MONROE - The fourth-grade Blaze football team returned home in week 6 to take on an undefeated Sun Prairie Gold team at YMCA Field. The Blaze fell short 8-7 in an exciting and nail-biting ending to the game.
The first half of the game featured two very stingy defenses, as both teams worked the field position game and ended the first half scoreless. On Monroe's second possession of the second half, behind the running of Floyd Wells and Blake Mueller, the Blaze scored the first points of the game on a Carson Leuzinger 3-yard touchdownz run on fourth-and-goal. The Blaze then converted their extra point with a pass from Leuzinger to Mueller to make it 7-0.
In the fourth quarter, with Sun Prairie threatening to score, the Blaze defense stood tall with a goal line stand, led by Wells' tackle at the 2-yard line to stop Sun Prairie from reaching the end zone. The Blaze attempted to run the clock out but was forced to punt the ball back to Sun Prairie with 40 seconds remaining in the game. With no time remaining in the game, Sun Prairie connected on a 25-yard touchdown pass to make the score 7-6. Sun Prairie decided to go for the win from the 5-yard line and reached the pylon to end the game.
Statistically, the Blaze ran the ball 26 times for a total of 96 hard-earned yards. The offensive line for the fourth grade Blaze is to be commended for their efforts, as Sun Prairie's defense was big and very aggressive. Defensively for the Blaze, the entire team played a near flawless game as they limited the high scoring Cardinals to only 8 points all day. Wells, Carter Trolinger, Lucas Broitzman and Kyle Marty led the team in tackles.
The fourth-grade Blaze team finishes up their season on the road Saturday, Oct. 26, as they take on another unbeaten team, the Verona Wildcats.
Fifth-Grade
The fifth-grade Blaze had a busy week playing two games. The first was against an All-Star team from Freeport. The Monroe team had to prepare for a different set of league rules in a short period of time.
Normally, it's just one formation to prepare for DCYAFL. The players responded by forcing two big turnovers that included an interception and a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. Also, the front line they had to block was different than what they normally see. They rallied to score anyways. Playing under the lights and on the field turf was very exciting for the Blaze kids.
"This is the most fun I have ever had," said Max Patterson while running off the field after a change of possession. That summed up the entire night. On Saturday, the Monroe fifth-grade team went to Verona to play in another defensive battle. Verona struck first but Monroe answered with their own score and then a successful kick put them in the lead 8-7. The ball was exchanged back and forth until late in the fourth quarter when a Verona tackler brought down the Monroe runner in their own end zone for a safety. Monroe could not answer and lost the game 9-8.
Sixth-Grade White
The Monroe sixth-grade White Blaze team had the privilege of playing two games this past week. They started on Thursday night by teaming up with the sixth-grade Red team and traveled to Freeport Pretzel Stadium to take on their sixth-grade All-Star team.
After spotting Freeport a touchdown in the second quarter, Monroe's offense got rolling in the third quarter as Nick Bansley scored on a 71-yard touchdown run. Julian Gruber added the PAT kick to tie the game at 7. While sixth-grade Red's defense shut down Freeport's offense in the second half, White's offensive line escorted Monroe's backs of Jared Dillon, Jud Rikkers, Tim Beckman, Logan Leuzinger and Bansley down the field for another Bansley touchdown to win the game 13-7.
On Saturday, Oct. 19, the sixth-grade White beat St. Francis Black 16-0. Monroe played their best all-around game on Saturday, showing a stifling defense along with their potent offense. After a scoreless first quarter, Monroe got on the board with a Bansley 35-yard touchdown run. Gruber added the PAT to put Monroe up 8-0. Facing a strong-armed quarterback, Monroe's passing defense came up strong, with Connor Allen, Noah Becker, Kyle Haldiman, Henry Hanson and Zach Ripp tightly covering the St.Francis receivers all day. Pressure from the front line also helped secure the shutout, with Darien Hargrove, Gough and Mason Seffrood adding sacks.
Becker completed 2 of 3 passes in the game for 20 yards, and Bansley (151 total yards) added another 35-yard touchdown, with a Gruber PAT, to secure the win.
Monroe finishes its sixth-grade season at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 at Sun Prairie Gold.
Sixth-Grade Red
The Monroe Blaze Red had a decent day on both sides of the ball, but lost to Middleton 28-14 Saturday, Oct. 19.
The offensive line worked hard but had their work cut out for them. The Middleton team scored first, but the Blaze did not quit. Lead by Conner Andrews, Dalton Green, Cody Hagemann, Corey Shafer and Alejandro Hernandez, the Blaze plowed their way to the end zone as Alex Witt punched it in to tying score.
Meanwhile, on defense, they shut the Middleton offensive team down for the most part. On offense, Travis Edmunds, Derrick Ritschard and Brandon Blum ran hard.
Trevor Hartwig, Aidan Sweeney and Shaun Sweeney played great defense against the opposition. The Blaze were not able to throw the ball until the second half because of the defense, but they were able to score in the fourth with a great pass from Patrick Rielly. The Monroe Blaze Red suffered their first loss this year but they kept fighting until the last down.
Seventh-Grade White
The Blaze seventh-grade White defeated Wisconsin Heights 14-0 Saturday, Oct. 19.
The Blaze scored on their first possession on a 65-yard run by Nick Schumacher. Anthany Hernandez kicked the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead. Heights answered on their first drive with a long run, but the ball carrier was caught by Hernandez from behind inside the 10-yard line. The Blaze defense then held and took over on downs. The Blaze dominated the clock with their running game and maintained their 8-0 lead at halftime.
The Blaze held good field position throughout the second half with their solid defense and running game. Midway through the fourth quarter, Chris Dahmen caused a fumble and the Blaze recovered on the 35-yard line of Heights. From there, the Blaze scored six-plays later on a 1-yard keeper by Jared Baumgartner to make the score 14-0 with just under 4 minutes left in the game. Heights answered with a long pass play but Daniel Lapp again tracked down the receiver from behind inside the Blaze 5-yard line. The Blaze defense again held Heights from scoring on downs and ran out the clock for the win.
The win ran the Blaze record to 3-3 and they will play their final game at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 against Middleton Red in Monroe.
Seventh-Grade Red
The seventh-grade Red team hosted Warner Park Purple on Saturday, Oct. 19 and lost 28-8.
The Blaze offense started out fast by scoring on their first drive of the game with a 35-yard touchdown run. A successful two-point PAT kick made the score 8-0. On their first defensive series, the Blaze recovered a Warner Park fumble at midfield. Unfortunately, the offense was unable to capitalize on the fumble as Warner Park stopped Monroe at the 10-yard line.
The Blaze team struggled the rest of the game as Warner Park scored 28 unanswered points. Warner Park's size and speed was evident as the game went on. Warner Park doubled up Monroe in rushing yards: 222 yards to Monroe's 111 yards. Neither team completed a pass.
The seventh-grade Red team will close out the season at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 at Madison La Follette against the Eastside Sharks.
Eighth-Grade
The eighth-grade Blaze lost to the Southside Raiders 34-0 Saturday, Oct. 19. The Blaze offense and defense fought hard and continued to fight throughout the entire game, but Southside's speed and talent proved to be more than the Blaze could compete with.
Next week is the last game that the eighth-graders will play as part of their Blaze career. The game is in Sun Prairie against Sacred Hearts at 8:30 a.m.
The first half of the game featured two very stingy defenses, as both teams worked the field position game and ended the first half scoreless. On Monroe's second possession of the second half, behind the running of Floyd Wells and Blake Mueller, the Blaze scored the first points of the game on a Carson Leuzinger 3-yard touchdownz run on fourth-and-goal. The Blaze then converted their extra point with a pass from Leuzinger to Mueller to make it 7-0.
In the fourth quarter, with Sun Prairie threatening to score, the Blaze defense stood tall with a goal line stand, led by Wells' tackle at the 2-yard line to stop Sun Prairie from reaching the end zone. The Blaze attempted to run the clock out but was forced to punt the ball back to Sun Prairie with 40 seconds remaining in the game. With no time remaining in the game, Sun Prairie connected on a 25-yard touchdown pass to make the score 7-6. Sun Prairie decided to go for the win from the 5-yard line and reached the pylon to end the game.
Statistically, the Blaze ran the ball 26 times for a total of 96 hard-earned yards. The offensive line for the fourth grade Blaze is to be commended for their efforts, as Sun Prairie's defense was big and very aggressive. Defensively for the Blaze, the entire team played a near flawless game as they limited the high scoring Cardinals to only 8 points all day. Wells, Carter Trolinger, Lucas Broitzman and Kyle Marty led the team in tackles.
The fourth-grade Blaze team finishes up their season on the road Saturday, Oct. 26, as they take on another unbeaten team, the Verona Wildcats.
Fifth-Grade
The fifth-grade Blaze had a busy week playing two games. The first was against an All-Star team from Freeport. The Monroe team had to prepare for a different set of league rules in a short period of time.
Normally, it's just one formation to prepare for DCYAFL. The players responded by forcing two big turnovers that included an interception and a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. Also, the front line they had to block was different than what they normally see. They rallied to score anyways. Playing under the lights and on the field turf was very exciting for the Blaze kids.
"This is the most fun I have ever had," said Max Patterson while running off the field after a change of possession. That summed up the entire night. On Saturday, the Monroe fifth-grade team went to Verona to play in another defensive battle. Verona struck first but Monroe answered with their own score and then a successful kick put them in the lead 8-7. The ball was exchanged back and forth until late in the fourth quarter when a Verona tackler brought down the Monroe runner in their own end zone for a safety. Monroe could not answer and lost the game 9-8.
Sixth-Grade White
The Monroe sixth-grade White Blaze team had the privilege of playing two games this past week. They started on Thursday night by teaming up with the sixth-grade Red team and traveled to Freeport Pretzel Stadium to take on their sixth-grade All-Star team.
After spotting Freeport a touchdown in the second quarter, Monroe's offense got rolling in the third quarter as Nick Bansley scored on a 71-yard touchdown run. Julian Gruber added the PAT kick to tie the game at 7. While sixth-grade Red's defense shut down Freeport's offense in the second half, White's offensive line escorted Monroe's backs of Jared Dillon, Jud Rikkers, Tim Beckman, Logan Leuzinger and Bansley down the field for another Bansley touchdown to win the game 13-7.
On Saturday, Oct. 19, the sixth-grade White beat St. Francis Black 16-0. Monroe played their best all-around game on Saturday, showing a stifling defense along with their potent offense. After a scoreless first quarter, Monroe got on the board with a Bansley 35-yard touchdown run. Gruber added the PAT to put Monroe up 8-0. Facing a strong-armed quarterback, Monroe's passing defense came up strong, with Connor Allen, Noah Becker, Kyle Haldiman, Henry Hanson and Zach Ripp tightly covering the St.Francis receivers all day. Pressure from the front line also helped secure the shutout, with Darien Hargrove, Gough and Mason Seffrood adding sacks.
Becker completed 2 of 3 passes in the game for 20 yards, and Bansley (151 total yards) added another 35-yard touchdown, with a Gruber PAT, to secure the win.
Monroe finishes its sixth-grade season at 11:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 at Sun Prairie Gold.
Sixth-Grade Red
The Monroe Blaze Red had a decent day on both sides of the ball, but lost to Middleton 28-14 Saturday, Oct. 19.
The offensive line worked hard but had their work cut out for them. The Middleton team scored first, but the Blaze did not quit. Lead by Conner Andrews, Dalton Green, Cody Hagemann, Corey Shafer and Alejandro Hernandez, the Blaze plowed their way to the end zone as Alex Witt punched it in to tying score.
Meanwhile, on defense, they shut the Middleton offensive team down for the most part. On offense, Travis Edmunds, Derrick Ritschard and Brandon Blum ran hard.
Trevor Hartwig, Aidan Sweeney and Shaun Sweeney played great defense against the opposition. The Blaze were not able to throw the ball until the second half because of the defense, but they were able to score in the fourth with a great pass from Patrick Rielly. The Monroe Blaze Red suffered their first loss this year but they kept fighting until the last down.
Seventh-Grade White
The Blaze seventh-grade White defeated Wisconsin Heights 14-0 Saturday, Oct. 19.
The Blaze scored on their first possession on a 65-yard run by Nick Schumacher. Anthany Hernandez kicked the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead. Heights answered on their first drive with a long run, but the ball carrier was caught by Hernandez from behind inside the 10-yard line. The Blaze defense then held and took over on downs. The Blaze dominated the clock with their running game and maintained their 8-0 lead at halftime.
The Blaze held good field position throughout the second half with their solid defense and running game. Midway through the fourth quarter, Chris Dahmen caused a fumble and the Blaze recovered on the 35-yard line of Heights. From there, the Blaze scored six-plays later on a 1-yard keeper by Jared Baumgartner to make the score 14-0 with just under 4 minutes left in the game. Heights answered with a long pass play but Daniel Lapp again tracked down the receiver from behind inside the Blaze 5-yard line. The Blaze defense again held Heights from scoring on downs and ran out the clock for the win.
The win ran the Blaze record to 3-3 and they will play their final game at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 against Middleton Red in Monroe.
Seventh-Grade Red
The seventh-grade Red team hosted Warner Park Purple on Saturday, Oct. 19 and lost 28-8.
The Blaze offense started out fast by scoring on their first drive of the game with a 35-yard touchdown run. A successful two-point PAT kick made the score 8-0. On their first defensive series, the Blaze recovered a Warner Park fumble at midfield. Unfortunately, the offense was unable to capitalize on the fumble as Warner Park stopped Monroe at the 10-yard line.
The Blaze team struggled the rest of the game as Warner Park scored 28 unanswered points. Warner Park's size and speed was evident as the game went on. Warner Park doubled up Monroe in rushing yards: 222 yards to Monroe's 111 yards. Neither team completed a pass.
The seventh-grade Red team will close out the season at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 at Madison La Follette against the Eastside Sharks.
Eighth-Grade
The eighth-grade Blaze lost to the Southside Raiders 34-0 Saturday, Oct. 19. The Blaze offense and defense fought hard and continued to fight throughout the entire game, but Southside's speed and talent proved to be more than the Blaze could compete with.
Next week is the last game that the eighth-graders will play as part of their Blaze career. The game is in Sun Prairie against Sacred Hearts at 8:30 a.m.
