The defending state 2A champion Marion County Warriors blanked Monterey on the Wildcat’s Homecoming game, 42-0, in the first Region 3-2A contest for both teams Friday night.
The Warriors had numerous penalties against that erased long gains and a few apparent scores as they racked up 35 points before halftime.
“Our guys played hard tonight, but at the end of the day we have to score points, quit getting behind the chains and quit giving up explosive plays,” Monterey Coach Scott Hughes said.
“We are getting to third and fourth downs defensively but lose our focus and give up explosive plays. It’s not that we are giving up 10 play drives but one or two play scores and we must fix that.”
The Wildcats got behind the chains early. On their first possession, Monterey went for it on fourth-and-2 and failed, resulting in a turnover on downs and giving the potent Warrior offense a short field goal from the 40.
The Warriors scored with 7:17 left in the first on a 29-yard rush and a good point after touchdown would be the first of six unanswered scores. Marion would score again on a five-yard rush with 5:43 left and the point after touchdown was wide left to keep it 13-0.
The aggressive play of the Warrior defense stifled the Wildcat run game, and their secondary kept the Wildcat receivers bottled up for most of the night.
The defense gave the Wildcats their best chance to score after a Kobe Natvick fumble recovery on a Warrior misdirection play gave Monterey the ball on the Marion County 21-yard line. Monterey did not capitalize on the turnover, and the ball was turned over on downs.
The Warriors would find the end zone three times in the second quarter, the first on a 48-yard rush down the left sideline with 10:12 left. The second touchdown came on an eight-yard screen pass to the left with 2:55 left and the third score came on a 41-yard completion with 1:08 left in the half. Two extra points and a good two-point conversion made it 35-0.
Marion County took the opening kickoff and crossed the goal line twice on the drive but a block in the back call negated a 59-yard rush and a holding call blanked an apparent 14-yard score.
A Matthew Phillips’ interception stopped the Warrior drive, but the Warriors scored minutes later on a 39-yard rush and a good point after touchdown with 31 seconds left in the third would make it a 42-0 final.
“Marion was the number one preseason team after winning state last season and they are so talented at every position. It’s such a huge challenge because of team speed and hopefully we learned something tonight. I was proud of our effort, and we fought to the last minute. That’s all we can ask for is effort and heart,” Hughes said.
With the loss, Monterey’s season record falls to 2-4 (0-1) as they prepare for next week’s matchup against an unbeaten Grundy County team (6-0, 1-0) that defeated a winless York Institute squad, 30-20 Friday night.