MONROE — In the final season at T.R. Holyoke Field, the Cheesemakers let a slew of penalties mar the occasion. In the season opener on Friday, Aug. 22, Monroe fell to Lodi 21-14, which was also Senior Night for the home team. The Cheesemakers committed 11 penalties for 90 yards, with several coming in crucial moments throughout the game. The final two, an offside and a pass interference on consecutive fourth downs in the closing minutes, allowed Lodi to run out the clock.

“There’s a lot to learn from film, hopefully,” Monroe head coach Tom Witt said after the game. “A wrestling term I use is if you’re not winning, you’re learning.”

The Cheesemakers were able to move the ball against the Blue Devils, one of the perennial powers in Division 4. Monroe gained 363 yards rushing on 59 attempts, more than 6.1 yards per carry. However, two promising first half drives ended with lost fumbles, which kept the hosts off the board through two quarters.

“I thought all three did a great job — other than putting the ball on the turf,” Witt said.

Senior Noah Spotts took on a new role this season for the Cheesemakers, especially with some late training camp injuries that left the team a little short on the depth chart. Spotts has previously played quarterback and receiver, but instead took on one of the roles of running back.

“Noah has never been a running back. He’s been a wide receiver; he’s been a quarterback. He was kind of nervous coming into the season when I asked him to switch. But he’s our fastest kid — and he is fast. He’s only going to get better,” Witt said.

His abilities were on display in the first quarter as he had back-to-back carries for 8, 8 and 18 yards. The third in that set saw him break several tackles and get deep into the red zone; however, a Lodi defender punched the ball out of his hands, and the Blue Devils recovered the fumble at their own 4-yard line.

“I was definitely upset about that, but the coaches came over and said to me to forget it happened and keep running. That’s what I did,” Spotts said.

Spotts got his redemption in the second half, where he scored on touchdown runs of 49 and 5 yards. He finished the night with 130 yards on 12 carries (10.8 ypc).

Sophomore Tristen Anderson also got plenty of touches on offense. The young fullback had a team-high 24 carries for 137 yards (5.7 ypc). Kingston McNett added 63 yards on 11 attempts (5.7 ypc).

At quarterback for Monroe was junior Ryan Roelli, who picked up new responsibilities on offense and defense this season. While he was 0-for-4 passing and had just 13 yards on 10 carries, he lit a spark on defense, where he intercepted a pair of passes.

“This is definitely a new position for me to be in — quarterback and safety, both sides starting,” Roelli said. “I have a lot of belief in me from coaches, the players and the system, so I am just trying to do what I can to get as many wins as we can as a team.”

Even Monroe’s kicker is new to the lineup. Brock Brandli, a senior, is playing both soccer and football this season. He was a first-team all-conference selection in soccer last fall, and this fall is handling the kicking and punting duties for Monroe, while also getting put out wide on the occasional Hail Mary play on offense, as the coaches look to utilize his 6-foot-6 frame and speed.

“They use my speed very well and I have some decent hands, so they put me in the long route to see what I could do,” Brandli said. 

Overall, Monroe’s defense fared well against the Blue Devils. Despite allowing 308 yards of offense (113 rushing, 195 passing), the bulk of the damage came on just two plays. Unfortunately, those plays both were quick hits for long touchdowns. In the second quarter, Lodi QB Alex Breunig hit Bennett Nyquist for a 60-yard TD pass on a deep cross that saw two Monroe secondary defenders collide while the ball was still in the air. Later in the quarter, Breunig connected with Kyle Kurt for a 77-yard score. Both scores came on the first play of the possession.

“We got beat deep twice. I try to learn as much as I can and respond, and I feel like I did what I could to put us in a position to win — get the ball back and try to make some plays and be that spark,” Roelli said.

While Monroe was able to score twice in the second half, Lodi was able to sneak in a third score, a 20-yard touchdown run by Jack Bozacki on the first play of the fourth quarter that ultimately proved to be the game-winner. Spotts was able to cap a 15-play, 68-yard drive with his 5-yard plunge at the 5:21 mark of the fourth, and the Cheesemakers opted to kick it away and let the defense make the stop to give the offense one more try.

It seemed that was how the drive would go, as Lodi faced a fourth-and-1 with 3:28 left. Coming out of a timeout, a Monroe defensive lineman jumped offsides, giving the Blue Devils a fresh set of downs. Four plays later, Lodi was facing another fourth down with just 1:35 left. Breunig’s pass fell incomplete, but a Monroe defender was flagged for defensive holding on the receiver. With no timeouts left to stop the clock, the Blue Devils went into their victory formation and knelt out the clock.

“These are learning moments. I feel like we beat ourselves this game — a lot of penalties, a lot of false starts, getting beat deep. Keep our heads up and going forward and just be better and be more disciplined,” Roelli said.

Up next for the Cheesemakers is a familiar, albeit tougher opponent yet — Mount Horeb-Barneveld. The Vikings have won three of the last four meetings between the former Badger Conference foes, dating back to 2021. Last year, MHB clobbered Monroe 39-7 in Week 2, and went on to finish 11-1, losing only to Catholic Memorial in the state semifinal. Monroe defeated MHB 40-19 during the Cheesemakers’ unbeaten state championship run in 2022. In fact, Monroe is just 1-8 against MHB dating back to 2002.

“We need to keep our heads up, be disciplined and have a good solid week of practice,” Roelli said. “We need to learn from our mistakes, for sure. We can’t be repeating those. Just do things the right way and trusting our system and our coaching staff.”

Monroe’s first two games might be the two hardest on the schedule before the postseason. The Cheesemakers haven’t lost a Rock Valley Conference game since moving over from the Badger in 2020. Next year Monroe will switch back to the Badger Small. Witt and his team aren’t looking that far down the road yet, instead taking it one game at a time.

“It’s another game to get better. We’ve been in this spot before, and it gets us ready for the conference season,” Witt said.