JANESVILLE — Brooks Braga showed extreme patience waiting for running lanes to open up Wednesday night.

The Middleton prep football team had been doing the same the past few seasons while trying to regain its spot atop the Big Eight Conference.

"We had our chance three years ago and two years ago but it's a tough conference," Middleton coach Tim Simon said. "Janesville Parker's done a great job and they had a great team a couple of years ago and they just outplayed us and we thought, 'OK, maybe this year we can do it.' ''

Led by 226 yards on 29 carries and four touchdowns from Braga, Middleton blasted through Parker 43-7 at Monterey Stadium for a share of its first conference title since 2004. Verona forced a tie with a victory over Janesville Craig.

Parker, needing the victory to keep its 12-year playoff run intact, got off to a rousing start as LaVell Hewlett ran for 80 yards on the game's first series, capping it with a 2-yard TD run.

But that's all the Vikings (4-5 overall and Big Eight) had. Subtracting Hewlett's 125 yards, Parker gained only 53 on 23 plays.

"Bottom line, we got beat by a better football team," Parker coach Joe Dye said.

Braga answered Hewlett's score with a 1-yard plunge to finish an 89-yard drive.

Braga, who came in averaging 174 rushing yards per game, had TD runs of 32 and 29 yards to give the Cardinals (8-1) a 23-7 halftime lead.

"The games are always won in the trenches and luckily (the offensive line) has been pretty consistent this year," said Braga, who had 182 yards at halftime. "All I have to do is run through some big holes and it's off to the races."

Added 6-foot-5, 300-pound right tackle Ryan Groy, a University of Wisconsin athlete: "(Braga) turns 10-yard plays into touchdowns."

Braga's 4-yard TD run two plays into the fourth quarter, put the game away at 37-7 and led to reflection of the path Middleton took to the title.

"You make that a long-term goal, but you have to have near-sightedness to look at the next day, the next game," Simon said. "Our guys did a really good job of that this year ... and focused on the day ahead of them."