FOOTBALL: Wildcats put up good fight
'Cats don't have enough
Paraclete slips by Monrovia
Monrovia High School's Marquise Williams heads for a touchdown early in the game Friday against Paraclete. The Wildcats suffered a 23-20 loss in the CIF-Southern Section quarterfinals. Greg Andersen/Staff Photographer
By Ismael Reynoso Correspondent
MONROVIA -- Monrovia High School coach Steve Garrison knew his team had a big challenge against top-seed Paraclete in Friday's CIF-Southern Section of the Mid Valley Division quarterfinal.
The undefeated Spirits had breezed through their season unscathed, and their closest margin of victory was 13 points.
The host Wildcats gave Paraclete all it could handle, but it wasn't enough in a disappointing 23-20 loss.
Big plays proved decisive.
"We gave up big plays," Garrison said. "And that is what killed us."
Paraclete's (12-0) winning drive in the fourth quarter was a perfect example.
The Spirits twice extended the drive with long plays. The first was a 4th-and-13 pass for 14-yard gain to the Wildcats' 40-yard line. The second was a third-and-22 pass from Roniada Tuiasosopo to David Green to the Monrovia 5-yard line. Three defenders converged on the ball but failed to break up the play.
Three plays later, Jerry Green scored for a 23-14 lead with 2:42 left in the game. Green finished with a game-high 131 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
"We needed a stop at the end of game as we had three guys down there and their guy still ended up with the catch," Garrison added.
Monrovia (6-6) responded with a quick drive of its own. Senior Matt Haggard directed a 7-play, 82-yard drive that ended when Fernando Gonzalez caught a 10-yard pass to cut the lead to 23-20. The extra-point attempt was blocked with 1:11 left in the game.
Paraclete recovered the onside kick to end any threat and the game.
Monrovia started the scoring midway through the first quarter as Marquise Williams ended a 4-play, 50-yard drive with an 8-yard run for a 7-0 lead.
The Spirits' first big play was a 78-yard scoring run by Paraclete's Jerry Kelly, who broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and headed down the sideline to cut the lead 7-6 in the first quarter.
Paraclete's second big play was a 39-scoring run in the second quarter by Brandon Buteyn to give the Spirits a 14-7 lead.
After a short drive and punt by Monrovia, Buteyn returned the punt 66 yards to the Wildcats 10-yard line. Paraclete settled for a 24-yard field goal and 17-7 lead at the half.
In the second half, Monrovia cut the lead to 17-14 after a 9-play, 66-yard drive ended with Haggard's 1-yard run.
"I'm proud of the way our team played. We ended up being co-league champions," Garrison said.
The Wildcats were led by Williams' 97 yards rushing and two touchdown runs, and Haggard's 186 passing yards on 14-of-21 attempts with two interceptions. The last one was by David Green early in the fourth quarter. It was Green's 12th interception of the season, which leads the state.
Monrovia outgained Paraclete in total yards, 300-234.
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
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A sense of urgency is different than impatient.
Philly B
I agree on the play calling against TC, it was a good mix of inside/out, not to mention pass spread. I thought Monrovia blocked particularly well, not only at scrimmage but outside the tackles as well - this made a huge difference. When the corners came up to force on a sweep or toss, they were always confronting one or more blockers BEFORE contacting the runner. They played inspired D - and looked motivated - not a difficult thing against TC, but there was no let up even as the score grew distant.
As far as the endless reservoir of talent...the odds favor that one day IT HAS to roll into more than just the RHL title. The impatience on that happening seems pretty intense - whether warranted or not. We saw pretty good football in the RHL this season - with the emergence of Blair particularly - although round 2 extinguished the flames across the board.
Every year we hear about how monrovia will be stacked with talent at the skilled positions, but I would like us to have real strong talent in the offense and defensive line. Especially defense. But I must say that the wildcats played their butts off against paraclete. They did look better than what they did against La salle or Duarte for that matter. I still think are play calling could of been better that night. The game against T.C. was probably the best play calling of the year and also our defense would not bend or break that night. But the talent will always be at monrovia. Monrovia will always be fighting for the rio hondo league title. and Im pretty sure Garrison isnt going no where
Congrats to The Wildcats for a great run into the Playoffs!
I'll be in touch from AZ.
Coach Atomic DAWWG
ny
the kid runs high...it looked weird the first couple carries I saw him handle. Garrison commented somewhere he needed to drop his pad level.
I think in the photo the raised knee may accentuate the dangling, low look of the ball...either that or the next frame we have a fumble hunt in progress...not a good time to get popped, floating in a low hurdle mode
With the Wildcat talent I saw at the skill positions during the TC/Monrovia JV war - Garrison and staff will have some hardcore preseason battles with kids trying to earn a starting position on Varsity. #6 on JV was not large, but the kid could accelerate like a bullet and tackled well...good luck trying to turn the corner on a DB like that.
Looks like depth at QB as well and receivers....only an insider would know who the top 2 would be. As an opponent (meaning me) what should be even more worrisome was the display of unity and discipline that the Monrovia JV coaching staff had already established pre-Varsity. Unless something goes haywire offseason, I can't see that group being one of dissention, apathy or severe underachievers. I know it is way early...but crap, what else do you need to look like a brick house?
Yo O-cat - thanks for keeping it football in good times and bad...
Cat Parent,
No hard feelings. I am happy to know that you are there cheering the boys on as well as supporting your daughter. Truthfully, the work you saw the football team doing during the season is essentially the fourth quarter of what it takes (no pun intended). The 12-14 weeks of the season is really just the culmination of a year's worth of preparation. For most championship teams, it starts years in advance. The foundation and traditions that are established this year will effect future players who are currently at Clifton and Santa Fe, because they will hear how the high school team is doing.
NY ,you are right and I am sorry for those slide remarks..I did not mean to rave at you like that and you are right .My daughter is a cheer member there for the CATS and I really saw for the first time just how much time these guys put into there seasons.Never settle for mediocrity and you are right about that.
Just to be clear, my post was not addressed to any Monrovia coaches. I was calling the first poster "Coach."
Cat Parent,
Relax. Snake in the grass? lol! Insecurity causes feedback to be viewed as an attack rather than a gift. I would love Coach Garrison and Monrovia to finally be able to win a CIF title. I was with him for several years. But as long as parents don't want improvement then I suppose he will never get one prior to the next divisional realignment.
You guys make me laugh.That coaching staff did all they could from a 1-4 start to a 6-2 finish.Just coming up 3 pts short ."the devil is in detail" I think you mean "snakes are in the grass".I don t know how many games you goys went too this year,but that team on friday night was a hell of a lot better then the one I saw against La Salle or Blair.That team was well coached for Paraclete.So you guys go ahead and be critical of the Monrovia coach but from a parent of a MHS student What a Great Run.Also how many underclassmen did they play this year?The Cats will be loaded next thats for sure."a pictur is worth a thousand words"lol! there must be 100 pictures from that game friday night that was just one.
A picture is worth a thousand words...I don't like it one bit, Coach, not in traffic not in the open field. His pad level is far too high, the ball is not secure, his free arm is waisted. We've got a lot of fine tuning to do. The devil is in the detail.
this seems to be a pattern for Monrovia. They have the better team but still manage to lose. Will Garrison be back next year?
hey new york what do u think about how this kid is holdding the ball?