BELLEVILLE — Although New Glarus-Monticello and Belleville may not be in the same conference anymore, the rivalry between the two teams remains strong, which is why NGM’s 7-0 victory on Friday, Aug. 25 tasted so sweet for the Knights.

“The Highway 69 rivalry is ‘the game,’” NGM head coach DJ Schuett said. “If you’re only going to win one, it’s the one you want to win. I think Mike [Nolden] would say the same thing. It’s a huge win. We finally got the monkey off our back by beating Belleville.”

The Knights’ senior class hadn’t beat Belleville in their entire high school careers. Last year, Belleville beat NGM  34-7. In 2021, the Wildcats topped the Knights 35-6, and in the Alt-Fall season, Belleville slipped past NGM 21-20 at the last minute. The losing streak fueled senior quarterback Max Marty, who threw for 193 yards and ran for another 73 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown. 

“Our senior class has put in a lot of work our whole high school career, especially this offseason,” Marty said. “We really wanted every one of these games, and we are going to keep pushing forward. It means so much to us, especially this one.”

Marty gave NGM its first surge, intercepting a tipped Wildcat pass and taking it 11 yards down the field. On the ensuing Knight drive, the Wildcats helped their opponents with three offsides penalties, each measuring five yards. 

In the red zone, Belleville’s defense tightened up, though. On first-and-10, Ryker Swenson got through the line and pressured Marty into an incomplete pass. On third down, intended receiver Jake Roth fell down during his route, and on fourth down, Marty’s pass to a wide-open Luke Burton was too high.

Neither team moved the ball far on their next possessions, leading to a scoreless first quarter.

The Wildcats received the ball to start the second quarter, but the Knights made sure their rival didn’t have it for long. Sam Perkins sacked Belleville quarterback Sam Arndt, and on third-and-10, Lawrence Vasquez got through the line to block Arndt’s pass.

On the ensuing possession, NGM nearly went three and out thanks to a holding penalty and tackle for loss, but a third-and-long catch by Leyton Mihlbauer — toes just inside the line — kept the drive alive. Another pass to Vasquez set the Knights up at the 11-yard line. Belleville’s defense made key stops, forcing a field goal attempt. The snap was off target, as NGM squandered another scoring opportunity.

“Even though we were dog-tired in the first half, we moved the ball better than they did,” Schuett said. “We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We have to clean some of that up.”

As the half wound down, Belleville threatened to score. The Wildcats took the punt return to NGM’s 33 yard line with 41.3 seconds remaining. After each gain, Belleville took timeouts to stop the clock, but Vasquez’s tackle on third-and-2 ensured both teams went into the half scoreless.

Out of halftime, Belleville took possession at its own 25-yard line. The Wildcats moved down field quickly, as Logan Derke ran for nearly five yards a carry. 

“When they [Belleville] took the ball down the field in the second half, I started to think we were in trouble,” Schuett said. “We stiffened up, made a stop and made a couple plays.”

Belleville had a fresh set of downs, set up at NGM’s 19-yard line. Vasquez broke up a pass, and Marty’s tackle on fourth-and-8 gave the Knights the ball on the 9-yard line.

The Wildcats nearly took the ball right back, as Swenson pressured Marty into a risky throw. Belleville’s secondary intercepted the ball, but the defender was ruled out of bounds.

“On film, we saw he [Swenson] was a super strong player,” Marty said. “Props to him. I knew I had to keep my eye on him the whole time. He was definitely the driving force in their defense.”

Marty capitalized on the second chance, throwing a first-down pass to Milo Johnson. On the next play, Lawrence caught a pass and broke three tackles for a 17-yard gain. Marty targeted Roth next for a 24-yard pass, setting the Knights up at the 39-yard line. From there, the offense fell off. NGM collected two flags, threw an incomplete pass and made another bad snap.

The Knight defense gave its offense the ball right back with a three-and-out, highlighted by a sack from Alex Pauli. The script was much the same, though, as New Glarus-Monticello marched down the field but stopped short.

On the first two possessions inside the 10-yard line — end zone in sight — Marty was stopped short on QB keepers. His fourth-and-4 pass was broken up, giving Belleville the ball on a turnover on downs.

The two teams battled back and forth until a 25-yard punt return by Roth sparked the Knight offense. On the first play of the drive, Marty ran 20 yards to the end zone. Lawrence’s extra point was good, giving NGM a 7-0 lead with 2:40 left in the game.

To back up the score, the Knight defense came up with a big stop. Simon Zimmerman and Roth broke up passes, Arndt threw another incomplete pass, and Justin Engen intercepted the ball at the 47-yard line.

“Jake has a lot of heart on the field,” Marty said of Roth. “He’s going to fly around and make plays for us. He tipped the ball to me on that first drive, which was a big jump starter for us. We knew what we had to do on that last drive. They were going to try and throw it. Justin was at the right place at the right time and pulled through.”

NGM ran the ball, forcing Belleville to use up their timeouts to stop the clock. The Wildcats got the ball back with 1:03 left. They slowly moved the ball down field and ran out of bounds to stop the clock, but Arndt’s fourth-and-4 pass to Cooper Nemec was short of the first down marker, securing the win for the Knights.

Marty led NGM (2-0, 0-0 Capitol) with 193 passing yards and another 73 rushing yards. He targeted Roth, Milhbauer and Vasquez equally, with each tallying over 40 yards receiving. Defensively, Pauli and Perkins recorded sacks, while Marty and Engen brought in interceptions.

For Belleville (0-2, 0-0 SWAL), Arndt was 12-for-26 passing for 77 yards. On the ground, the Wildcats managed just 64 yards and 141 yards of total offense. Swenson and Brady Durni were leading players on defense, with over 10 tackles each.