Green Bay West has memorable rivalry win over East, Notre Dame makes statement in our Week 7 high school football rewind

GREEN BAY – Dakotah Montez wanted one of his best friends to join him on the Green Bay West football team this season.

The star wideout knew fellow junior Sam Hemery could help the Wildcats at quarterback, but he still had work to do to convince him to play.

“Man, man, it took so long,” Montez said. “I made a deal with him. If you play football, I am going to play basketball with you. Sam is my boy. I’ve known him forever.”

Montez is a great player, but it turns out he’s a pretty good recruiter, too.

Hemery threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another to help lead West to a 41-28 win over Green Bay East on Friday at West's Del Marcelle Stadium in the 118th meeting between the rivals.

The Wildcats halted a 17-game losing streak, winning for the first time since beating the Red Devils in October 2021.

It cut East’s lead in the all-time series to 64-51-3 and did so in memorable fashion.

The 41 points put up by West was its most in the rivalry game since scoring 43 on Nov. 5, 1960. It was just the fourth time it has topped the 40-point mark since the first game was played in 1905 at Hagemeister Park.

“It was personal from last year,” said Montez, whose team lost 8-6 to East in 2022.  “It was personal. It really hurt.”

West finally earned its first victory of the season, but there is little question it was building toward this moment behind an offense making it fun to play football again.

The output came one week after West scored 32 in a loss to Manitowoc, a game in which Hemery threw for 239 yards and four TDs while rushing for 69 yards.

The Wildcats have scored 20 or more points three times in a season for the first time since 2015.

All this behind a player who wasn’t even thinking about the sport until his friends came calling.

“I just came out and tried it out,” said Hemery, who stopped playing after his freshman year. “I was just focused on basketball. That East game last year, I could just see it. They needed it. So, I wanted to help them out.

“It’s amazing, man.”

West scored the first 20 points against East and led the entire way despite the Red Devils making a late charge.

Hemery kicked off the scoring with a perfectly placed throw in the corner of the end zone to Montez for a 10-yard TD on the opening drive.

After West sophomore Dominic Becker returned a punt 20 yards for another score, Hemery rushed for a 3-yard TD with 4 minutes, 3 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

East scored in the final seconds of the half on a 15-yard catch from sophomore Quincy Shields that made it 21-8.

West took a 27-8 advantage in the opening minutes of the second half on a 4-yard run from senior Jaysean Wright and still led 33-16 after a 33-yard TD pass from Hemery to junior Leo Bustamante with 6:22 remaining in the third quarter.

That’s when East made things interesting.

It scored two straight touchdowns to cut its deficit to just five points in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

West turned the ball over on its final drive of the third quarter and its first two series to open the fourth, but it sealed the game with an 18-yard TD from Hemery to junior tight end Brandon Wilson with 2:58 left.

Like Hemery, Wilson is another talent who didn’t play last season but now is helping in big ways on the gridiron.

“It was a little nerve-wracking, right?” said West coach Drew Brusoe, who earned his first win as a high school varsity coach after taking over the program before last season. “We got out to an early lead and then started sputtering, started shooting ourselves in the foot.

“And you know what? This rivalry lived up to being the greatest and longest annual rival. It really showed tonight. Both teams played really hard. Made a lot of mistakes on both sides, it wasn’t a clean game by any means, but when we needed plays, guys stepped up.”

West has a difficult schedule to end the season, with road games against Green Bay Notre Dame (6-1) in Week 8 and Sheboygan North (3-4) in Week 9.

But the final home contest of the season at West was a memorable one, and with 17 of 22 starters returning next season, it might just be the start of some fun times.

At least that’s the hope.

“There is a lot of excitement,” Montez said. “There are so many people in my 2025 class that can start. Then we still have our 2026 class, some upcoming sophomores who just have to work a little harder in practice and they will get up there.”

Green Bay Notre Dame makes big statement

The Fox River Classic Conference-South now goes through the Tritons.

This always felt like the year Notre Dame might end Menasha’s two-year run as conference champions, and it left little doubt after a dominating 42-14 win over the Bluejays on Friday.

The Tritons (6-1 overall, 5-0 FRCC-South) still must beat West and Manitowoc (2-5, 1-4) to win the league championship outright, but they are well on their way to securing their first conference title since 2008.

Notre Dame led wire-to-wire against Menasha, needing just two plays on the opening drive to go up 6-0. Both were from star running back Christian Collins, who rushed for 11 yards on the first play and went for a 39-yard TD on the second.

The Tritons also showed they can hurt teams through the air when needed.

Senior quarterback Carson Glosny made a perfect throw to fellow senior Micah Marzec for a 55-yard TD with just more than 8 minutes remaining in the second quarter to make it 14-0 after senior running back Ian Blom followed with a two-point conversion run.

Collins added a 69-yard run for a 21-0 advantage in the final minutes of the half.

With the way Notre Dame’s defense has played recently, it already was a sizable hole for Menasha, which didn’t help itself with several early mistakes.

Notre Dame entered having allowed seven or fewer points in each of the previous four games.

It held the Bluejays to their second fewest this season and broke their streak of three straight games scoring 40 or more points.

Still, Menasha scored two straight TDs to cut its deficit to just seven points by the third quarter.

It wouldn’t get any closer.

A close game turned into a rout after Notre Dame scored 21 unanswered.

Blom rushed for a 15-yard TD with 5:05 left in the third quarter, Collins opened the fourth quarter with a 64-yard TD and Blom capped the scoring with a tackle-breaking, stiff-arming 14-yard TD.

Game over.

“We mentioned Menasha has the same thing on the line,” Notre Dame coach Michael Rader said a few days before the game. “It’s a big game in terms of the conference title and stuff like that, but we are in the playoffs. Ultimately, as we want to keep continuing on the road, there are some other goals out there we can achieve. Mostly what we talked about is, ‘Hey, it’s Friday night. It’s a big game. Let’s go play.’”

Quick hits: Pulaski, Bay Port roll

Pulaski beat Sheboygan North 49-26 and needs one win the final two games against Green Bay Southwest and Green Bay Preble to clinch a playoff spot. It was the most points scored by the Red Raiders this season. … Bay Port had 480 total yards and posted its second straight shutout with a 56-0 win over Ashwaubenon. It has outscored opponents 279-39 during its 5-0 start in FRCC play. … De Pere rebounded from a loss to West De Pere with a 35-7 win against Preble. It needs to beat either Bay Port in Week 8 or Ashwaubenon in Week 9 to clinch a playoff berth. … Southern Door beat Oconto 46-6 and Kewaunee dominated Sturgeon Bay 56-8 to set up a major Packerland Conference showdown between the teams Friday in Kewaunee. Both are 5-0 in league play and at least two games ahead of the other six teams in the conference.

More: Wisconsin high school football schedule and scores for Week 7 of the 2023 season

Week 7 scoreboard

Green Bay West 41, Green Bay East 28

Bay Port 56, Ashwaubenon 0

Pulaski 49, Sheboygan North 26

Green Bay Notre Dame 42, Menasha 14

West De Pere 49, Green Bay Southwest 0

De Pere 35, Green Bay Preble 7

Kewaunee 56, Sturgeon Bay 8

Southern Door 46, Oconto 6

Wrightstown 20, Fox Valley Lutheran 13

Luxemburg-Casco 42, Denmark 0

Winneconne 28, Seymour 14

Oconto Falls 78, Clintonville 42

Coleman 42, Tomahawk 14

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay West tops Green Bay East in the 118th meeting between rivals