EVERETT — The task was a little tougher this time, but the end result was the same — another lopsided win for the Monroe football team.
After sparring with Jackson through a scoreless opening quarter, Monroe scored two touchdowns in the second period, another two in the third period and added a final TD in the late minutes for a 35-7 Wesco 4A victory Friday night at Everett Memorial Stadium.
The Bearcats had won their first three games this season by scores of 55-6, 40-12 and 55-0.
Against Jackson, junior quarterback Zach Zimmerman led the way for Monroe, completing 14 of 26 passes for 269 yards with two touchdowns. Junior running back JJ Jerome added 72 yards on 17 carries with two TDs.
Monroe’s defense came close to its second straight shutout, but Jackson’s Andrew Cho broke a 60-yard touchdown run in the final minute against the Bearcat backups to put the Timberwolves on the scoreboard.
Despite the late TD, first-year Monroe coach Michael Bumpus called his defensive unit “the real players of the game.” When the Bearcats stumbled offensively on their first two drives — possessions stopped by an interception and on downs — Monroe’s defense responded by forcing two punts.
Indeed, until Cho’s late touchdown run, the Timberwolves got no closer to the end zone than the Monroe 14-yard line. That drive ended with a Jackson field goal attempt on the final play of the second quarter that missed wide right.
Defensively, “we play as a team,” said Bearcats linebacker Dillon Fargo. “Eleven men to the ball on every play. … Our job is to keep points off the scoreboard and make it easy for our offense. When we do, (a one-sided win) like this happens.”
Still, for all the things Monroe did well, there were flaws. The Bearcats got a terrific 87-yard punt return by Isaiah Cole for an apparent touchdown late in the third quarter, but the run back was negated by a personal foul penalty. Well behind the play, a Monroe blocker through a vicious hit that leveled a Jackson player, drawing a penalty flag.
It was, Bumpus said, a “ridiculous” mistake by the Bearcat player. “I’m more furious about that than anything else,” he said.
Also, Zimmerman’s passing numbers could have been even more impressive, except five attempts were simply dropped by Monroe receivers, including one deep post route that would likely have been a 75-yard touchdown.
“It was a sloppy win, but we needed a game like this,” Bumpus said. “We’ve been rolling the past few weeks, and with a young team they have to get smacked in the mouth a couple of times to bring them back down to earth.”
Some of that had to do with Jackson, he said. The T-wolves are “a heck of a team. They’re going to surprise some teams in Wesco, for sure.”
The good news, Bumpus went on, “is that I don’t think we’ve played to our potential yet. There’s always a bunch of things that we can correct. We’re young, so that concerns me a bit. But the sky’s the limit. And the great thing about coaching a young team is that they have no expectations. They don’t feel the pressure. They’re just going out and having fun.”
Moving forward, Fargo added, “we’ll win a lot more games, that’s going to happen. … But it’s one game at a time. Next week’s Kamiak.”
Cho was easily the workhorse for Jackson. Despite limping to the bench twice in the game with an apparent leg injury, he finished with 239 yards on 24 carries with one touchdown. Seven of his carries were for 10 yards or more.
At Everett Memorial Stadium
Monroe 0 14 14 7 —35
Jackson 0 0 0 7 —7
M—JJ Jerome 3 run (Tanner Ohlsen kick)
M—Zach Zimmerman 7 run (Ohlsen kick)
M—Jerome 2 run (Ohlsen kick)
M—Jesse Jarosky 40 pass from Zimmerman (Ohlsen kick)
M—Isaiah Cole 22 pass from Zimmerman (Ohlsen kick)
J—Andrew Cho 60 run (Chandler Woolley kick)
Records—Monroe 2-0 league, 4-0 overall. Jackson 1-1, 2-2.
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