EVANSVILLE — Tied 7-7 going into the second quarter, Monroe scored 27 unanswered points against Rock Valley Conference opponent Evansville to come away with a 34-7 victory on Friday, Sept. 8.
Ethan Rosenstiel connected with Ben Gatdula for a 23-yard TD pass to open the game, but Evansville’s Bennett Keller found Wyatt Klitzman for a 48-yard TD pass to tie the game at 7 less than two minutes later.
In the second quarter alone, Monroe scored 21 points with two more passing TDs and a 26-yard rushing TD from Gatdula. Following a scoreless third quarter, Kaden Kuester capped the game with a 2-yard rushing TD.
Rosenstiel finished 5-for-7 passing for 115 yards and three TDs. Gatdula caught two of those passes, totaling 63 yards. Tony Wolf had the other receiving touchdown. On the ground, Kuester tallied 126 yards on 16 carries with a TD. Gatdula, who ran for 66 yards, had the other rushing TD. Wes Saunders was 4-for-5 on extra point attempts.
Monroe (2-2, 2-0 Rock Valley) faces Jefferson (1-3, 1-1) before its homecoming game against Delavan-Darien (2-2, 2-0) on Friday, Sept. 22. Meanwhile, Evansville (2-2, 1-1) picked up a Week 5 game against Kingdom Prep Lutheran in place of its matchup with East Troy.
NEW GLARUS-MONTICELLO 20, EDGEWOOD 14
MADISON — In the final two minutes, Max Marty found Lawrence Vasquez for the game-winning TD against Edgewood on Friday, Sept. 8. New-Glarus With the win, New Glarus-Monticello improves to 2-0 in the Capitol Conference and 4-0 overall. The last time the Knights started their season 4-0 was in 2010, when the team finished 8-3.
Two minutes into the game, Marty found Cade Thayer for a 50-yard TD pass. The extra point attempt was unsuccessful. Edgewood responded with two rushing touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 14-0 lead.
The Knights got within two thanks to a 9-yard TD pass to Vasquez. NGM attempted to tie the game with a 2-point conversion, but Marty’s pass was unsuccessful. With time running out in the fourth quarter, Marty found Vasquez again for a 74-yard TD pass. This time, Marty’s 2-point conversion pass to Leyton Mihlbauer was good for a 20-14 lead. The defense held Edgewood scoreless for the final 1:35 of the game, giving NGM its fourth win.
Marty finished 21-for-31 passing with 262 yards and three TDs. Vasquez caught two TD passes for 83 yards. Thayer, who accumulated 99 receiving yards, had the other TD. Defensively, NGM had a handful of players with 10 or more tackles — Charlie Sarbacker (13), Sam Perkins (16), Marty (20) and Vasquez (11). Jake Roth recorded an interception.
NGM has shown much improvement from its 2-8 record a season ago, but the team has yet to face the toughest portion of its conference schedule. Next week, the Knights play Lakeside Lutheran (2-2, 1-1), who finished third in conference a year ago. In Week 8, NGM faces Lodi (4-0, 2-0), who was the conference runner up a season ago and made the Level 3 playoffs. To finish the regular season, New Glarus-Monticello hosts Columbus (4-0, 2-0) the defending Division 4 state champions.
BLACK HAWK-WARREN 30, FENNIMORE 0
FENNIMORE — With a 30-win over Fennimore on Friday, Sept. 8, Black Hawk-Warren completed step one of the season — go undefeated in nonconference games. Next week, the ‘second’ season starts with a conference game against Southwestern-East Dubuque.
“I told the boys I was proud of them,” Black Hawk-Warren head coach Desmond Breadon said. “We completed one of our goals by going 4-0 in the nonconference schedule, but now we need to get ready for the second season — conference season. There are no easy games in conference, and we have to be ready to play physical and be locked in against our Six River opponents.”
The Warriors, ranked No. 7 in Division 7, utilized both the run and pass for 393 total yards on offense. Riley Mosley and Lane Marty had rushing TDs of four yards and one yard, respectively. Meanwhile, Andrew Figi and Owen Seffrood caught 26- and 12-yard TD passes, respectively. At QB, Eli Schliem was 6-for-14 with 105 yards and two TDs. Defensively, Figi and Schliem had one interception each.
