MONTICELLO — When the Monticello Ponies took the field for the first time on Aug. 29, 2024 against Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, the team had the support of its community that had spent two years preparing for this moment.
“I didn’t realize how many people were at the game until part way through the first quarter when I turned around — the stands are so close to the sidelines you don’t have a lot of room and privacy — and everybody was right there,” head coach Tyler Smith said. “I heard there were 300, maybe 400, people at that first game. It was humbling to me that Monticello was ready for football.”
The fate-altering decision was made in the Sept. 26, 2022 school board meeting — the 40-year New-Glarus Monticello football co-op would cease to exist in the 2024 season with both New Glarus and Monticello creating their own teams. NG remained in 11-player football, while Monticello embarked on its inaugural 8-player football season.
Meshing ‘Veterans’ and Newcomers
Outside of the obvious changes from 11-player to 8-player — three fewer guys, a smaller field and different schemes — the biggest challenge had nothing to do with the game itself. Five players transitioned from the co-op to the new team — Tristan Pitman, Hunter Grossen, Jesse Wettach, Milo Smith and Tanner Hilliard — while the rest of the roster had little to no football experience.
“From the coaching staff, that was one of the biggest questions going into this season — how do we mesh ‘veterans’ of football with people who have never played. We came to the conclusion that, if we start with fundamentals, it’s good for anyone,” coach Smith said, referencing the 2024 World Series Game 5, where Aaron Judge dropped a fly ball that led to a 5-run inning and cost the New York Yankees the title.
Aside from teaching skills, the players themselves had to mesh. The ‘veterans’ had to lower their expectations compared to their previous teammates, while the newcomers had to feel comfortable relying on the ‘veterans’ and coaching staff.
“When they mess up, you have to tell them what they did wrong. You can’t scream at them as if you would a player that had been playing all their life,” Pitman said. “You tell them what they did wrong, but tell them what they did right. Give them encouragement that they can do the right thing next time.”
Senior Alex Roe, who hadn’t played competitively since flag football in fifth and sixth grade, joined the team with encouragement from the ‘veterans.’ He quickly stepped into a leadership position at quarterback and asked his teammates for help when he didn’t know what to do.
“If I didn’t know what to do I leaned on these guys to help me make a choice,” Roe said.
He wasn’t the only one, though, that experienced difficulty in an unfamiliar role.
Changes and Growth
Since all of the players from the NGM co-op were linemen, a couple of them had to change positions. Grossen became a running back, Wettach moved to middle linebacker on defense and Hilliard took over at quarterback midway through the season. Even Pitman, who remained on the line for both offense and defense, felt a change in the position’s duties under a new offense.
“It was pretty hard because I’ve never carried a ball in my life,” Grossen said of moving from lineman to running back. “I was a lineman in youth, too.”
But Grossen held his own as the team’s No. 1 running back, carrying the ball 96 times for 519 yards and four rushing touchdowns — including the first touchdown in Monticello football history. He even had another 51 yards receiving.
“I thought it was so much easier than being down in the trenches,” Wettach said of moving from defensive line to middle linebacker. “When it came to blitzing, you had the running start and momentum. When it came to pass coverage, I never got the hang of it. Pass coverage was hard. My best way of stopping the pass was hitting the tight end that went out for the pass and hoping he couldn’t make the play.”
Wettach ended up leading the team defensively with 73 tackles with 15 of them for a loss and two sacks. That performance garnered second-team all-conference defense. Wettach also earned honorable mention on offense.
“I went from NGM where they pass more than they ran to pulling every play and being tired all the time. It was a hard switch for me,” Pitman said. “I was a nose tackle at NGM and a D-End for Monticello. You have to work a lot harder. As a nose, you sit in the gap and just stand there, where now you have to shuffle from side to side, turn and make tackles.”
Pitman, too, showed his growth and leadership, earning honorable mention on both offense and defense. He was third on the team with 45 tackles and two of them for a loss.
Looking at the season on paper, though, fans may not be able to see the growth of the team and its individuals.
Entering a Gauntlet — the Ridge and Valley
Monticello finished its season 0-8, scoring 62 points to its opponents’ 359. Part of that record was inexperience but another contributing factor was the strength of the Ridge and Valley Conference. Of the eight teams in the league ,two of them made the playoffs — Highland and North Crawford. If Wisconsin Heights’ large enrollment didn’t prevent it from qualifying for the playoffs, the Vanguards may have made it, too. Additionally, the Ponies’ nonconference opponent, Elkhart Lake-Glenbeulah, was a playoff-eligible team.
“As a coach, one of the things you want to see for your players is success,” coach Smith said. “Too many times, we look at success as wins and losses. I think it broke our hearts that week after week we’d practice so hard — the blood, sweat and tears — with no wins to show for it.”
Even though the Monticello program is still looking for its first win as an 8-player team, the Ponies agree that they’d rather play opponents in their conference than someone easier.
“I think it was good for us, actually,” Wettach said of entering the Ridge and Valley Conference. “A lot of the guys have played the best people they are going to play, maybe their whole high school career. Now, things will only get easier.”
Looking to the Future
Week by week, the team improved. They became better conditioned, understood the game more and became focused on getting the first win.
“If you watch the film of our Elkhart game compared to our Heights or Belmont game, you would see two totally different teams,” coach Smith said. “From Week 1 to Week 8, we had a team that understood the concepts. We had a team that understood the physicality that varsity football requires. We had a group of guys that were laser-focused on getting that first ‘W.’ Yes, it didn’t come, but we knew what it took.”
The next steps, coach Smith and the rest of the team figures, is recruitment within the school district. With just 12 players in the program, multiple athletes competed the full 48 minutes with no substitutes. Three of those players graduated — Roe, Wettach and Pitman — leaving more holes in the lineup.
“I remember standing across from Wisconsin Heights, North Crawford and De Soto — all these teams that are established — and they have 25 to 30 players,” coach Smith said. “At Monticello, we have less than 100 individuals in our high school (an enrollment of 87). We are dealing with the unknown. We don’t know if there are any kids in the high school that thought, ‘Hey, they had a ton of fun. I want to go out.’”
With more players in the program, Monticello can also focus on conditioning, weight training and offseason practices led by alumni and returning players. More community donations and volunteer hours can help fund much-needed equipment, too.
The change won’t happen overnight — the Ponies likely won’t go undefeated to a state championship next season — but small differences can already be seen. High school kids throw footballs around in the gym, while youth show up to varsity games and play football along the side.
“What we do today, we might not see the positives until six, seven or eight years down the road,” coach Smith said. “But when that comes, we are going to be ready to take this conference by storm.”
