BRODHEAD, Wis. — Dodgeville quarterback Nathan Johnson had engineered a stellar drive, hitting his receivers time and time again for chunk plays that brought the Dodgers to the 1-yard line.
Down 24-7 to Brodhead/Juda and with the first half ticking closer to an end, a score would propel Dodgeville back into contention.
Johnson took the second-down snap from the shotgun and quickly looked to his left, firing a pass into the end zone that was underthrown and behind his intended target.
Cardinals’ sophomore Braylon Strehlow’s eyes didn’t leave the quarterback as the play developed, reading the throw perfectly he jumped on the route and picked the pass off, denying Dodgeville any momentum before halftime.
It was just one of several key plays from the secondary as Brodhead/Juda defeated its Southwest Wisconsin Conference foe Dodgers 45-15 at a warm and clear Larsen Field for its first win of the season.
“We weren’t aligned right on that play,” said Strehlow, who finished with three interceptions. “It was all botched. My job was supposed to be to cover the flats, but I was so late to it. The pass was underthrown, so it was just an easy pick.”
Maybe not the plan, but everything seemed to be working well for Strehlow and the secondary as they took away Dodgeville’s pass game, which had come in averaging 251 yards per game.
“Besides one big play, our players rose up,” first-year head coach Gus Wedig said. “Execution wise, our kids are locked in. They're starting to see that things are building. They understand the scheme and everything. It's all slowly coming together.”
Strehlow and junior teammate Nolan Bump stepped up into starting roles after Erik Woodward and Nick Lobeck were out with concussions. While Brody Riese added senior experience, and an interception, sophomore Grayson Arn made it two first-year varsity players in the pass defense.
The Cardinals still limited Johnson, a dual-threat QB, to 13-for-24 passing with 191 yards and just one touchdown.
“The kids are completely locked in, they understand the game plan and how even if you're a sophomore (you can succeed),” Wedig said. “Braylon has been one of the more pleasant surprises this year. We were expecting him to play just, but the more he practices, the more you realize this kid's a special talent.”
I'm just happy that Gus let me step up and take a chance,” Strehlow said. “(Johnson) is a good quarterback, but we have really good defensive backs in coverage. We were covering them so well. At that point, he just had to throw it up. And we just had to make a play.”
Meanwhile, Brodhead/Juda's offense was nearly flawless.
The Cardinals scored on their first six drives and all but two of their possessions, with a safety late in the fourth and the kneel downs to run the clock out the exceptions.
"When a team is 0-4, you would think in practice everyone would be yelling at each other and giving up," senior QB Gabe Bockhop said. "But we've stuck with it all throughout the past couple weeks and it all showed off tonight. We have a lot of underclassmen playing big roles for us."
One of those frosh players is Grayson Arn, who burst off a 46-yard run on the second play of the game to set up Bockhop's 9-yard score. A 2-point pass to Riese made it 8-0.
“Grayson is a great football player and he went to state as a freshman in track,” Bockhop said. "If this kid just keeps working, I don't know how teams are going to stop him along with our passing game."
The Dodgers answered quickly with Johnson finding Sawyer Garthwaite for a 37-yard score. But Dodgeville wouldn't find the end zone again until the last play of the third quarter, when a 1-yard run by Johnson to make it 38-13.
A 1-yard rushing score by Brady Zimmerman and a 2-point run by Arn pushed it to 16-7 before David Masloske bullied his way into the end zone for a 1-yard score in the second quarter, with a 26-yard catch by Strehlow and a 30-yard catch by Bump setting up the score. Another 2-point catch by Riese made it 24-7.
Strehlow's interception in the end zone set up the Cardinals at their own 10, but Bockhop hit Strehlow for 25 yards, Bump for 30 to set up a 16-yard touchdown throw to Riese.
“(My receivers) are just such a threat because they all work so hard,” Bockhop said. “You can't game plan for just one person. And if you game plan for one person, then the other guys are going to be open.”
Bockhop finished 10-for-13 with 217 yards. Brodhead/Juda hopes it's a sign that a new spread offense that Wedig has implemented is starting to catch on.
"We're getting better with the new system," the senior said. "The O-line tonight gave me a lot of time. Guys were getting open and just having trust in my receivers to allow me to throw the ball — it worked out well."
Bockhop booted his first of three PATs to make it 31-7 and Johnson's deep throw with time running out in the first half was picked off by Strehlow.
Any wind left in Dodgeville's sails was gone after it moved over 50 yards on its opening possession in the second half just for Riese to intercept the throw into the end zone.
“We had a lot of energy coming into this game,” Strehlow said. “It all started on Monday, which we call mental Monday. We're all focused and dialed in because 0-4 was a bad start. This one was really needed.”
Masloke had a 24-yard scoring run and Arn added a 55-yard rushing touchdown in the second half. Strehlow added another interception near the end zone after the Dodgers drove late in the fourth quarter.
With the pass game flowing, the run game followed with Arn accounting for 151 of the Cardinals' 172 rushing yards while a balanced receiving corps saw Strehlow led with 77 yards, Bump add 59, Riese with 47 and Masloske with 34.
"All of a sudden the pieces of the puzzle are starting to form," Wedig said. "And the puzzle is almost there."
• BOXSCORE:
BRODHEAD/JUDA 45, DODGEVILLE 15
Dodgeville……….. 7 0 6 2 — 15
Brodhead/Juda.. 16 15 7 7 — 45
B/J — Bockhop, 9, run (Riese pass from Bockhop)
Dodg — Garthwaite, 35, pass from Johnson (Burke kick)
B/J — Zimmerman, 1, run (Arn run)
B/J — Masloske, 1, run (Riese pass from Bockhop)
B/J — Riese, 19, pass from Bockhop (Bockhop kick)
B/J — Masloske, 24, pass from Bockhop (Bockhop kick)
Dodg — Johnson, 1, run (run failed)
B/J — Arn, 54, run (Bockhop kick)
Dodg — Safety
TEAM STATS: First downs — D 17, B/J 17. Rushing D 40-130, B/J 25-172. Passing — D 191, B/J 217. Passes — D 24-13-4, B/J 13-10-0. Fumbles — D 0-0, B/J 0-0. Punts — D 1-50, B/J 0-0. Penalties — D 6-65, B/J 5-50.
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS: Rushing — D, Husom 20-63, Johnson 16-47. B/J Arn 13-151, Bockhop 5-14. Passing — D, Johnson 24-13-4, 191. B/J, Bockhop 13-10-0, 217. Receiving — D, Heimerl 6-76, Duran 3-57, Garthwaite 1-24, Honerbaum 3-24. B/J, Strehlow 3-77, Bump 2-59, Riese 3-47, Bump 2-59.
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