The Monroe County offense was all over the Trigg County defense in Friday night’s 37-19 Falcon win in the Scottie Bowl in Glasgow.
Facing a slow start complimented by a Trigg touchdown that gave the Wildcats a 6-2 lead early in the first quarter, the Flacons rattled off 35 unanswered points that lasted well into the third quarter, blowing open a 37-6 lead.
“The first couple of series, we were back on our heels a bit,” said Monroe County coach Billy Murphy. “We started to move the ball pretty well in the second quarter and got some big stops with our defense.”
Despite the presence of senior quarterback Ty Mink, who threw for 147 yards and two touchdowns while running for three more scores on 90 yards, Murphy pointed out bright spots within his entire offense.
“To average 4.6 yards per carry behind an offensive line that had three players that had never started before, I couldn’t be more proud,” added Murphy. “Our backs ran hard, our receivers caught the ball well, and our defense hit like we asked them to.”
Monroe’s first points came early in the game on a safety, but their two-point lead did not last long as they intended after Trigg County quarterback Cam Jordan found Kyron Grubbs down the sideline for a score.
From there on out, the Falcons put their foot on the gas pedal and didn’t seem to want to let up.
Moments later, Ty Mink took in a QB keeper from nine yards out for a score to make Monroe’s lead 9-6.
On the Falcons’ next possession, Mink found Dylan Emberton in the end zone on 4th and 17 after a bad snap put them on Trigg’s 17-yard line, expanding the lead to 16-6.
After another Wildcat three-and-out, compliments of the Monroe defense, Mink strolled in for another touchdown on first and goal from the five-yard line to make the lead 23-6.
On the ensuing drive, Trigg County used two first-down plays to get the ball to Monroe’s 31-yard line before the Falcons recovered a fumble at that point, followed by a 35-yard touchdown pass from Mink to Nick Coffelt to extend the lead to 30-6 at the halftime break.
Monroe added on in their first possession of the second half when Mink’s 32 yard run set up his own one-yard touchdown run, his third of the game, to give the Flacons a 37-6 lead.
Trigg responded on the next possession as Cam Jordan found Gabriel Hardie down the sideline for a 22-yard touchdown completion.
After both teams traded three-and-outs, the Wildcats got on the board again on Jordan’s 12-yard pass to JaKobe Bridges to make it 37-19 with 4:15 to go.
“I told (Monroe) that they have to keep their foot on (Trigg’s) throats when we had the lead, but we gave them life in the second half,” shared Murphy. “We’ve got to learn how to put teams away.”
Monroe County outgained Trigg County in total yards, 342-172. The Falcons had 27 first downs to the Wildcats’ 10.
Monroe County returns home next Friday as they host reigning Class 4A runner-up Franklin-Simpson, who fell to Elizabethtown 55-23 on Friday evening.
“Next week is going to be a tough test,” said Murphy. “Franklin really handed it to us last year. They’ve got some good guys coming back and it will be a great challenge for us.”
