MONROE — The Cheesemakers set out to not just score a win in Week 5 against Jefferson, they wanted to open things up for senior running back Keatin Sweeney. An all-state rusher a year ago, Sweeney had been kept away from big games through the first four weeks of this season.
“From week to week, teams have had philosophies on how to defend us,” Monroe coach Toby Golembiewski said after his team’s 53-15 thumping of the Eagles Sept. 16. “You can stop some of the things some of the time, but you can’t stop all of the things all of the time. Some weeks it’s going to be a fullback game, and some weeks it’s going to be a halfback game.”
In the first four weeks of the year, Monroe has used three different backs on the right side, a mix of injuries and splitting time for two-way players. Sweeney, the left side back and in his third year starting on varsity, has helped seal the edge for those three backs: Ben Gatdula, Kaden Kuester and Tucker Markham. That blocking help hasn’t always been returned, and this past week in practice, Golembiewski made sure the team understood their assignments, which would allow a big game from Sweeney.
The entire team responded and rallied around their speedy back, who finished the contest with 202 yards and four touchdowns on just 12 carries.
“Gatdula was our guy in two-a-days. Tucker and Kuester hadn’t gotten nearly as many reps. Knowing that those guys were going to get their blocks down, it was time for Keatin to feast. He had been putting those guys on his back the last couple of games,” Golembiewski said. In the three games since Gatdula’s Week 2 injury, Kuester and Markham combined for 387 yards and nine TDs. Sweeney meanwhile had 156 yards. “I’m glad that worked out for him.”
In fact, overall it was record-setting for the Cheesemakers, which ran for what is believed to be a program-high 540 yards total, averaging about 15 yards per carry. The state record for a single game is 737, set by Ozaukee in 2011. In fact, the Cheesemakers ran for 194 yards and three touchdowns on their first six carries.
A season ago, Jefferson focused on a heavy running offense, which took them as far as Level 3 of the playoffs, only for Monroe to knock them out of the tournament. The Eagles then graduated the bulk of their roster, and a new coaching staff came in, opting to change the offensive direction to a more spread-out passing scheme, which has taken time to click.
In this meeting, Monroe wasted no time getting to the point. Jefferson’s opening kick return went to just the 16-yard-line, and three-straight incompletions led to a punt. On his first carry of the game, Sweeney followed his blockers to the edge and darted 48 yards up the field for a first down. He had a 3-yard run on the next play, and then on second down, fullback Alex Hernandez went untouched up the middle for a 21-yard score, with just 1:39 gone from the clock.
On Jefferson’s next drive, Charlie Wiegel had a big sack, and the Eagles punted again after another 3-and-out. Monroe took over at its own 49, and Sweeney ran untouched for a 51-yard score on the first snap, putting the Cheesemakers ahead 14-0 at the 8:20 mark.
The Eagles then picked up two first downs on their next drive, but Monroe still ended up forcing another punt. Monroe’s first play? Kaden Kuester to the left side for 55 yards. The second play? Sweeney touchdown from 17 yards out — 21-0.
“Everyone knew that I was overdue for a big game, and the line knew it was my time. Like always, it was wide open. I wasn’t getting touched on a couple of those plays. They blocked great. It was all because of them,” Sweeney said.
The ensuing kickoff was shanked, however the Jefferson up-man misplayed the ball, and Monroe recovered the inadvertent onside kick at the Jefferson 33. Three plays later, Hernandez scored on a 25-yard run, making it 28-0 with 1:23 left in the opening quarter.
The Eagles finally found success on their fourth possession, as Drew Peterson darted 65 yards on the second play for a TD. It was the first point allowed in nine quarters — actually, just 19 seconds shy of being 10-straight quarters.
Three plays into Monroe’s next drive, on the first play of the second quarter, Sweeney scored again — this time from 52 yards away. Gavin Foulker picked off an Eagles pass on the next possession, but a rarity happened for the Cheesemakers. The offense went backwards for a possession, and for just the second time this season Monroe punted. The Cheesemakers would get the ball back just 2 ½ minutes later at their own 27. A 7-play drive ended with Sweeney scoring for a fourth time in the game, making it 41-6. Jefferson would hit a 39-yard field goal to close out the half, bringing the score to 41-9.
Monroe had 353 rushing yards in the half, with Sweeney reaching 197, Kuester 85 and Hernandez 65.
The Cheesemakers also got the ball to start the second half. The starters stayed in for one possession to gain the running clock. Hernandez gained 37 yards on the first play to put him over the century mark, and Sweeney had another run to put him over 200. Junior quarterback Ethan Rosenstiel, filling in for injured starter George Brukwicki, capped the drive with a 3-yard option keeper.
Jefferson fumbled away the ball on their possession, with James Seagreaves recovering at the Monroe 25. Tucker Markham then followed a thunderous pancake block by Navy-commit Isaac Bunker for a 39-yard gain. On the next play, Brady Wyss blew past the defense for a 43-yard score.
Wyss had missed the first four games with an injury, but returned in Week 5, playing mostly defense. The score was a pivotal moment for him and the team — though it was sadly short-lived. Two plays into Jefferson’s next possession, and the last play of the third quarter, Wyss tackled Peterson out of bounds, but stayed on the turf, suffering a severe lower-leg injury. He was taken off the field by EMS and is likely to miss the remainder of the season.
“I don’t think Brady’s coming back. We got three quarters out of him. But we’ll get him back for next year,” Golembiewski said.
The Eagles scored two plays later on a pass to the outside — a spot normally occupied by Brukwicki or Wyss. Monroe’s next possession took off 7 ½ minutes off the clock, and ended with the Cheesemakers kneeling out the possession on four straight plays inside the Jefferson red zone, leaving 4:10 on the clock. The final clock ran out on Jefferson without another score.
Sweeney’s big game nearly doubled his season total, bringing him up to 441 yards on just 49 carries (9.0 yards per carry). Hernandez (793, 9.7 ypc) leads the team in rushing, with Kuester (369, 12.3 ypc) third. Tucker Markham (12.4 ypc) and Ben Gatdula (12.6), who is currently injured, have also gained big chunks this season for the Cheesemakers.
Monroe currently leads the state in rushing with 2,102 yards — almost 350 ahead of second-place Mukwonago and an average of 420.4 per game. The state record for rushing yards in a season was set by Owen-Withee in 2007 at 5,519, averaging more than 424 yards per game as a Division 6 school. Owen-Withee is now an 8-player football program.
Up next for Monroe is Rock Valley newcomer Delavan-Darien. Not much was known about the former Southern Lakes program.
“They had been down for a few years, but now they have a quarterback who is very athletic and can throw it around a little bit. But he’s also going to run, and he’s given some teams some fits. We’ll see who we have to work with and get prepped for him,” Golembiewski said. “As long as we put points on the board, we’ll be fine.”
Delavan-Darien was hammered 55-0 by McFarland in Week 5. Monroe blanked McFarland 36-0 in Week 3.
“I think we’re doing great. We’re staying confident, we’re not being cocky. We’re just making sure we beat teams that we should and playing up to our level at all times,” Sweeney said. “It’s all about keeping that high-intensity in practice, because we have to be ready to play our best on Fridays.”
