and I couldn’t have asked for a better way for it to end.”

Bunker’s still undecided on where he will attend college next year, as he’s debating between UW-Oshkosh and UW-Whitewater. He’s also unsure if he will pad up again. Oshkosh has talked with him about playing, but Whitewater — one of college football’s premier DIII programs for the last two decades — has yet to discuss the matter with him.

Matley, the Homecoming King and fellow two-way starter, will play at Loras next year, as will quarterback Max Golembiewski, another featured member of the football team on the Homecoming Court. Matley finished the final game of his career with 156 yards on 13 carries (12.0 ypc) and a 67-yard touchdown that sparked an offensive outburst by Monroe that saw 34 points scored in less than 21 minutes of game time.

“I have a lot of work ahead of me, and I’m excited to get to work and see how it all plays out. It’s a great feeling knowing that my football career isn’t over, but it sucks to be done with these guys,” Max Golembiewski said. “It was sad to see it all end with our guys that have played since we were in fourth grade — especially with my dad, that’s probably the toughest part. But it was a great ending.”

Matley said that after nearly a decade of padding up with the same players, he’s made lifelong friends. 

“It’s been since fourth grade — a lot of the guys I am super close with and hang out with on the weekends or in school — we’ve been best friends for 10-plus years,” Matley said. 

Max Golembiewski will play quarterback at Loras, but he’s a bit of a hidden gem in the recruiting world. Given Monroe’s Wing-T offense, he is rarely asked to pass the ball. He attempted just 153 passes in his career — including just two in the final game. He completed both of those passes — one for 23 yards on seem up the middle in the first quarter, and another for a 28-yard touchdown pass to Keatin Sweeney, who was the fourth option on a post route late in the second quarter that put Monroe ahead 18-0.

“To have a quarterback and one that took to the spot as well as he did — he really opened my eyes to what I can let that position do when I have smart kids in there,” said his father, Toby Golembiewski. “I know I have had smart kids as quarterbacks before, but I also had a little more confidence (in Max) because we were running football camp 24/7 at my house whenever we were just having discussions with things. I knew that he knew the information, because we met constantly about it. We talked about it whether we were driving to Minneapolis for an AAU tournament or whatever. We always went over how it was going to go and what the plan was.”

The Class of 2021 has a special place in Toby Golembiewski’s heart. Not only is it the class his son grew up with, but Toby began coaching the players in fourth grade through Blaze football. A few years later in 2016, he took over as Monroe’s head coach, and using the Wing T-style system reversed Monroe’s fortunes from a perennial loser for a decade, into a conference champion and playoff-bound team in 3 of his first 4 seasons.

“You can go all the way back to fourth grade with these guys,” Toby Golembiewski said. “It hit me a little bit out there, and I know I have a job to do here right now (in the postgame), but tonight on the way home I’ll probably lose it. It was a really special time, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I couldn’t have imagined (Max) being at a different school, or me coaching at a different place and missing all of this. When we decided to have kids, we never were planning on having quarterbacks — we were planning on having linemen.”

This season, the Cheesemakers looked like gangbusters despite not playing for nearly 18 months. Monroe outscored its opponents 154-59 in the five games — an average of about 19 points each week. The Cheesemakers outscored their opponents in every quarter this season. In fact, coming out of the locker room at halftime, Monroe didn’t allow a third quarter point in the entire 5-game campaign.

Monroe averaged more than 300 yards rushing each week as well, holding their opponents to about 1/3 that amount. Overall, the Cheesemakers outgained their opponents in yardage 365-219. Against East Troy, which came into the game 2-2 on the year, Monroe gained 382 yards on the ground — 200 more than East Troy had. The Cheesemakers defense also stepped up, holding Trojans quarterback Brady Dessart to just 4 of 16 passing for 18 yards. Monroe picked off Dessart twice, though the versatile QB used his legs to gain 125 yards rushing on 10 carries, which included a 52-yard scamper in the closing minutes of the first half and another chunk of yards in the fourth quarter against Monroe’s second and third string defense.

“They scored that touchdown, then after that we just pushed them out of it. They were talking in their huddle on the field that they were coming back, and we just kept driving the ball down the field, punching it in and getting stops on defense. We let them know that they weren’t coming back,” Bunker said.

Matley certainly wasn’t the only running back to have a big night for the Cheesemakers. Senior Trevor Rodebaugh finished with 133 yards on 15 carries. Last season he led the Badger South in rushing, but outside of this year’s season opener against McFarland, he’s been relatively quiet, instead just strapping on his lid and getting to work on runs through the middle of the defense. 

In a flash from the past, Rodebaugh took advantage of a defensive miscue in the third quarter and bolted forward untouched for a 50-yard TD. Rodebaugh, a state-qualifying hurdler as a sophomore, had 15 yards of separation as he crossed the goal line, which made it 33-7 with 4:14 left in the period.

“That was probably my favorite thing about tonight. It reminds me back to sophomore and junior year, playing JV and varsity and I was getting all sorts of yards. It felt amazing,” Rodebaugh said.

Sweeney also had a big day. To go along with his first TD reception on varsity, he added touchdown runs of 1 and 13 yards. He finished the night with 92 yards on 10 carries.

“I’m really excited to watch Keatin the next couple of years. I’m going to Dubuque for college, so I’ll be back to watch some football. I’m excited to see how Keatin does. He’s a great blocker — he blocked great for me, so shout out to him,” Matley said.

The box score turned out impressive for Monroe: 6, 12, 22, 0. East Troy had two zeroes with a 7 and a 6 to the right of each.

The night didn’t start off quite so pretty for the Cheesemakers, though. Matley gained 13 yards on his first carry but was hit from behind and the lost the ball.

“I jinxed myself before the game — I was talking to Keatin Sweeney and said that I didn’t fumble all year because I haven’t worn gloves and I put it on the deck. I’m not going to lie, I was a little shaken up for a bit, but I came back strong and started laying the wood,” Matley said.

The Cheesemakers then held East Troy to just 12 yards on the ensuing possession and regained the ball back at their own 28. Monroe began to work methodically down the field with Rodebaugh and Matley, who was now holding the ball tighter with both hands. Sweeney took the Cheesemakers across midfield with a 20-yard option pitch, and four plays later Ambrose hauled in a 22-yard catch to put Monroe at the 4. Sweeney scored three plays later. 

East Troy then gained just 15 yards on its next possession, which took the game into the second quarter, but the Cheesemakers wasted little time before given the Trojans the ball back. That’s because Matley busted out a 67-yard TD run on the third snap of the possession.

The Trojans gained just 3 and 5 yards on their next two possessions, with Monroe booting a punt in the middle. With 2:50 to go in the first half, Max Golembiewski dropped back to pass, and the entire Trojans defense followed JT Seagreaves, Monroe’s biggest deep ball threat. His decoy opened up Sweeney, who was running free to the end zone. Golembiewski’s throw into the wind was knocked down and off target, but Sweeney was able to adjust and catch the ball in the end zone for the score. 

Dessart used his legs on the next possession, dashing off for 18 yards and then the big 52-yard score to put East Troy on the board. His 52-yard scamper collected more yards on that single play than the Trojans had collectively gained to that point.

Monroe decided to go for another score on the ensuing possession, but a weakside blitz led to Max Golembiewski being blindsided on a pass that went backwards, resulting in a lost fumble. The Cheesemakers defense, pinned at its own 19 after the play, forced a 3-and-out and East Troy’s 30-yard field goal attempt went wide left.

At halftime, the coaching staff let their players know that the third quarter was where they would make their statement, and they did just that.

“(Coach Golembiewski) said just to keep our heads up — we’re winning the game. We have to come out stronger in the second half — and second halves are always stronger for us. We did just that,” Rodebaugh said.

On East Troy’s first play from scrimmage in the second half, Dessart was picked off by Chase Stoerp on the plus-side of midfield. Six plays later, Rodebaugh punched it in from 2-yards out to push the score to 26-7. 

The Trojans again sputtered on offense thanks to Monroe’s pressure on the defensive line. After a punt, Monroe took over at its own 17. Sweeney ran twice for 18 yards, and Matley added a 14-yard rush on the drive. Then Rodebaugh took his handoff and blew through the middle of the defense like an 8-bit Bo Jackson.

“A couple times this year we’ve baited the defense into something and then we tripped and fell down, and that (TD) should have been the result more times, but I’m glad it happened tonight because it’s a great way to finish,” Toby Golembiewski said of Rodebaugh.

Monroe’s final score came as the clock struck zero in the third as Sweeney jogged to the pylon from 14-yards out. East Troy’s next possession ended in an interception by Aaron Roidt, who caught a tip-drill deflected pass by Ambrose. On the play before, an East Troy runner was hurt, and as the huddled defense rehydrated, Ambrose, full of hubris, asked his coaches on the sideline “Is practice almost over?”

By all accounts, it was. Monroe’s starters ran just one more play together before substitutes began entering the game. East Troy’s final score, a 12-yard scramble by Dessart with 3:41 left, trimmed the score, but not the overall statement.

From here, the players on the team disperse. Some went right to work the next day at a job. Others prepared for the baseball season, while others went the way of track, golf and tennis. 

Matley said that this squad was special — special for all the years they played together, special for the playoff achievements as juniors and the 5-0 record as seniors, and special for making the most out of a not-so-normal season, all thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Some of them are going to go be electricians and plumbers and start their careers, and some of us are going to go on and play some football. Everyone has their path … I know everyone on the team will do great in their future — I really do. I trust them on the field, and I trust them off the field,” Matley said.