TOMPKINSVILLE – Entering the fourth quarter, the Warren Central-Monroe County football
game was a defensive slugfest where there were eight combined turnovers, two defensive
touchdowns, and no offensive touchdowns.
One play flipped the entire script of the game.
Warren Central led 8-6 going into the final quarter before Monroe County senior Landon
Stinson exploded on a 55-yard run up the middle to set up a first-and-goal early in the fourth
quarter for the Falcons, who proceeded to score two consecutive touchdowns en route to a 20-
14 victory over the Dragons at Darrell Carter Memorial Stadium on Friday night.
“We’ve worked on toughness for two weeks now,” Monroe County coach Billy Murphy said. “I
thought (Warren Central) was going to be a tough team, and in that second half we showed
toughness and kept grinding. We finally made a play that gave us some energy and momentum,
and we fed off of that.”
The Falcons (1-2) picked up their first win of the season after losing 34-20 to Trigg County in
their season opener and suffering a 57-7 blowout loss at Franklin-Simpson last Friday.
“It just took grit,” Stinson said. “A couple weeks ago we just would have laid down and quit.
This team is finally turning around and getting the mentality to keep going every play.”
Stinson finished the night with 87 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries — all of which were in
the fourth quarter.
The Monroe County defense was also stellar, forcing four turnovers and limiting Warren Central
to just 92 yards of offense as the Dragons recorded -26 rushing yards on the night.
However, both the Falcon and Dragon defenses were in top form in the first half as the offenses
struggled to find their offensive rhythm and had just 75 combined yards.
Both offenses had an opportunity to score in the red zone, but both those chances were
thwarted by turnovers. Warren Central quarterback Xavier Ingram’s pass was intercepted in the
end zone after the Dragons were put in solid field position after blocking a Monroe County punt
during the first quarter, and Monroe County senior running back Braden Murphy fumbled at
the Dragon 6-yard line with 4:14 to go before halftime — one play after a 24-yard pass
completion to Kale Hagan that was just on the heels of a big sack on fourth down by Stinson at
the 30-yard line.
While both offenses failed to find the end zone in the first half, Jholdi Brooks provided the only
points on the scoreboard at the intermission with a 10-yard interception return for a
touchdown with 4:01 left in the opening quarter.
Warren Central (0-3) returned the favor in the third quarter as K.J. Johnson intercepted a shovel
pass and took it 27 yards to the house. The Dragons bobbled the hold on the extra point, but senior Xavier Patrick-Brown was able to run past the Falcon defenders and into the end zone for the conversion to give Central an 8-6 advantage with 9:03 left in the period.
The defensive war raged on in the rest of the third quarter.
Warren Central appeared to have a chance to take control of the game when Patrick-Brown
recovered a fumble at the Dragons’ own 34-yard line with 3:40 left in the third, but the Dragons
coughed up the pigskin just a couple plays later by dropping a backwards screen pass that was
pounced on by Monroe County at the 21-yard line.
The Falcons were unable to do anything with the good field position, however, as Dragon senior De Corion Rigsby came away with the Dragons’ fourth takeaway of the night as Central found itself clinging to an 8-6 lead entering the final stanza.
Stinson then did the damage that ultimately did Warren Central in.
Taking a handoff straight up the middle at his own 41-yard line, Stinson rumbled 55 yards
through the line and all the way down to the 3-yard line to give the Falcons a first-and-goal.
“He’s a senior and he wants it,” Murphy said. “Our seniors have worked very hard. He’s one of
the seniors that wants it but it’s all about grinding, grinding, and grinding. Eventually you’re
going to make that big play, and you saw that in the fourth quarter.”
“I knew coach was going to give me the ball on that play,” Stinson said. “I had asked for it all
night. There are times you got to put your team on your back, but I can’t take all the credit for
it. My line blocked great on that play. Really it was the line, not me.”
Quarterback Gabe Henson then scored on a sneak on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line a
couple plays later, and Murphy’s run into the end zone on the 2-point conversion extended
Monroe County’s lead to 14-8 with 9:22 left in regulation.
The Dragons went three-and-out, and the Falcons then marched methodically down the field
and ran over seven minutes off the clock before Stinson found pay dirt on a three-yard run with
28 seconds left in regulation.
Patrick-Brown hauled in a 46-yard touchdown reception with eight seconds left in the game for
the Dragons, who lost their 27 th consecutive game. But Murphy was quick to give credit to
Coach Joel Taylor and the fight his team gave the Falcons on Friday night.
“I have a lot of respect for those guys,” Murphy said. “I know from the outside-in what they’ve
been through. They’ve gotten a lot better, and they’ve grown as a team in the last year.”
Patrick-Brown led the Dragons in the loss with a 46-yard touchdown reception and two fumble
recoveries on the defensive side of the ball. Central will kick off a three-game homestand next
Friday as the Dragons play host to John Hardin.
Meanwhile Monroe County will hit the road for the third time this season, travelling to face
Barren County in Glasgow.
“Our goal is just to get better every week,” Murphy said. “This is the first part of the
season…pre-district play. We have to get better every week and get ready for district play.”
