Snohomish drops Monroe
Published 2:00 pm Saturday, September 26, 2009
MONROE — It wasn’t pretty, but any win in the competitive Wesco North is a good one.
The Snohomish Panthers overcame a few of their own miscues, took advantage of a ton of Monroe mistakes — including five turnovers — and beat the error-prone Bearcats 27-11 on Friday.
Quarterback Luke Perry rushed for 79 yards and three touchdowns, leading Snohomish to its first Western Conference North Division victory of the season.
“Any conference win is a good win in our conference. Whether you win by one or you win by 16, it doesn’t make any difference to us because our league is so balanced,” said Snohomish coach Mark Perry, whose team improved to 1-1 in the North, 3-1 overall.
Suffering its second straight loss after starting the season 2-0, Monroe (1-1, 2-2) repeatedly self-destructed when it had chances to score. Bearcats QB Anthony DiMaggio played well at times, but threw two interceptions (one deep in Snohomish territory) and lost three fumbles, including one when he tried to dive into the end zone early in the fourth quarter.
Drive-killing mistakes have become a trend for Monroe.
“That’s three weeks in a row now that we’ve had the ball in the red zone and not come away with points, especially early in the football game,” Monroe coach Dave Telford said.
When DiMaggio fumbled at the goal line in the first minute of the fourth quarter, Monroe was behind 14-3. Snohomish’s Adrian Amoranto recovered the ball in the end zone for a touchback. Then the Panthers essentially clinched victory by responding with an 80-yard, 16-play touchdown drive. Luke Perry capped it with a 1-yard run, his second TD of the game.
Snohomish kept the pivotal drive going when Nick Hund plowed for three yards on a fourth-and-2 at the Monroe 14. Feeling confident in their offensive line, the Panthers also went for it on fourth-and-1 from the Monroe 1 and Perry scored.
“It really wears on a defense,” Luke Perry said of drives like the one that put Snohomish on top 21-3 with 5 minutes, 35 seconds to go.
Perry scored again, for the third time, on a 21-yard run after DiMaggio was sacked and lost a fumble near his own 20. Perry’s TD made it 27-3.
Monroe, which led 3-0 at one point in the first quarter, finally scored a TD late in the game. Miguel Floresca-Cravens caught a 21-yard scoring pass from DiMaggio with 2:15 to go. Then the duo connected for a two-point conversion. But Snohomish recovered Monroe’s onside kick and any hopes the massive group of Monroe fans had of a miracle comeback fizzled.
Aided by an effective offensive line, four players rushed for at least 58 yards for Snohomish. In addition to Perry (79 yards), the others were Ryan Wohlhuter (89 yards), Jon Ney (68 yards) and Hund (58 yards, one TD).
“We’ve got a young offensive line but they come off the ball hard,” Perry said. “When you get fired up at them, they come off even harder.”
Monroe’s Tyler Layson led all players with 95 yards rushing on 10 carries, but he gained 80 of those yards in the first half. DiMaggio, Monroe’s QB, finished with 130 yards passing and 71 yards rushing.
But the Bearcats’ errors far outweighed their bright spots. Meanwhile, Snohomish had no turnovers.
“Neither team played particularly well,” Mark Perry said, “but we capitalized on mistakes and (Monroe) didn’t get that opportunity.”
At Monroe H.S.
Snohomish77013—27
Monroe3008—11
Monroe—Perez FG 27
Snohomish—Hund 1 run (Melander kick)
Snohomish—Perry 3 run (Melander kick)
Snohomish—Perry 1 run (Melander kick)
Snohomish—Perry 21 run (pass failed)
Monroe—Floresca-Cravens 21 pass from DiMaggio (Floresca-Cravens pass from DiMaggio)
Records—Snohomish 1-1 in division, 3-1 overall. Monroe 1-1, 2-2.
Mike Cane: mcane@heraldnet.com. Check out the prep sports blog Double Team at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/doubleteam.
