This Big Walnut ball carrier picks up yardage, but would be called for a face mask against Monarch linebacker Walker Heard on Friday. Also pictured is Mike Powers (36) of MHS. The Monarchs rolled past the Golden Eagles, 45-17.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Chad Williamson)
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Monarch football coach Brent Johnson sees a lot of similarities in the Marysville and Big Walnut programs. He said they both are built from blue-collar communities and the athletes are scrappy and never quit.
Big Walnut used to be a regular foe of the Monarchs in the Central Buckeye League and early days of the Ohio Capital Conference, but has cycled out of Marysville’s division in recent years.
Johnson said he was been looking forward to the Golden Eagles returning to the Monarchs’ schedule for a long time.
Although his team came away from Friday’s game with a dominant 45-17 win, Johnson did not get the gritty, fundamental football game he was expecting.
The Monarch coach admitted that Friday night was the sloppiest victory he has ever experienced.
The teams combined for 20 penalties, five turnovers, two bad punt snaps, several botched exchanges leading to lost yards and two scores on special teams breakdowns.
“We have got to figure that out,” Johnson said of his team’s 12 penalties. “Man, they just got us out of rhythm.”
Marysville’s ball-control offense was nearly devoid of sustained drives, instead scoring on short fields created by turnovers and big plays.
“That was not very characteristic of us,” Johnson said.
While the Monarch offense was undisciplined, it was explosive. Marysville rushed for 367 yards, as four Monarchs picked up more than 70 yards.
Ryan Kern paced Marysville with 97 yards, while Chase Kilgore, Jayden Simmons and Mike Powers picked up 79, 75 and 74 yards respectively and each scored a touchdown.
The Monarch passing game was little used for the second consecutive game, as Walker Heard completed two-of-three passes for 17 yards.
The Monarch defense continued to clamp down on the run, allowing the Eagles just 74 yards, but the pass defense was victimized. BW quarterback Jagger Barnett completed 14-of-34 passes for 246 yards.
While Johnson acknowledged the Monarchs need to clean up the offense, he liked how his team bounced back from penalties and miscues to continue scoring.
“Our kids are very resilient,” Johnson said. “They just keep playing.”
In the first 10 minutes of the game, the Eagles were the only team to threaten to score, driving into the MHS red zone before Blaine Williams stopped the drive with an interception.
Later in the quarter, the Eagles were the victims of a bad snap on a punt that gave Marysville the ball at the BW 12.
Two plays later, Kilgore went into the end zone on a 10-yard run. Thomas Wolfe hit the point after for a 7-0 Monarch lead with 1:34 left in the first quarter.
Marysville’s first possession of the second period resulted in its best drive of the night, a 63-yarder that still only took about two minutes to complete.
Simmons capped the march with a 25-yard score and Wolfe’s PAT put the score at 14-0 with a little more than 10 minutes left until the half.
Big Walnut’s second bad punt snap made everyone forget about the first one, as it squirted into the end zone.
Monarch Jakob Hullinger fell on it for the score. Wolfe was perfect again and the Monarchs were up 21-0 with 9:03 left in the quarter.
A big punt by the Eagles pinned the Monarchs down on the five-yard line, but then Mother Nature pinned down the whole game. A rainless lightning delay sent the teams to the locker rooms for more than a half hour.
When they came back out, Kerns took the first handoff and raced 80 yards to the 15. Penalties and miscues squandered the big run and the Monarchs settled for a 36-yard field goal by Wolfe to put the score at 24-0 halfway through the second quarter.
Just when the Eagles looked like they might be ready to quit, an MHS breakdown on special teams allowed Big Walnut’s Nathan Montgomery to streak 94 yards for a touchdown on the ensuing kickoff. The point after made the score 24-7, where it would stay until the half.
The Marysville offense floundered in the third period and the Eagles made it a two-score game with a 29-yard field goal with nine seconds left in the quarter.
Marysville fumbled the ball away at its own 20 on the last play of the third period, but the MHS defense held on fourth down and got the ball back.
The offense fumbled again, this time at the Monarch 45 with nine minutes left in the game.
However, on the first play after the Marysville miscue, Bodie Eberhart came down with an interception on a deep pass by Barnett. Eberhart returned the ball 90 yards to the BW four-yard-line sparked a 21-point scoring surge by the Monarchs over the final nine minutes of the game.
Heard took the first snap after the pick around the right corner for a touchdown and Wolfe stretched the lead to 31-10 with another PAT.
Brodie Lewis picked off Barnett on the next possession and a few plays later, Powers went in from 10-yards out.
Wolfe was good again and Marysville was cruising 38-10 with six minutes left. The scoring, though, wasn’t finished.
On the next drive, Barnett hooked up with Craig Norman on a 43-yard completion to put the ball inside the MHS 5. Montgomery picked up his second touchdown of the game and the PAT made it 38-17 with 3:42 left to play.
As second teamers began to get into the game for Marysville, the Monarchs capped the game as Simmons ripped off a 50-yard run.
Joey Robinson finished the series with a five-yard run up the gut. Wolfe’s PAT closed out the scoring at 45-17.
The Monarchs, now 3-2, will enter the more difficult half of its season, beginning Friday as unbeaten Dublin Coffman comes to town.