Seminoles get past Panthers
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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.