JEFFERSON — The Cheesemakers put their heads down and went to work in the second half, turning a 6-7 deficit into an 18-7 victory over Jefferson Sept. 10 in Week 4, a game that will surely play heavily into the outcome of the Rock Valley title chase this season.
Keatin Sweeney had a 17-yard score at the 6:58 mark in the third to five Monroe a 12-7 advantage. With 2:17 remaining in the frame, Lucas Flom made it 18-7 with an 8-yard carry. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.
In the first half, the Cheesemakers (3-1, 2-0 RVC) capped a scoring drive with JT Seagreaves hitting paydirt from 9-yard away, but less than six minutes later Evan Neitzel connected with Joel Martin for an 11-yard game to make it 7-6 with 3:59 to play in the first quarter.
Sweeney carried just six times for 103 yards. Fullback Alex Hernandez was the bully throughout the second half, finishing with 104 yards on 23 carries. Flom had seven rushes for 64 yards, and Seagreaves finished with 53 yards on 12 totes. QB George Brukwicki was 2-for-7 passing for 23 yards and an INT.
Neitzel was 6 of 10 for 97 yards for Jefferson (2-1, 1-1). The Eagles run a similar triple-wing offense to Monroe, but the Cheesemakers gained 332 yards on the 52 carries in the game (6.4 ypc), while Jefferson had just 59 yards on 28 attempts (2.1 ypc).
Edgewood (4-0, 2-0) and Monroe are the only remaining unbeaten teams through two weeks of conference play. The Wisconsin Football Coaches Association’s fourth-ranked team in Division 4, the Crusaders, ranked D3 10th-ranked Cheesemakers are both previously Badger Conference rivals and will not meet until the final week of the regular season. Jefferson and Edgewood play each other in Week 5, while the Cheesemakers welcome Edgerton (0-4, 0-2) for Monroe’s homecoming.
Edgerton was the co-Rock Valley champion in 2019 and went 3-2 in the spring season, playing in the Rock Valley Small. This year the Crimson Tide have been outscored 124-58, including 67-12 in the first half. The running attack is almost non-existent for the Tiders, with lead carrier Beau Allison gaining 155 yards on 39 carries (4.0 ypc), with no one else having more than 9 yards on the year. Meanwhile, the Cheesemakers have four running backs with more yards than Allison — Sweeney (500, 10.9 ypc), Hernandez (352, 4.8 ypc), Seagreaves 297 (7.8 ypc) and Flom (230, 8.8 ypc).
Edgerton QB Aydan Hanson has completed just under 36% of his passes for less than 300 yards and five TDs with four INTs this season. Shane Kisting is Hanson’s top target with 11 receptions for 154 yards.
New Glarus-Monticello 28, Prairie du Chien 27
NEW GLARUS — The Glarner Knights let a two-score lead fade in the second half of their Sept. 9, Week 4 SWC game against Prairie du Chien, only to rally in the closing seconds. Over the team’s previous eight games, three had been decided by one point —all of which were losses.
The Knights jumped out to a 21-7 lead by halftime thanks to two touchdown passes from Max Marty and another run by Nate Bandes that made it 21-0 with 11:21 left in the second quarter. PDC got off the egg with a 23-yard pick-6 with 4:00 left before halftime.
In the second half, PDC scored three more touchdowns — two on passes from Maddox Cejka, and another pick-6 with 7:07 to play that put the Knights behind 27-21.
NGM’s final drive the game culminated with a 22-yard TD pass from Marty to Ethan Friedrich with just 18 seconds left on the board.
Marty finished the evening 15 of 31 for 203 yards, three TDs and four INTs. Jack Parman had six catches for 55 yards and a score, and Leyton Mihlbauer had 38 yards and a TD. NGM finished the night with 263 yards of offense to PDC’s 210.
Up next for the Knights (1-3, 1-1 SWC) is a game against Wisconsin Dells (4-0, 2-0 South Central). The Dells are a rush-heavy offense (2:1 rush to pass plays) with enough passing to keep opposing teams honest. Matt Getgen has 622 yards of offense and 11 TDs through four games, while QB Braden Buss has 568 yards and five TDs through the air.
Mineral Point 22,
Black Hawk-Warren 16
MINERAL POINT — The Pointers scored on a 5-yard touchdown pass from Joah Filardo to Tanner Goninen to break a 16-16 tie with the Warriors late in the fourth quarter in Week 4.
Black Hawk-Warren made it as far as Mineral Point’s 8-yard-line with 35 seconds left, but backup QB Dempsey Schliem had his pass picked off, ending the game.
“I was proud of the way our guys overcame adversity during the game and kept coming back,” Black Hawk-Warren coach Desie Breadon said. “We played really well on defense, especially considering the kids Mineral Point has. I think we will learn from this loss and definitely be a better team by the end of the season. They are still getting experience in those situations and have a lot of potential as a team.”
A big blow came to the Warriors when QB Brayden Bohnsack went down with a shoulder injury in the first quarter.
“I was proud of the job Dempsey Schliem did at quarterback filling in for Bohnsack,” Breadon said. “Dempsey knows the offense and ran it well.”
Lucas Milz had 109 yards for the Warriors, but lost a fumble. Landen Mahoney had nine carries for 98 yards and two TDs.
“The big plays and turnovers were the difference in the game. Mineral Point made big plays and minimized ours. They also won the turnover battle. They had 10 points off of turnovers,” Breadon said.
The Warriors had 255 yards of total offense, while the Pointers had 194 yards. Filardo was 7 of 9 for 101 yards and two TDs. Eli Lindsey was 5 of 9 for 56 yards with an INT. Leyten Bowers had four catches for 66 yards and a TD.
“Mineral Point is a good team and has some really good skill position players. They will probably be the best skill position players we see this season,” Breadon said. “I’m proud of the way our guys played and the number of guys that stepped up during the game. We had a couple of players out which definitely impacted the game as well. Seth Dunleavy did a great job filling in at cornerback this week, because Marsden wasn’t available. Having Alex out changed up things in our secondary and passing game. Andrew Figi did a nice job filling in at strong safety and had a nice interception on the goal line.”
Brodhead 47,
Richland Center 10
RICHLAND CENTER — The Cardinals continued their dominating first season in the SWC with a 47-10 shellacking of the Hornets Sept. 10 in Week 4.
Brodhead-Juda went up 28-3 at halftime and added two more scored in the third quarter to turn on the running clock. Both teams scored a TD in the fourth quarter.
Gage Boegli had 228 yards rushing and four TDs on 13 carries. Blake Matthys had 54 yards on eight totes, while Brady Rosheisen finished with 50 yards, also on eight carries. Aiden Vondra and Cole Hoesly each had a rushing TD as well for the Cardinals. Gunner Boegli had a receiving TD.
Brodhead-Juda (4-2, 2-0 SWC) has outscored opponents 175-24, including 67-7 in the first quarter and 122-10 in the first half. Gage Boegli leads the team — and conference — in rushing with 509 yards on 46 carries, scoring 10 times. Rosheisen has 330 yards on 49 totes, and Matthys is averaging 6.2 yards a carry himself at 21-for-131 and five TDs.
Up next for the Cardinals is Platteville (1-3, 1-1), which is averaging 190.5 yards passing a game and another 142 rushing. Derek Digman, the Hillmen’s QB, has thrown for 762 yards and eight TDs (7 INTs) and rushed for a team-high 225 yards on 44 carries. Only Terrell Halverson (179) has joined Digman above the century mark in rushing yards this season for the Hillmen. Devin Digman leads the team with 19 catches for 391 yards (20.6 ypc) and five TDs. Jesse Martin has 17 receptions for 269 yards (15.8 ypc) with three scores.
The two teams will meet at Larsen Field in Brodhead Sept. 17 for Week 5.
River Ridge 46,
Pecatonica-Argyle 8
BLANCHARDVILLE — River Ridge scored seven TDs before the Vikings finally got on the board in the final minute of the fourth quarter of their game Sept. 10 at McKellar Park.
While River Ridge scored three first-quarter touchdowns, the backbreaker for the Vikings came early in the second quarter. The Vikings had the ball deep in River Ridge territory, only for Brady Bunge to pick off a pass and return it 95-yards for a touchdown, pushing the score to 26-0 at the 10:23 mark of the second quarter.
Logan Drone and Will Cooley each had two rushing touchdowns for River Ridge, while Drone threw for another score to Braden Crubel, who had three catches for 70 yards.
Kaden Hartwig scored Pec-Argyle’s lone touchdown on a 2-yard run with 40 seconds left.
Up next for the Vikings (1-3, 0-2 Six Rivers) is a rivalry game in Week 5 against Black Hawk-Warren. Gametime is set for 2 p.m. at McKellar Park.
