MONROE — Clinical control, if not utter domination, could be used to describe the Cheesemaker’s 42-0 route of Whitewater on Senior Night in Week 3.
After two offensive snaps, Monroe led 8-0. Another snap made it 16-0, and by the end of the seventh play the lead sat at 23-0. In all, the Cheesemakers ran 46 plays — all rushing attempts — for 375 yards.
“Whether it’s a 3-and-out or a quick score, your defense is on the field a lot and they are starting to wear down,” Monroe coach Toby Golembiewski said.
Except that the full momentum and morale swing from the opening kickoff swung the pendulum so far into the Cheesemakers favor that the visiting sideline never found a sense of a rhythm on offense. With penalties, Whitewater finished with -21 total yards in nine possessions — seven of which came in the first half before the running clock began. Discounting penalty yards, the Whippets gained just 10 yards of total offense.
All three levels of the defense dominated. Up front, the linemen continues pressured the quarterback into a scramble or sack. The linebackers bottled up the middle and the defensive backs, rarely challenged, stepped up with corners Chase Stoerp and Jace Amacher making big open field tackles on swing passes behind the line of scrimmage. Of Whitewater’s 27 plays, just 13 went for positive yards — the longest of which for just nine on a fourth-and-12.
“They really came out and played hard. Those guys did a great job. Our scout team was probably a little bit better moving the ball — our defense tonight showed up and played,” Golembiewski said.
Monroe’s defense set the tone early, and the Cheesemakers offense looked like Greyhounds compared to the pug-like performance of the Whippets. Keatin Sweeney went untouched for a 54-yard score on Monroe’s first drive. Whitewater’s second drive was marred by a holding call and a big sack on third down by Sean Rufenacht, which initially appeared to be a safety. Instead, the Whippets punted from their own 1-yard-line, giving Monroe possession at the Whitewater 25.
“I was really excited. I thought I got the safety, but a sack is a sack and it helps the team,” Rufenacht said.
On the next snap, JT Seagreaves, a UW verbal commit, muscled up on a run, scoring from 25 yards out, breaking five tackles and carrying a defender on his back the final five yards into the end zone.
“If they would have had 13 guys, or even 14 guys, I don’t think they would have brought him down,” Monroe coach Toby Golembiewski said.
Rufenacht, who plays opposite Seagreaves on the defensive line, had another big sack on the next drive on fourth down, turning the ball over.
“I felt like I had a lot of opportunity coming into tonight,” Rufenacht said, as the Cheesemakers played without two-way down lineman Isaac Bunker. Playing opposite Seagreaves, the reigning Rock Valley defensive player of the year, “puts a lot of pressure on your shoulders, but when you step up and do well, it really makes you feel good.”
While the Cheesemakers gained just nine yards on four runs from fullback Alex Hernandez, turning the ball back over at the Whitewater 26, the precedent had been set, and the Whippets again went 3-and-out with no yards gained. On Monroe’s first snap from their own 46, Sweeney again swung around the right side, this time on an option pitch from QB George Brukwicki, scoring from 54 yards out.
“It was wide open today. The line blocked great and we executed perfectly,” Sweeney said.
Sweeney’s third carry was a 17-yard TD midway through the second quarter, capping a 10-play, 67-yard drive. His perfect mark of TDs per carry was ruined on his fourth touch, in which he ran for 10 yards, breaking two tackles, and finishing at the 5-yard-line — and just one more broken tackle from another score.
Seagreaves punched it in two plays later from the 1-yard line and the Cheesemakers went into the halftime break with a 36-0 advantage. Sweeney worked the first possession of the second half, scoring from 27-yards out at the 6:58 mark in the frame.
Sweeney finished with 165 yards on just seven carries (23.6 ypc) and four TDs. Seagreaves had 110 yards on 10 attempts, and Hernandez had 78 yards on 18 totes.
The game was a complete reversal from Week 2, which saw the Cheesemakers struggle with cramping and injuries in an overtime loss to Mount Horeb. Golembiewski said the team’s week of preparation leading up to Mount Horeb was less desirable than he wanted to see, and the loss seemed to have sparked added motivation for the Cheesemakers this time around.
“It took for them to lose a game to realize that people aren’t just going to roll over and let you beat them. I’m not talking about that Friday night (Mount Horeb) — we had a lot of effort in that game. But I don’t know if our preparation was at that level. Maybe that was the right time for that to happen. You never want to lose a game, but that’s why the pressure builds up in those undefeated seasons, because you really have to have mature people that don’t allow that to get ahead of them,” Golembiewski said.
The players also felt the pressure to do better.
“We were down after the game, but we brought our heads up and worked hard in practice. You could tell today,” Rufenacht said.
“We worked hard in practice this week. We did our jobs. New guys stepped up. Everything fell in place from there,” Sweeney said. “The coaches really wanted us to go hard in practice and not to be complacent. We really came out today and showed how good we can be and played hard. We can’t be complacent again. We’re going to have to come hard this week in practice and try to repeat what we did tonight.”
The Cheesemakers entered Week 3 ranked No. 8 in Division 3 by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association. Monroe (2-1, 1-0 Rock Valley) travels to Jefferson (2-0, 1-0) in Week 4.
“We haven’t seen a lot of film on them, so we will definitely be waiting for that tape. We have one tape on them, and they are doing things similar, but it’s going to be different,” Golembiewski said.
He suggested fans not show up late, because “they are very similar to us and there might not be any passes thrown or clock stopping at all. We’ll be lucky to get two possessions in a quarter, unless there is a turnover or something. We’ve got to make the best of it.”
In two games this year — a Week 2 game against Elkhorn was canceled) — the Eagles have gained 544 yards on the ground and another 222 through the air (766 total). Jefferson has also allowed 427 yards of offense. Monroe, meanwhile, has run for 1,101 yards in three games — an average of 367 yards per outing.
Jefferson QB Evan Neitzel has completed half of his passing attempts this year (8/16) with three touchdowns and two INTs. Brady Gotto is Jefferson’s leading rusher, with 224 yards, while Nate McKenzie has 137 and Jesse Heller 110. Heller and McKenzie have each carried in just one game thus far.
With the way the ball moves on the ground in the Cheesemakers’ offense, Brukwicki’s clip of 3 of 12 passing for 61 yards with a TD is mostly an afterthought. Sweeney has 397 rushing yards on 40 attempts (9.9 ypc) and eight touchdowns. Hernandez had 248 yards rushing on 51 totes (4.9 ypc), while Seagreaves has 244 yards on 26 attempts (9.4 ypc) and four scores. Lucas Flom was the hero against Mount Horeb, helping Monroe rally to put the game into overtime. He has 166 yards rushing on 19 attempts and two scores this fall.
“We have to keep the momentum going and work harder in practice,” Rufenacht said.
