STOUGHTON — When the winless Cheesemakers got off the bus at Stoughton Friday night, few in the home stands thought the game would come down to the final minute. 

The Vikings, ranked No. 8 in the state in Division 2 in last week’s WisSports.net Coaches Poll, entered the game unbeaten.

“We had a team on the ropes and it could have really been a turning point in the season,” Monroe coach Toby Golembiewski said after his team lost 13-6.

The Cheesemakers had the ball at their own 40-yard line with just over a minute to play but quarterback Alex Witt couldn’t connect with any receivers after scrambling in the backfield on four straight plays — two of which ended with no flags being thrown for what was likely defensive pass interference. The turnover on downs with 47 seconds left proved to be the final dagger as on third down. With 32 seconds left, Stoughton broke off a 28-yard run to seal the game.

“For a big team like that I thought we played them great,” Monroe junior Aiden Sweeney said. “We played really well and I thought we came together as a team and started communicating really well. We played our hearts out and did what we could.”

The rest of the game faired differently. On Stoughton’s opening possession, defensive back Sweeney intercepted a tipped pass to give the Cheesemakers the ball near midfield. Nine plays later, senior running back Jordan Montgomery broke loose for an 18-yard touchdown.

Sweeney has seen sporadic time on the field throughout the season but was thrust into a starting role now that senior starter Anthany Hernandez is on the bench with an injury. Hernandez is also the team’s kicker. A two-point try instead of the usual point after kick failed.

“He gets some reps on JV and he’s been working very hard in practice and we are really proud of his improvement,” Golembiewski said of Sweeney.

Throughout the game Stoughton quarterback Adam Hobson tried to pick on Sweeney’s inexperience, but the junior was up for the challenge.

“(Sweeney) has really stepped it up this year in his concentration,” Golembiewski said. “He’s going to be a really good football player for us. We didn’t know what direction he was going to go, but he has really put his nose to the grindstone and he’s really going to be a guy that plays a key role for us.”

The Cheesemakers held the lead for much of the game, with Stoughton kicking a field goal with 10 seconds left in the second to cut the lead in half. The Vikings tied the game with 8:25 left in the third on another field goal, but Monroe’s defense continuously stifled potential scoring possessions. The Cheesemakers forced Stoughton to turn the ball over three times in the game.

The two schools went into halftime with nearly identical offensive yardage — Stoughton had 137 yards while Monroe had 120. Witt was sacked for a 10-yard loss on a last-second pass attempt on the final play of the first half.

In the second half, however, Stoughton’s offense rose to the challenge and outgained the Cheesemakers 179-57. The Vikings drove to the Monroe 8-yard line but had to settle for the game-tying field goal on the first possession of the third quarter. Two possessions later, the Cheesemakers made a goal line stand at their 1-yard-line to keep Stoughton out of the end zone. 

“This week of practice was great — it was probably the best practice we’ve had this year. The coaches were impressed. We handled coverages really well,” Sweeney said.

But a bad pitch on an option play and a false start led to a Monroe punt and the Vikings with possession starting at Monroe’s 25.

Three plays later, Hobson connected with Drew Anderson for an 11-yard touchdown pass. Anderson had 10 catches for 137 yards in the game and continuously was a thorn in the side of the Cheesemakers with numerous hook patterns that gained between 5-15 yards.

“We’re expected to win,” Golembiewski said. “We have to start doing things right all the time and not just half of the time or some of the time. We’ve got to stop missing tackles and stop missing blocks.” 

Ethan Kleckler led Monroe with 83 rushing yards on 20 carries while Montgomery had 61 on 11 carries and Nick Bansley went for 36 on 12 touches. Hobson finished 15 of 24 passing for 150 yards with two interceptions and a fumble into the Monroe end zone in the first half that was recovered for a touchback. Stoughton also had 156 rushing yards on 34 carries.

Up next for the Cheesemakers is an even tougher task — unbeaten Monona Grove (5-0, 3-0 Badger South), the No. 6 ranked team in Division 2 that’s coming off a 49-0 throttling of Fort Atkinson.

“I really hope it doesn’t go downhill from here and I don’t think it will,” Golembiewski said. “We’ve got a lot of guts, but our record is not very good right now, because we don’t do it right all the time. We’ve got to stop making excuses and start doing it right.”

Monroe’s window to qualifying for the playoffs gets thinner every week. The Cheesemakers need to go 3-1 in their final four games in order to meet qualifying metrics. Three of those four games are also on the road.

“We just take tonight to grief and then tomorrow start up and think about next week,” Sweeney said. “Go to practice, work hard, learn, get better and go out there to fight again.”