The underdog Monroe pushed hard against Saline Friday at the Division 1 District final, but came up just shy of a win with a final score of 22-28. Although Monroe had an impressive first half, the team trailed 28-14 late in the fourth quarter and had struggled to gain yards after halftime.
Even after putting up 144 yards in the first half, the Trojans had only 19 yards on the ground in the third quarter and watched as the 14-14 halftime tie disappeared in a matter of minutes.
Sophomore Carson Clark and junior Travis Kellems reignited the Trojans on an early fourth quarter drive. Clark’s 28-yard run moved the Trojans into Hornets’ territory and Kellems’ 27-yard run moved Monroe into the red zone. Senior Dathan Dickerson scored his third touchdown, four plays later, running 3 yards for the touchdown. Senior Stephen Blunt then ran the ball into the end zone for a successful two-point conversion and cut Saline’s lead to just six points.
Saline took over on its own 19-yard line and moved the ball like it had done before during the second half. But an illegal motion penalty moved the Hornets back on first down, and they never moved forward again on the drive. Monroe took over at its own 35-yard line needing just six points to tie or seven to win the game.
But the Hornets defense gave Monroe all the team could handle, pushing Blunt and Dickerson on back-to-back plays before sacking Kellems and forcing a fumble. The Hornets recovered Monroe’s only turnover of the game and ran out the clock to win.
Dickerson scored all three touchdowns for Monroe. He had 27 carries for 104 yards and had scoring runs of 17 and 2 yards in the first half. Dickerson also scored both touchdowns in Monroe’s 28-14 loss to Saline in the regular season. Blunt also had a good game for Monroe, carrying the ball 10 times for 55 yards while Carson Clark picked up 50 yards on 7 carries.
Blunt also had a big interception at the end of the second quarter.
Monroe had 90 total yards of offense in the second half compared to 152 in the first half.
Monroe finished the season with a 7-4 record and graduates 30 seniors from this year’s squad.