GRAFTON — They walked on to beautiful Kellner Field with “Enter Sandman” blasting through the facility last Friday.
“Exit light. Enter night,” screamed Metallica’s James Hetfield. “Take my hand. We’re off to never-never land.”
Never-never land could become the promised land for the Grafton football team in 2025. And it could be a remarkable journey.
The Black Hawks began their new season with a highly-impressive 24-7 thumping of Mount Horeb-Barneveld in a showdown of Div. 3 powers.
Grafton, ranked No. 3 to begin the year, received a dominant effort from its defense, ran the ball at will and unleashed a highly efficient passing attack in dispatching the second-ranked Vikings.
“We showed people what Grafton football is all about,” said senior wideout Tyler Deer, who had a pair of touchdown receptions. “We had a lot of people doubting us coming into the season. Nobody believed in us, but we came through.”
The Black Hawks, who reached the state finals in 2023 and the state quarterfinals last season, certainly had their share of questions entering the new year.
Grafton needed to replace six first-team all-conference players on offense, including quarterback Brady Hilgart, running back Tommy Lutz, wide receiver Gavin Lempke and a pair of offensive linemen.
The Black Hawks’ offense did not miss a beat, though. And a defense that brought back the majority of its starters was tremendous against an MH-B team that averaged 38.3 points per game in 2024.
“We knew their defense would be really good, and it was,” Mount Horeb head coach Bret St. Arnauld said. “They had some people to replace on offense, but man, they’ve got dudes everywhere. They were outstanding.”
Both teams have enjoyed tremendous success in recent seasons, which made this one of the state’s most highly-anticipated Week 1 matchups. After a 21-year drought, Grafton has made the playoffs seven straight seasons and captured three consecutive Woodland Conference titles.
MH-B, which is about 20 miles west of Madison, has won four straight Badger Small Conference titles and reached Level 3 of the postseasons the last two years.
Both teams entered the year ranked in the top-3, but the Black Hawks showed they’re much further ahead right now.
“It feels good to start the season this way,” said senior Nick Schiller, who made his first varsity start at quarterback. “We made some mistakes, too, and we can learn from that. We’ve got a lot to improve on, but we still won. So that’s good.”
The Black Hawks didn’t make many mistakes during a dominant first half in which they rolled up 222 total yards, scored on three of their four possessions and led, 21-7, at the break.
Junior running back Jack Nelson had 131 rushing yards on just 14 carries in the first half (9.4 average) and ripped off a 29-yard touchdown run. Schiller also threw TD passes of 4 and 41 yards to Deer.
“We didn’t get off the bus,” MH-B’s St. Arnauld said. “And they punched us right in the mouth.”
They sure did. Grafton struck first when it marched 60 yards in five plays on its opening possession. Nelson capped the drive with a 29-yard TD run off right tackle, but the Black Hawks missed the extra point and settled for a 6-0 lead.
MH-B’s only points of the night came on its opening possession, when it put together an impressive 13-play, 86-yard drive that ate up more than 7 minutes. The Vikings went 3-for-3 on third downs on the drive and junior running back Eli Maier capped the march with a 2-yard scoring run that gave MH-B a 7-6 lead.
Grafton quickly countered thanks in large part to Schiller and Deer. That dynamic duo hooked up for a 46-yard pass-and-catch to start the drive, then capped the march with a 4-yard touchdown on fourth-and-goal.
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Schiller then found Deer wide open on a slant route for the two-point conversion, giving the Black Hawks a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter.
On both the touchdown and the two-point conversion, the visitors blitzed and Grafton’s receivers were left in man coverage. Senior wideout Jack Marti then ran a perfectly-executed pick play for the Black Hawks to free Deer up for both catches.
“We were just replacing the blitz with a slant route,” Deer said. “The corners were manned up and our inside receiver set a pick for me. I came right underneath and there was nobody on me.”
There were plenty of Vikings on — and around Deer — during his second touchdown catch. The thing is, they couldn’t catch him.
On a fourth-and-5 late in the first half, Deer lined up wide left and caught an inside slant. MH-B had three golden chances to corral Deer, but never could.
The speedy Deer, who runs the 40-yard dash in 4.6 seconds, kept angling left, and like a video game character, made one Viking after another miss. He then shifted into fifth gear, turned the corner and raced down the right sideline for a sensational 41-yard TD that gave Grafton a 21-7 lead.
“They all kept over-pursuing and I just kept cutting back,” Deer said. “It was just super exciting.”
The second half wasn’t quite as exciting, unless you’re a fan of defense. And the Black Hawks’ defense certainly delivered.
Mount Horeb had just four first downs in the second half and gained only 74 yards on its 29 plays (2.6).
Grafton’s defense also made two enormous plays to stymie MH-B drives that could have tightened things up.
On the first, MH-B started at Grafton’s 12-yard line following a botched punt by the Black Hawks. On second down, though, standout linebacker Tyler Heinle perfectly spied Vikings quarterback Brooks Hendrickson and intercepted a pass to kill that drive.
On the second, MH-B moved into Grafton territory. On fourth down, though, defensive lineman Max Glab and linebacker Payton Wissmueller met at the quarterback and sacked Hendrickson to end that march.
“Our front seven was getting to (Hendrickson) and the secondary was covering pretty well,” said Schiller, who is also a standout free safety. “He didn’t have much time to throw, and at quarterback, that’s hard to handle.”
Overall, these Black Hawks proved they’ll be extremely hard to handle once again in 2025.
Nelson, operating behind a terrific offensive line, finished with 176 rushing yards on 28 carries (6.3). Schiller was steady and efficient in his first start at quarterback.
Deer looked like one of the state’s top wideouts. And the defense held MH-B to 36 rushing yards on 31 attempts (1.2) and just 256 total yards of offense.
St. Arnauld offered up a prediction as he walked toward the bus for a two-hour ride home.
“Grafton’s a really good program, which is why we scheduled the game,” the Vikings coach said. “And you can see, they’re going to win a lot of games.”
Schiller and the Black Hawks know this was just the start, though, as they aim to make never-never land a promised land.
“We’ve got a great group of seniors this year and our confidence is pretty high right now,” Schiller said. “It was a great start, but we’ve just got keep staying hungry and want it more.”