High-powered Monroe crushes Glacier Peak 64-6 in Wesco 4A battle

SNOHOMISH — Monroe has waited eight years, since Glacier Peak’s inception, to get a crack at a Grizzlies team stationed only 11 miles away.

Finally with a chance to compete against the top-caliber program existing in Monroe’s backyard, the Bearcats took advantage.

Monroe flaunted its high-powered offense, suffocated Glacier Peak standout sophomore quarterback Ayden Ziomas with pressure all night and rolled to a 64-6 Wesco 4A win Friday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Snohomish.

“We expected this to be a grinder, and we stepped up to the challenge,” Monroe coach Michael Bumpus said. “I told them all week this is the best secondary you are going to see, and they just kind of rose up to the challenge.”

Monroe’s offense, which was averaging 45.5 points heading into its matchup with Glacier Peak, had it’s way with the Grizzlies’ defense.

Senior quarterback Zach Zimmerman completed 14-of-20 passes for 203 yards and three touchdowns — all in the first half. Zimmerman also ran for 62 yards and a touchdown and logged a 28-yard field goal.

Monroe running back JJ Jerome chipped in 146 rushing yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, and Isaiah Cole caught five passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns and also ran a punt back 50 yards for a score.

Ziomas was one of the Wesco’s top quarterbacks through the first four weeks of the season, but Monroe’s constant pressure gave the sophomore QB little room to operate. Bearcat defensive linemen Cody Schwindt and Mateo Rizo and the rest of Monroe’s front prevented Ziomas from ever getting comfortable. The sophomore QB finished 5-of-20 with 68 yards of passing. Forty-four of those yards came on Glacier Peak’s only touchdown of the game.

“That was our gameplan, to get in the quarterback’s face,” Bumpus said. “It’s hard to throw the football when you know you got some big boys coming after you. I don’t think they completed anything over our heads. Our plan was just to pressure and defend, and we did well.”

The win gave Monroe (3-0 Wesco 4A, 5-0) win No. 5, which was huge for a Bearcats team that’s struggled moving past 4-0 each of the past two seasons. Bumpus ensured his team was focused on getting over the hump this Friday.

“My message to the kids was, ‘Who in here has been 4-0?’” Bumpus said. “Everyone raised their hands. ‘Who in here has been 5-0?’ No one raised their hands. We’re just trying to do things we’ve never done here before at this school, and so far so good.”

The Bearcats didn’t take long putting this one away.

Monroe quickly raced to a 21-0 lead. Jerome opened the scoring with a 58-yard touchdown run before quarterback Zimmerman took to the air, connecting with Cole for a 41-yard score and Blake Bingham for a 26-yard touchdown.

Just 7 seconds into the second quarter, and the Bearcats owned a three-score lead.

An interception by Glacier Peak lineman Malakai Fifita, who was dropping back into coverage, followed by a 44-yard TD toss from Ziomas to Bo Burns trimmed Monroe’s lead to 21-6 with 8:44 to go in the second quarter and offered the Grizzlies a glimmer of hope. But the Bearcats reeled off 30 unanswered points during the final 7:08 of the quarter, giving Monroe a 51-6 halftime lead and a second-half rolling clock.

“It feels great,” Zimmerman said “We put in so much effort this week. This week it was just preparation, preparation, preparation. I feel like us working hard this week really helped us out with the outcome of this game.”