MONROE - Coming off its first regular-season loss in more than one year, the Monroe High School football team looks to get back on track with a Badger South Conference game against Milton on Friday.

"Moving forward we can't afford to lose these games," Monroe coach Toby Golembiewski said. "They will all determine our conference and playoff standing."

Golembiewski hopes the Cheesemakers (1-1) learned a valuable lesson after the 27-7 loss to DeForest last week. The urgency to pick up a win will reach new heights at Milton. In order to become playoff eligible, the Cheesemakers, like any other team in the state, must be at least .500 in conference.

"I think they learned how hungry DeForest was after their loss to Oregon," Golembiewski said. "I thought we prepped well. We didn't have that same hunger. We have got to have a greater desire."

Milton is 2-0 and coming off a 27-19 win over Reedsburg last week. The Cheesemakers will look to get their offense back on track after not getting a first down in the first half against the Norskies.

Monroe junior Jordan Montgomery leads the team with 127 rushing yards and averages 6.3 yards per carry. Senior fullback Dempzy Foley has rushed for 114 yards in tandem with senior Travis Wolf, who has scored two touchdowns. Sophomore Nick Bansley also has two touchdowns.

"I think they will have a breakout game," Golembiewski said of Monroe's running backs. "He (Foley) has done a great job. We are happy with what our fullback position has been able to produce."

On offense, the Cheesemakers are gearing up to face the Red Hawks' variation of a 5-2 defense that features five defensive linemen and two linebackers.

"Our blocking level was just too high against DeForest," Golembiewski said. "We have to sustain our blocks better. We just have to go back and work on the fundamentals."

Monroe junior Anthany Hernandez has completed 3 of 9 passes for 79 yards this season with one touchdown and one interception. Hernandez also ran for a touchdown against DeForest last week.

"You can see he's as fleet of foot as any of the running backs," Golembiewski said of Hernandez. "We are expecting a lot out of him. He's improving every game."

Milton runs a shotgun-style offense that features a lot of short and quick passes and runs out of the shotgun formation.

Milton quarterback Danny Weitzel has had a solid start with 425 passing yards, five touchdowns and one interception. He's completing 67.4 percent of his passes. Weitzel has also rushed for 101 yards. The Cheesemakers will face a similar test as last week with the Red Hawks' short passing game.

"They do a good job of throwing the ball out of shotgun," Golembiewski said. "They throw a lot of slip screens."

Golembiewski said the job of Monroe's defensive backs will be similar to last week against DeForest in disrupting the routes of the Red Hawks' wide receivers. The top receiving target for the Red Hawks is Chance Nelson, who has 14 receptions for 260 yards and five touchdowns.

The top playmakers for the Cheesemakers' 4-3 defense are Wolf at linebacker with a team-high 11 tackles and Foley on the defensive line with 10 tackles.

Senior safety Brayden Zettle (seven tackles) suffered a hand injury last week and will not play against the Red Hawks. The defense will continue to rely on senior linebacker Mitch Bartelt, senior defensive back Sam Kind (one interception) and Bansley (one interception).

With Milton's style of offense that features a lot of short and quick passes, Golembiewski understands that the tackling by Monroe's defense will have to be even sharper on Friday.

"We have to tackle better," Golembiewski said. "This type of offense often puts someone one-on-one in the open field. We will have to be more disciplined on defense. Their eyes can fool them if they are not seeing and feeling their run fits."