SHORELINE
Last year, Shorewood’s regular season ended with a celebration after it beat Monroe 17-14 at home.
Shorewood’s only win of the year was a sign of things to come, the team hoped after it returned seven starters on both sides of the ball.
But in Friday night’s rematch, Monroe, behind a balanced offensive attack led by senior running back Austin Bray and senior quarterback Bryan Sonneveldt, proved it had improved the most in a 20-6 victory at Shoreline Stadium.
“We honestly came into it cocky, thinking we were going to do better than we did,” Shorewood quarterback Jon-O Hendricks said.
A couple turnovers, sloppy tackling, several ineligible players, 50 yards in penalties, a key injury and an offense that produced only six first downs added up to a disappointing night for the Thunderbirds.
Monroe, using the offense that new head coach Dave Telford brought with him from Portland State where he was an offensive coordinator, ran up 350 yards of offense to Shorewood’s 148.
“Our offensive line blocked them pretty well especially for an opener,” Telford said.
Monroe’s Bray rushed nine times for 83 yards in the first half, including a 30-yard touchdown run. Bray, who finished with 86 yards on 10 carries, also had a 34-yard run on Monroe’s first scoring drive, a nine-play, 60-yard march on its first possession.
Sonneveldt, who started off 5-for-5 passing, connected on a 10-yard play action touchdown pass to Kelen Jensen in the right corner of the end zone with 4:34 to play in the first quarter.
Monroe added to the lead in the third quarter when Sonneveldt connected with receiver Connor Shelford on a 53-yard pass down the left sideline. Shelford finished with four catches for 121 yards while Sonneveldt was 10-for-16 for 170 yards.
Shorewood avoided the shut out when Hendricks found tight end Taylor Astel wide open up the middle for a 9-yard touchdown on fourth down with 6:12 to play in the game.
Hendricks finished 6-of-8 for 45 yards and an interception.
Running back Dorian Lair had all of Shorewood’s positive rushing yards with 112 yards on 17 carries.
The T-birds’ defense struggled to stop Monroe’s various offensive strategies, but did come up with a stop late in the first half that stood out.
Lair, the free safety, drilled Monroe receiver Kelen Jensen in the end zone on a fourth down play, jarring the ball loose to stop a certain touchdown.
“I was kind of focused on my receiver,” Lair said. “I saw we had a little leakage. I kept my eyes on the quarterback and made the play.”
Shorewood’s rough night was magnified because it had several starters out because of injury or ineligibility.
Shorewood lost wide receiver/defensive back Luke Nelson early in the first half and had to substitute junior Joeseph Ijiomah in his place. Ijiomah had never played football at any level before this year.
“He stepped in and did really well,” coach Andrew Hershey said. “We had a lot of guys step in roles they weren’t used to.”
Shorewood also missed three starters, its leading receiver from last year and two key defensive players because of academic ineligibility. All three, “didn’t complete summer school classes they thought they did,” Hershey said.
Hershey did not say when those players could return but said the team will play who is available.
It gets even tougher for Shorewood next week. The T-birds face Jackson, which has one of the Wesco’s premier tailbacks in Taylor Cox, at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12 at Shoreline Stadium. Shorewood played one of its best games of the year last season against Jackson, a heartbreaking 7-3 loss.
“We’re going to go out there a fight harder than tonight,” Lair said.
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