MONROE — It appears Monroe’s vaunted 3-headed monster might be back. The Cerberus-style offensive attack, the Wing-T, works best with three skilled running backs able to attack in any direction — up the middle and outside the tackles to the left and the right.

In a 34-33 win over Portage Aug. 30, the offense racked up 309 yards on the ground, with two of the three starting Cheesemaker running backs gaining over 100 yards in the process.

“It was how it was supposed to go,” Monroe coach Toby Golembiewski said. “Tyler (Matley) had about 70 yards, Nick (Bansley) had about 110 yards and (Trevor) Rodebaugh had quite a few yards running and receiving. They had some matchups on us on defense, but I think anytime you put up 34, 35 points you should expect to win a high school football game.”

Rodebaugh, a junior, has made the leap from lanky special teams player to running back and had the biggest game of his life in the nonconference win. Rodebaugh carried 26 times for 140 yards and two touchdowns, and added three catches for another 24 yards and a third score.

“It feels good, I don’t know what to say,” said the speechless Rodebaugh. “I know I have my team to fall on, so it feels good.”

Coming off a 1-point loss to Sauk Prairie in Week 1, a game in which the Cheesemakers knew they should have won, the offense was ready against the Warriors. Tyler Matley took the opening kick to near midfield, then Nick Bansley and Rodebaugh powered their way up the field. Monroe ran the ball on seven consecutive plays, gaining eight yards or more on six of them, with Bansley plunging through from four yards out just 1 minute, 36 seconds into the game to go ahead 7-0.

Portage soon countered, however. The Warriors took their opening kick inside Monroe territory and on the second play had senior running back Delnato Sheppard rumble 28 yards up the left sideline. Four plays later Brett Walker found Matthew Miles on a back-shoulder catch in the end zone to tie it up. Sheppard was just getting started, as he would finish the game with 23 carries for 228 yards.

“That guy was a big dude to bring down. He’s a good runner and he’s going to have some great games. He’s just a real solid kid. He’s going to play at the next level somewhere, I’d bet,” Golembiewski said of Sheppard, who stands 5-7 and 210 pounds.

Monroe’s offense didn’t slow down and re-gained the lead eight plays later. Rodebaugh set up the drive with a big 24-yard run up the right sidelines, then Matley plunged forward for 12 to get down to the Portage 6. Bansley took the first-and-goal play to the right edge and dove toward the pylon, but was ruled out at the 1. Rodebaugh followed his blockers up the middle on the next play to score his first TD.

Portage tied the score at 13 in the second quarter with its second fourth-down TD pass of the game, this time to Isaac Paul in the flat on a screen that went for 26 yards. Monroe re-took the lead moments later on Rodebaugh’s second TD carry of the contest with 7:22 left in the half.

The Warriors then fizzled out on their next drive, turning the ball over on downs with 5:41 left at the Monroe 14. The Cheesemakers couldn’t capitalize offensively and punted away nearly three minutes later. On the second play of the ensuing drive, Sheppard barreled forward for 33 yards before being tripped out of bounds at the 2. Colton Brandsma scored on the next play, the Portage’s PAT doinked off the crossbar, allowing the Cheesemakers to hold a 20-19 lead with 2:10 left.

Portage got a final opportunity with the ball at the Monroe 45 with just 15 seconds left. A quick strike to Paul for 10 yards and a timeout left just 10 seconds on the clock. The Warriors only needed seven seconds for Walker to connect with Miles in the end zone on a man-to-man fly route, with Miles turning around Monroe DB Connor Allen to get a free shot at the catch.

Despite the strong half on offense, Monroe still trailed 25-20 at halftime.

Monroe opened the second half with a new level of intensity and had Sheppard punt from inside his own end zone on the first possession of the third quarter. A steady diet of runs had Monroe travel 42 yards on eight plays, capped with a TD pass from Max Golembiewski to Rodebaugh from 12 yards out.

At the end of the play, senior lineman Julian Gruber went down on the sidelines, causing a momentary pause in the jubilation on the Cheesemakers sideline.

“I was rolling out and their back poked me in the eyes — he put all four fingers in my facemask,” Gruber said. “It stopped hurting after a little bit, so I went back in, because that’s what my teammates expect of me.”

Portage countered Monroe score with another of their own, retaking the lead at 33-27 with 5:19 left in the third quarter. It was the last points of the game for the visitors.

On Monroe’s next possession, the speedy Bansley busted a run to the outside with just two defenders left in front of him and followed a crowd-pleasing pancake block from Gruber 25 yards up the field. Bansley evaded the final defender to put Monroe back on top after Blake Mueller’s extra-point.

“I saw him going backwards and I thought, ‘oh yeah, this is a touchdown all day, baby.’ That kid was in my bag the moment he started backing up. I knew Nick was going down to score,” Gruber said.

Golembiewski said his staffed waited on running the TD-scoring play call for a variety of reasons, but when they decided to give it a go, the opportunity was “the perfect place and perfect time” for it.

“I think I even said ‘watch for this, this is going for a touchdown’ right before they snapped the ball,” said Golembiewski, who was also very pleased with the downfield blocking of Gruber, a senior offensive lineman. “It was a great block — great hustle, great effort — it was the perfect time for that, too. It got us back in the lead and got us headed in the right direction.”

Portage had three possessions end in the fourth quarter without points that clinched the Monroe win. First, after a long 12-play drive, a 35-yard field goal try went wide left. Then the Warriors turned the ball over on downs at the Monroe 21, opting not to attempt a 38-yard FG. Portage’s last possession started with just 1:34 left in the game at its own 32.

“It gives you that situation with time where you have an edge in predicting what’s going to happen. When there’s six or seven minutes left, you have to be ready for everything in the playbook. But you know that they are going to be more likely to do some quick-hitting things when that time situation is so tight,” coach Golembiewski said. “We were in the driver’s seat at that point, being on their half of the field. If it had been on the other half of the field that might have been a little different situation.”

On the second play, Bansley telegraphed Walker’s pass and picked it off, returning it for a 50-yard touchdown, only for a penalty flag to negate the score.

“I saw their tight end start to come up on a seam route, and I knew the QB was looking for it, so I came up and picked it off,” Bansley said. “We wanted this win — we didn’t want to start this season with two losses. It feels really good.”

With 1:17 left on the clock and Portage with just a single timeout remaining, Max Golembiewski just had to kneel three times to wind out the clock.

Golembiewski finished 5 of 6 passing for 52 yards with an interception. Bansley had 117 yards on the ground on 21 carries, while Matley gained more than 50 yards himself. 

Up next for the Cheesemakers is the Badger South Conference opener at Monona Grove, a perennial contender for the league crown. Monona Grove has won 9 of the last 10 conference titles, with Monroe’s 2016 run the only blemish.

The Silver Eagles have scuffled to the start of this season. After graduating a strong senior class, MG was pounded 54-6 by Waunakee in Week 1 and lost to Reedsburg 21-13 in Week 2.

“They are going to have some great athletes up there and they are going to be reloaded. They got their lumps against Waunakee, and I’m sure that tuned them up even more and gave them their keys and more effort even more to come back from that. We’re going to get back into the film room and work on it some more,” coach Golembiewski said.