The Monroe Trojans took on their rivals the Bedford Mules, Friday, Oct. 17, resulting in a victory, sending the Trojans to play-offs.
Monroe scored 20 points in the final first half on the way to a 35-14 victory that gave the Trojans a spot in the playoffs, the first of which will be against Dearborn at home tomorrow night.
Monroe’s coach, Eric Redmond, showed a lot of guts choosing to go away from their 29 yard line with eight minutes left in the first half, although Redmond thought punting in that situation was a much bigger risk than the 29 yards.
Bedford had given two nice drives at that point in the game. One resulted in a touchdown and the other resulted in a missed field goal. Bedford ran 18 plays for 101 yards while Monroe had just 16 yards on seven plays. Redmond put the game in the hands of senior Dathan Dickerson, and his offensive line, opening up a huge hole for Dickerson. Dickerson scored Monroe’s first touchdown on a 22-yard run.
The Trojans got the ball back in less than two minutes later after a short punt and quarterback junior Travis Kellems made a nice run for a 39-yard touchdown. Bedford fumbled on its next play and Monroe senior Craig Couturier picked up the ball and raced 26 yards for a touchdown. It was one of two fumble recoveries in the game for Couturier. Monroe wrapped up the game once senior Stephen Blunt ran 51 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Dickerson put the cherry on top with a 50-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the final seconds. Dickerson finished with 128 rushing yards on 20 carries and scored two touchdowns, while Blunt ran for 98 yards.
The Mules managed just 88 yards of total offense after the team’s first two drives. Redmond gave a lot of credit to his defensive ends for stopping Bedford quarterback Tom Shepherd. When Shepherd handed the ball off, Monroe linebacker junior Jalen Wilkerson was usually right there to get the tackle. Wilkerson had 16 tackles and intercepted a pass.
Monroe takes a 6-2 record into its regular season. Redmond said a win against Dearborn would allow the Trojans to be home for the opening week of playoffs. Bedford’s record came to 4-,4 causing the school’s five-year long ritual of making the playoffs to be over.