MONROE — It may take some time, but someday the members of the Monroe football team are going to look back on what they accomplished on Saturday with pride.
The Bearcats trailed Skyview by 14 points late in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 4A quad-district playoff game, but rallied and had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds before finally falling 28-21, ending their season.
“They battled,” Monroe head coach Michael Bumpus said of his team. “We left it all out there. We made some mistakes that came back to bite us in the (butt) a bit in the end, but they battled. They could have given up when it was 28-14 and they just kept going. I couldn’t be more proud of these boys. I just feel bad for the seniors. We started a good thing here and we’ll be back here next year stronger and ready to go.”
The Bearcats gave up a touchdown on the game’s opening possession, allowing the Storm to go 56 yards in seven plays in a drive capped off by a 4-yard touchdown run by senior Blake Ingram.
The Bearcats countered with a touchdown on their first offensive possession, scoring on a 26-yard touchdown pass from junior Zach Zimmerman to sophomore Isaiah Cole on a 4th-and-8 play. They took their first lead in the second quarter with a 16-yard touchdown run by Zimmerman.
After giving up the early touchdown, Monroe’s defense tightened and didn’t allow another point for the remainder of the first half, but the Bearcats’ 14-7 lead at intermission felt anything but comfortable.
The passing game was working for Monroe early in the game. Zimmerman completed 14 of his first 18 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown, but was just 7-for-26 the rest of the way. He finished the game 21-for-44 for 247 yards.
“I don’t care what his stats say, this was his best game yet,” Bumpus said. “He took care of the ball. He made great decisions. He gave us an opportunity to win this game. Statistically, it’s probably not his best game, but coaches will look at the film and just see the battle and the heart this kid has. I’m so fortunate to have him coming back next year, for sure.”
Monroe struggled to move the ball for all of the third and most of the fourth quarter and the Storm took advantage with 21 unanswered points to take a 28-14 lead.
“They made a great adjustment on defense,” Bumpus said. “They brought in their ends a bit and they started picking up on our tendencies. They started blitzing a lot on first downs, our run-heavy down. It took us a while to figure it out. We had to communicate with our line a little bit. We figured it out a bit, but it was too little, too late at that point.”
Monroe cut the 14-point deficit to seven with 1 minute, 57 seconds to play in the game on a 1-yard touchdown run by sophomore Kainalu Batongbacal. With so little time remaining, the Bearcats were forced to attempt an onside kick which they recovered, igniting the crowd and their sideline.
Monroe drove the ball down to the Skyview 5-yard line with 17 seconds to play, but Monroe came up empty on fourth down, allowing Skyview to hang on for the win.
“This is a resilient group,” Bumpus said. “We’re a small town. We don’t get the love we feel we deserve sometimes. It’s just part of the identity of this community. We’re just resilient. I had no doubt that what transpired was going to transpire — other than the end, us not making the play — it’s just personality of our team and the personality of our team. We’ll keep going and we’ll be back.”
Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Follow him on Twitter at @aaronlommers and contact him at alommers@heraldnet.com.
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