Joe Lovell TAKING A HIT — Buckeye Local’s Xavier Eastham takes a hit from Monroe Central’s Ethan Gillespie during Friday’s game at World War II Memorial Stadium.

YORKVILLE — Coming into Friday night’s battle with host Buckeye Local, coach Jonathan Calder’s Monroe Central was undefeated and nearly unstoppable on both sides of the football.

And while the 5-0 Seminoles once again took care of business, the Panthers made their presence known and proved they may also be a team on the rise.

Senior quarterback Tucker Howell was a one-man wrecking crew for Monroe Central, passing for 252 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for 105 more, while the defense overcame a rash of penalties to do its part as the Seminoles pulled away for a 42-19 victory at World War II Memorial Stadium.

The Monroe Countians return home to host cross-river rival Magnolia next week while coach Chris Kiedaisch’s Panthers will take a 1-4 record into their Homecoming contest against visiting Shenandoah.

“Our kids have played well, and we have a solid core of seniors,” Calder said. “And, yes, overall it’s pretty nice to be sitting at 5-0.”

Howell got the Seminoles’ offense going right out of the gate, moving 63 yards on six plays with a seven-yard touchdown pass to Max Demchack on a fourth-and-two call finishing things off. The PAT was no good and very quickly it was 6-0.

Buckeye Local did not back down, going 68 yards on its first march and taking a one-point lead at 7-6 when Xavier Eastham busted into the end zone from 16 yards out and Haydn Boyce added the point-after.

The remainder of the first half belonged to Monroe Central, even though the hosts continued to move the ball up-and-down the field.

Senior Tyler Whitacre’s sack on a fourth-down call gave the visitors the ball back at the enemy 39 and on the second play of the second quarter Howell lofted a pass deep to the left that Corbin Farnsworth hauled in for a 39-yard score at 11:07. Howell ran in the two-point conversion for a 14-7 lead.

Monroe Central’s next drive provided the same result with Logan Powell rushing in from 13 yards away and Wyatt Cohen adding the PAT for what turned into a 28-7 reading at the break.

The second half was a lot of what could have been for Buckeye Local. Kolton Roush had a pair of short touchdown runs for the hosts, who also appeared twice to have recovered onside kicks, only to have them wiped out by penalties.

Howell threw a 32-yard scoring strike to Chance Allen in the fourth quarter while Cooper Howell connected with Powell on a six-yard strike, on a trick play, with just 1:26 to play.

“Coming in we felt like we could throw the ball, and we have a lot of great skill players, so we spread things out,” Calder added. “There are some things that we need to clean up on the defensive side, just a lot of little things.”

Monroe Central finished with 426 total yards of offense while Buckeye Local had a respectable 326. The Seminoles had four different receivers catch scoring passes while senior Brennin Takach caught eight passes for 75 yards in a losing effort.

Monroe Central 42, Buckeye Local 19

Monroe Central 14 14 0 14 — 42

Buckeye Local 7 0 6 6 — 19

MC–Demchack 7 pass from T.Howell (kick failed)

BL–Eastham 16 run (Boyce kick)

MC–Whitacre 23 pass from T.Howell (Howell run)

MC–Farnsworth 39 pass from T.Howell (Cohen kick)

MC–Powell 13 run (Cohen kick)

BL–Roush run (pass failed)

MC–Allen 32 pass from from T.Howell (Cohen kick)

BL–Roush 1 run (run failed)

MC–Powell 6 pass from C.Howell (Cohen kick)

Rushing: Monroe Central 27-168-td (Rudder 9-34; T.Howell 12-105; Knowlton 3-10; C.Howell 2-6; Powell 1-13-td). Buckeye Local 30-68-3td (Roush 7-1-2td; McDiffitt 11-28; Eastham 6-27-td; Luyster 5-16; Dombroski 1-(-4)).

Passing: Monroe Central 13-21-258-5-0 (T.Howell 12-20-252-4td-0; C.Howell 1-1-6-td-0). Buckeye Local 22-31-212-0-x (McDiffitt 22-29-212-0-0; Dombroski 0-2-0-0-x).

Receiving: Monroe Central 13-258-5 (Farnsworth 2-81-td; Demchack 3-43-td; Whitacre 1-23-td; Allen 1-32-td; C.Howell 5-73). Buckeye Local 22-212-0 (Boyce 3-26; Takach 8-75; Dombroski 4-38; Jones 5-57; Eastham 2-12).

First Downs: Monroe Central 17; Buckeye Local 20.

Fumbles: Monroe Central 1-0; Buckeye Local 0-0.

Penalties: Monroe Central 12-112; Buckeye Local 9-80.