MONROE — The Cheesemakers opened the fall season as if the spring season that ended just four months earlier had never ended. That is to say, they started with a win. An emphatic win at that: 43-7 over Sauk Prairie on Aug. 20 at TR Holyoke Field.

“We knew we had to come out and compete if we wanted to put it away — and that’s what we did,” said senior two-way starter JT Seagreaves. “It feels great starting off with a win, especially at home. I feel like we’re going to just continue off of this.”

Retention to schemes, positional assignments and simple chemistry within the huddle were all strengths entering fall camp. In fact, between summer contact days and players meeting up, the offseason was more like one extended bye week instead of a regular 9-month offseason.

After scrimmaging New Glarus-Monticello the week prior, the coaching staff was still not pleased with where the team stood. In fact, neither were the players. The Week 1 win over Sauk Prairie saw Monroe continue to pound the rock with success (357 rushing yards), and outside of one drive late in the first half, completely shut down the Eagles’ offense. But the coaches and players knew there is still a lot to clean up.

“We had a good camp, and that got us started pretty well. But we’re still not perfect — it’s just Week 1,” said junior Keatin Sweeney, who had a game-high 116 yards rushing on 13 carries and three touchdowns. He’s also the top returner in yards rushing after a solid sophomore season in the spring. “I feel like I am running a lot harder than I was (in the spring). The line is blocking great. We really worked hard this summer. We had almost everyone come to summer lifting. We knew it was going to be a good year with a lot of returning guys on defense, and we knew we’d have a good offense.”

Monroe’s opening drive stalled after just four plays and 18 yards. The next four drives of the first half resulted in sustained drives culminating in touchdowns.

The first score covered 57 yards on six plays, with Sweeney scoring from 11-yards out with 4:38 left in the first quarter.

The possession began with a 23-yard gainer on a sweep left by Seagreaves, who has verbally committed to play tight end at Wisconsin in 2022, the first Cheesemaker to do so in nearly 25 years. He also moved in from the wideout position to play in the backfield this fall, and his impact was felt throughout the night as he gained 94 yards on 11 carries. He ran for a touchdown and caught another in the second half.

“It feels kind of different,” Seagreaves said. “I feel like I am really more ‘in’ with the offense — whether I’m blocking, running the fake or getting the ball. It feels like I’m always at the point of attack. I still keep some acts, but a lot of right half, blocking, running the ball — whatever the team needs me to do.”

Monroe’s second score came just four minutes later, as Seagreaves capped a 6-play, 47-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run to make it 13-0. The next Monroe possession saw just how dominant the Cheesemakers can be. 

Seagreaves took a sweep 25 yards for a score, only for a downfield holding penalty to bring the play back. On the next snap, the Cheesemakers ran it to the other side, with Sweeney darting through a hole the size of the Grand Canyon and strutting into the endzone uncontested from 28 yards out. The drive covered 68 yards on 11 plays, and a 2-point conversion on a run by Sweeney made it 21-0 Monroe with 5:29 left in the first half.

“I look up to the line — I’ve been playing with them my whole life. I know that if they do great, I’ll do great. Props to them,” Sweeney said.

Less than 90 seconds later the Cheesemakers had the ball again, this time at their own 20. Lucas Flom spelled Seagreaves in the backfield and gained 11 and 4 yards on the first two plays. After a 13-yard Sweeney carry, fullback Alex Hernandez barreled forward 16 yards, only to cough up the ball. Luckily for Monroe, Flom was Johnny on the spot and pulled in the loose ball before the pile collected on top of him. On the very next snap, first-year QB George Brukwicki went deep to Seagreaves for a leaping catch and a 31-yard gain, putting Monroe at the Sauk 1. Flom scored on the next play, making it 27-0 with just 1:02 left in the half.

“Everything felt right. All 11 on the field were working as one team and it went well for us,” Brukwicki said. “We’ve been doing this at practice for many weeks now, so I felt pretty prepared. We kept our offensive plan the same as do for most games, but defensively we really locked in and understood what they were going to run, and we really shut them down.”

The Cheesemakers defense had held the Eagles to just 10 yards of offense on their first four possessions. Before halftime though, Sauk let mobile QB Damien Wright-Rodriguez Jr. do his thing. First, he returned the kickoff to his own 41. Then the shifty two-way senior evaded multiple pass rushers on the possession, extending play after play. He completing all three passes he threw for 50 yards, then added a 6-yard scramble and a 3-yard draw for a TD with 7 seconds left before halftime to blemish the possible shutout.

“He was definitely really shifty. We watched some film on it at halftime and we were able to adjust,” Seagreaves said.

The turning point in the game actually came early in the third quarter. Monroe’s first possession stalled, gaining just wo yards on three plays. A bad snap to Brukwicki, who was punting, led to a 24-yard loss and gave Sauk possession at the Monroe 25. 

The defense held strong. While Sauk gained a first down on 4th-and-1 from the 16, Monroe’s D went full stop and ended the possession on downs at the Monroe 13.

Not only did the defense step up and keep it from becoming a two possession game, but the offense responded with a methodical 12-play, 87 yards touchdown strive, capped by Sweeney on a 5-yard run with 57 seconds left in the period.

Growing stronger on the drive was Hernandez. The first-year starting back ran for gains of 7, 15 and 7 yards on the first three plays of the possession. Tucker Markham gave Hernandez a short breather and gained 11 yards in his stead, all while Seagreaves had runs of 19 and 11. Hernandez came back onto the field and pounded the pigskin for another 7 yards to put the Cheesemakers into the red zone.

Sauk turned the ball over on downs just five plays later, as Monroe’s Jaden Clark flew through the offensive line and brought down Sauks’s backup quarterback Jackson Breunig.

The Cheesemakers then sent the game into a running clock with a 45-yard scoring drive. A fourth down pass from the 20 to Seagreaves was incomplete, but the Sauk secondary was flagged for pass interference. On the next snap, Seagreaves trailed on a crossing route along the back line of the end zone, and Brukwicki threw a strike to the 6-6 future Badger.

The score came with 7:22 left in the game. With the running clock, both teams started substituting reserve players, which was needed due to starters on both teams cramping up in the warm, humid air until the low rise of a near full moon. The Eagles drive, and the game, ended with a fourth-down incompletion after gaining 27 yards on 9 plays.

“It was a total team setup — the older guys, the middle guys, and even the younger guys all had to participate — not because it was a running clock, but because we physically couldn’t go back onto the field because of cramping,” Monroe coach Toby Golembiewski said.

Monroe finished the night with 418 yards of offense, while Sauk had just 117. Hernandez gained 113 yards on 19 carries. Brukwicki was 3-for-7 passing for 61 yards. Seagreaves added two catches for 47 yards to his 94 rushing. Drew Indergand had a 14-yard catch in the first half for Monroe as well.

“It was a total team game. Multiple people with scores, multiple people with great blocks. Team defense. Special teams sputtered a couple of times, but the defense was there to bail them out. The offense was there to do their job,” Golembiewski said. “We took care of business. We weren’t perfect, but we will correct the errors — it’s just Week 1. We were better than the scrimmage, and we will hopefully be better next week.”

Up next for the Cheesemakers is another nonconference, this time against Mount Horeb, which opened its season with a 37-30 win over Racine St. Catherine’s.