Monterey Trail’s veer offense put on quite an offensive show
Friday night. The Mustangs ran an amazing 77 plays from the line of scrimmage,
gained 471 yards, 380 of that on the ground.
Yet they lost the game.
Undefeated Grant (7-0, 4-0) came to Mark Macres Memorial
Stadium that night showing exactly why they are the team to beat in the Delta
League this season.
The Pacers responded to the Mustangs’ ground game with quite
a display of running the football themselves. Behind tailback Deshawn Collins,
who scored five touchdowns, three of those in the third quarter alone, Grant sprinted
through Mustang defenders for a 54-29 win.
 |
| MT's T.J.Ewing watches his team prep for Grant Friday |
“They did a good job making adjustments in the second half
offensively,” Monterey Trail head coach T.J. Ewing said. “They blocked it well.
They are a very explosive team. They are huge. (The running backs) hide behind
their line. (Collins) is a bit of a
little guy and by time you look around those big trees, he’s around the corner
and he’s gone.”
-------- Friday's Scores ----------
Elk Grove 42, Pleasant Grove 14
Franklin 49, Davis 13
Cosumnes Oaks 25, Antelope 13
Bradshaw Christian 36, Golden Sierra 28
Laguna Creek 44, Florin 6
The Pacers proved exactly that, unstoppable, particularly in
the second half where they scored 40 points. They averaged 9.7 yards per play
while gaining 327 yards on the ground. Collins was responsible for 223 of those
yards on just 17 carries. He scored on runs of
16, 18, 33, 16 and nine yards behind a huge offensive line that tilts
the scales to more than 300 pounds on average.
But, Mustang fans had something to cheer – and at times, to
boo about – particularly in the first half. Monterey Trail had a 15-14 halftime
lead.
Cheers were for how effective Trey Nahhas, the Mustang
workhorse was. He had 152 yards rushing on 24 carries by intermission with a
TD. Plus, he threw a 41-yard scoring strike to Jermaine Bell in the second
quarter.
The jeers were for the game officials who flagged Monterey
Trail 11 times in the first half alone. At least three times plays in excess of
ten yards were brought back for illegal use of the hands calls.
This led Ewing to delay play early in the third quarter to
have a discussion with the game referee. He didn’t exactly reveal afterwards
the content of that talk.
“Our guys fought through adversity,” he said. “That’s what I
love about our players. They didn’t get rattled by it. The referees have a job
to do. It’s tough to referee at any level.”
Monterey Trail was flagged 16 times total for 100 yards
while Grant was penalized just four times.
The halftime margin could have been bigger for the Mustangs,
too. Three times they went for it on fourth down yet failed each time.
“Our effort was fantastic tonight,” Ewing said. “Our kids
played outstanding. I was proud of our players in how they sacrifice for each
other.”
Ewing didn’t quit trying for some extra yardage on fourth
down in the third quarter. After Grant took the opening kickoff of the second
half quickly downfield to take the lead for good at 22-15, the Mustangs’ coach
went for it on a fourth-and-three at their own 33. Nehhas was stopped on a
simple dive play for no gain.
Collins scored on the next play for Grant to extend the lead
to 28-15.
“We took a couple chances and it just didn’t work for us,”
Ewing explained.
Though Monterey Trail came back on a nicely-executed
10-play, 75 yard scoring drive to narrow the margin to 28-22, the Mustangs just
couldn’t stop the Pacers the rest of the way.
“Our defensive execution fell apart for us,” Ewing admitted.
“We’ll have to look back at the video and then make sure we are coaching our
players better and make sure they are in the right spots and to that better.”
Ewing also had high praise for the play of Nahhas who
carried the ball 44 times for 254 yards.
“The guy is a special player,” Ewing said. “He exemplifies
what we want our student/athletes at the school to be. He wants to give himself
every opportunity to compete. He wants to have the ball in his hands in crucial
parts of the game and make the difference.”
Monterey Trail started the season with five straight wins,
but has now lost back-to-back games. They are staring at a 2-2 mark in the
Delta, tied for third place, with a big showdown against Elk Grove this Friday.
“They are a really good program,” Ewing commented. “Coach
(Chris) Nixon has done a good job. He has some excellent football players. It’s
going to be a great football game.”
The Herd bounced back from a pair of losses on Friday with a
42-14 romp over Pleasant Grove to also pull to .500 in league play at 2-2.
Box Score (Final)
Score by Quarters 1
2 3 4
Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Grant.....................
14
0 22 18 - 54 Record: (7-0,4-0)
Monterey
Trail...... 7 8 7 7 - 29
Record: (5-2,2-2)
Scoring
Summary:
GR - MT
1st Quarter
09:54 MT - Trey Nahhas 2 yd run (Miguel Lopez kick)
6 plays, 72
yards, TOP 2:06 0 - 7
08:58 GR - Deshawn Collins 16 yd run (Dallas Vue kick)
2
plays, 35 yards, TOP 0:56 7 - 7
00:22 GR – Donovan Brown 44 yd run (Vue kick)
5
plays, 81 yards, TOP 1:55 14 - 7
2nd Quarter
08:06 MT - Jermaine Bell 41 yd pass from Nahhas (Nahhas
rush)
8
plays, 80 yards, TOP 4:16 14 - 15
3rd Quarter
10:16 GR - Collins 18 yd run (Collins rush)
6
plays, 50 yards, TOP 1:44 22 - 15
08:01 GR - Collins 33 yd run (Vue kick failed)
1 play, 33 yards, TOP 0:08
28 - 15
03:31 MT - Nahhas 3 yd run (Lopez kick)
10
plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:30 28 - 22
00:14 GR - Collins 16 yd run (David Moala pass)
7
plays, 59 yards, TOP 3:17 36 - 22
4th Quarter
09:29 GR - Collins 9
yd run ( Vue kick blocked)
3
plays, 58 yards, TOP 1:21 42 - 22
04:48 MT - Bell 13 yd
pass from EJ Viacrusis (Lopez kick)
12
plays, 71 yards, TOP 4:41 42 - 29
04:27 GR - Mike Green
12 yd run (Vue kick failed)
2
plays, 54 yards, TOP 0:21 48 - 29
01:11 GR - Green 13
yd run (Ruben Garza kick failed)
2
plays, 33 yards, TOP 0:57 54 - 29
GR MT
FIRST
DOWNS................... 18
24
RUSHES-YARDS
(NET)............ 32-327 66-380
PASSING YDS
(NET)............. 43 91
Passes
Att-Comp-Int........... 6-4-0
11-5-0
TOTAL OFFENSE
PLAYS-YARDS.....38-370 77-471
Fumble
Returns-Yards.......... 0-0
0-0
Punt
Returns-Yards............ 0-0
0-0
Kickoff
Returns-Yards......... 4-91
8-151
Interception
Returns-Yards.... 0-0 0-0
Punts
(Number-Avg)............ 0-0.0
0-0.0
Fumbles-Lost..................
1-1
1-1
Penalties-Yards...............
4-17 16-101
Possession
Time............... 14:28
33:32
Sacks By:
Number-Yards........ 1-2 1-9
RUSHING:
Grant-Deshawn Collins 17-223; Mike Green 8-82; Donovan Brown 5-18; Dorrzel Hicks
1-1. Monterey Trail-Trey Nahhas 44-254;
EJ Viacrusis
11-86; Adrian Tellez 8-30; Jarel Wilson 2-8; Robert Holt
1-2.
PASSING:
Grant-Donovan Brown 4-6-0-43. Monterey Trail-EJ Viacrusis 2-6-0-18; Robert Holt
1-3-0-2; Trey Nahhas 1-1-0-41; Jermaine Bell 1-1-0-30.
RECEIVING: Grant-Ariyon
Huff 3-36; Jacques Cheatham 1-7. Monterey
Trail-Jermaine Bell 2-54; Andre Flury 2-35; Jarel Wilson
1-2.
INTERCEPTIONS:
Grant-None. Monterey Trail-None.
Stadium: MTHS Attendance: 1500
Kickoff time: 7:15
pm End of Game: 9:50 p.m.
Temperature: 72 Wind: WSW 7 Weather: partly cloudy
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