Monarchs bring own fireworks after halftime

2016 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

MONTE VISTA 36, MOUNT MIGUEL 21

 

By Chris Davis
© East County Sports.com

 

SPRING VALLEY (10-8-16) — Homecoming is a game that athletic directors traditionally schedule against teams that they think they can defeat in league. Sometimes, plans don’t quite go according to plan. Case in point, Mount Miguel. Mount Miguel scheduled Monte Vista as their homecoming opponent on Friday (Oct. 7), the problem was that Monte Vista won 36-21 in the Grossmont Valley League opener for both teams.

 

The big news going into the game was that Mount Miguel’s (1-6, 0-1 GVL) SHEMAR GREENE (the Matadors leading running back) injured his ankle in last week’s game and was dealing with some other issues off the football field and was not available to the Matadors.

 

Monte Vista’s (5-1, 1-0 GVL) JAHMON McCLENDON showed up and helped his team by carrying the ball 33 times for 146 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

 

“We had a great second half,” coach RON HAMAMOTO said after talking to his troops.  “They are a good football team.  They took it to us in the second quarter.  We went in down at halftime, but our kids came out in the second half.”

 

The scoring got started in the first quarter when JUNIOR PITOAU stepped in the path of a BENNY VALADEZ pass and tip-toed 18 yards down the sidelines for a “pick six,” to put the Monarchs up 7-0 after a SANTIAGO FIGUEROA extra point with just under five and a half minutes left in the opening quarter.

 

Mount Miguel bounced right back when Valadez took it himself and scored from four yards out for his first score of the half to tie the game up 7-7, with JOEL BEAS adding the extra point.

 

The second quarter was pretty much dominated by Mount Miguel.

 

CAESAR SIGALA caught his only pass of the first half, but it was for a 10-yard scoring strike and with another Beas extra point, it was 14-7 Matadors and it was looking good for Homecoming 2016.

 

McClendon came back about five minutes later and punched it in from 10-yards out, but after a bad snap on the extra point it was 14-13 Matadors.

 

With 102 seconds before halftime Valadez scored his second touchdown of the night from just two yards out.  The extra point made it 21-13 Matadors at the break.  Valadez and the Monarchs would’ve been up more, but a 13-yard touchdown was called back on a holding call.

 

The second half started out quickly for the Monarchs.  Within a matter of eight seconds off the game clock, the Monarchs put 16 points on the board to really change the makeup of the game.

 

ADERO JOHNSON punched it in on a quarterback sneak from a yard out.  To make up the missed extra point, Johnson punched it in from a yard out after a couple of Mount Miguel penalties to make it 21-all.

 

On the ensuing kickoff, the Monarchs forced a fumble on the 10-yard line.  EARNEST DAWN did the ol’ scoop and score.  McClendon took the ball and punched it in for the second 2-point conversion of the game and a 29-21 lead.

 

In the fourth quarter the Monarchs capped the scoring with a McClendon three-yard rush, and with a Figueroa extra point it was 36-21 Monarch victory.

 

“We made too many mistakes in the second half,” coach SHAUN McDADE said after a disappointing second half.  “We had several personal fouls in a period of five minutes.  We shot ourselves in the foot.”

 

There was a period in the second half that saw the Matadors get whistled for four personal fouls and a couple of unsportsmanlike penalties in five minutes on the clock.

 

The Monarchs will travel to Santee to take on Santana (4-3, 0-1 GVL).  The Monarchs will be gunning on ruining two straight homecomings.  Mount Miguel will be staying home and hosting El Cajon Valley (5-1, 0-0 GVL).  It will be the Braves league opener.

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