MONROE — Mount Horeb/Barneveld spoiled Monroe’s Homecoming in Week 7, and set the Cheesemakers up for must-win games in Weeks 8 and 9 in order to have a shot at the playoffs. The Vikings upended the Cheesemakers 42-7 on Oct. 2, using a balanced offense and suffocating defense.
“They are good,” said Monroe coach Tom Witt. “They’ve had some struggles here and there, but I expect them to make the playoffs. They should do well in the playoffs in D3.”
MHB (4-3, 3-2 Badger Small) finished the night with 434 yards of offense — 215 through the air, and another 219 on the ground. RB Eli Maier finished with 212 yards on 21 carries (10.1 ypc) himself, including a nifty 46-yard score in the second quarter that included a “how-did-he-do-that?” broken tackle. In total, Maier had three touchdowns.
“(Number) 5 is a dude. He’s a really good wrestler — second in the state last year as a sophomore. He’s just a hell of an athlete,” Witt said. “You saw it on display with how quick he is. He breaks tackles. He’s the best back in our conference, as far as I’m concerned. We just said coming into the game that we’ve got to find a way to stop him.”
MHB QB Preston Meyers was 15-for-21 passing for 215 yards and three scores. His lone blemish was a red zone interception by Monroe two-way starter Tristen Anderson in the second quarter. Henry DeRosier had two catches for 79 yards and two TDs, while Brady McCue finished with eight grabs for 97 yards and a score for the Vikings.
The Cheesemakers also struggled with timely penalties. The Cheese were flagged five times for 45 yards. However, the potential yardage they could have gained on those snaps was worth about 40 yards — meaning a swing of 80 yards as a whole. Included in the lost plays was a 17-yard TD run by Jace Riese.
“The mistakes killed us. We’d have a great run all of a sudden, and there’s a holding call. That sort of thing killed us all night long,” Witt said. “We just didn’t stay ahead of the chains and it hurt us.”
Monroe, meanwhile, had 228 yards rushing and 285 yards of total offense. QB Ryan Roelli was 3-for-9 through the air for 57 yards, and had a team-high 112 yards rushing. Roelli’s 96-yard bootleg rollout TD run in the second quarter gave the fans and players something to cheer about. The score instantly became the new record for longest play at Badger State Ethanol Stadium.
“That was a great play call by (assistant coach) Gerry (Herbst),” Witt said. “They weren’t honoring the boot on the sweeps. And we ran it one more time where he got 15 yards, but after that they kept two guys home on the backside and we couldn’t run it again.”
Anderson, Monroe’s leading rusher this season, gained just 15 yards on five carries and had a 24-yard reception. He left the game in the second quarter with an injury and did not return.
“It wasn’t necessarily from tonight. His knees were swollen before the game even started, I found out later,” Witt said. “Hopefully he’ll be fine and gets his swelling down.”
The final two games on the schedule don’t get much easier for the Cheesemakers (1-6, 1-4). In Week 8, Monroe travels to 2025 tri-conference champion Sauk Prairie (3-4, 2-3), while current co-conference leader Beaver Dam (6-1, 5-0) awaits in Week 9.
“We’re trying to be 1-0 after Friday. We’re not mathematically out of it. If we find a way to win two games here, we’ll make it,” Witt said.
