Monroe, Snohomish earn Wesco North playoff berths

Published 4:48 pm Saturday, October 22, 2011

MONROE — The long wait is over.

The Monroe Bearcats had not made the playoffs since 1992 — until Saturday. The Bearcats defeated the Snohomish Panthers 13-7 in a Kansas tiebreaker to earn the No. 2 seed in the Wesco North.

“I think it is great for the community,” Monroe coach Dick Abrams said. “They have always been very supportive, even last year and the year before when the team wasn’t winning.”

The Panthers advanced to the playoffs with the No.3 seed and the Arlington Eagles were eliminated from playoff contention.

All three teams came in to Saturday’s tiebreaker with a league record of 3-2, tied for second in the Wesco North. In a Kansas City tiebreaker each team gets an opportunity to score from the opponent’s 25-yard-line and the teams continue to play until one team has scored more points than the other.

Snohomish squared off with Arlington in the first game, with the winner advancing to the playoffs with, at the worst, the No. 3 from Wesco North, while the loser would wait to see if their season was over or if they would get one more opportunity to play for the No. 3 seed. With a Monroe victory in game 2 the Bearcats would take the No. 2 seed and the loser would take the No. 3 seed. A Bearcats loss, however, would mean they would play the loser of game 1 for the No. 3 seed.

The Panthers began on defense and came out fired up. They stopped the Arlington offense in four plays, sacking Arlington quarterback Blake McPherson twice.

The Panthers took over on offense needing a score of any kind to win and advance. Snohomish converted twice on third down plays and Conner McDonald locked up a trip to the playoffs, scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run to give the Panthers a 6-0 win.

The Panthers got a 10 minutes of warm up time before facing Monroe, while the Eagles went to the sideline, their playoff destiny no longer in their hands.

Monroe began the second game with possession of the ball and gave the Panthers a heavy dose of Gabe Moore. The sophomore carried the ball on all three plays the Bearcats ran, losing a yard on first down, but gaining 18 on second down and following that up with an 8-yard touchdown run. Following the extra point, Monroe led 7-0.

“I’m so excited,” Moore said. “This is history. This is the first time we have made the playoffs in I don’t know how many years. It’s just a great opportunity for us.”

Abrams liked what he saw from Moore.

“He’s got a motor,” Abrams said.

The Panthers took over offensively and began with a 12-yard run on first down, but the Bearcats defense responded, forcing the Panthers into a fourth down-and-seven from the 12-yard-line. But the resilient Panthers stayed alive as quarterback Mitchell Stewart connected with Russell Crippen, who made a leaping touchdown catch in the back corner of the end zone. Snohomish converted its extra point to tie the score at 7.

Snohomish started with the ball next, but again their drive stalled. Since the Panthers had the first go of it offensively on the second possession, they elected to attempt a 28-yard field goal that narrowly missed.

The Bearcats took over on offense and wasted little time sealing the deal. Jordan Moore gained seven yards on first down, his younger brother Gabe Moore followed that up with another big run, this time 17 yards. And on first-and-goal, quarterback Hunter Bingham kept the ball on a quarterback sneak scoring and putting the Bearcats in the playoffs for the first time in 19 years.

The No. 2 seeded Bearcats will face the Wesco South’s No. seed Mariner Marauder next week in a Wesco seeding game, while the No. 3 seeded Panthers will face the South’s No. 3 seed Jackson Timberwolves in a loser-out game.

Abrams said that Mariner and Monroe have similar styles.

“They are really, really good,” Abrams said. “I think we are kind of the same type of teams. Both teams like to run the ball and I’m sure they got a good scout on us today so we will have to watch some of their film and get ready for them.”

Of course, playing Mariner means the Bearcats will have to attempt to slow down star running back KeiVarae Russell.

“You have to try to find something that you can take away and go from there,” Abrams said. “It’s tough.”
Snohomish on the other hand turns its attention to Jackson.

“You’ve got two teams that are pretty evenly matched,” Snohomish coach Mark Perry said. “You’ve just got to focus back on that now and forget what we have done this last week and get ready to play because that is a big one for us.”

Aaron Lommers covers prep sports for The Herald. Read his live blog at cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/heraldnet/prepzone, contact him at aaronlommers@gmail.com and follow him on twitter @aaronlommers.