“They’re as good as they always are,” Monroe coach Bill Leach said of a Clinton-Massie squad who has lost one game in three years. “They’re a machine. They knocked us off the ball and we couldn’t answer.”
Clinton-Massie punted once between the opening kickoff and going into victory formation, churning out 271 of its 340 yards of offense on the ground while holding Monroe to 187 yards of offense.
Still, Leach’s message to the team after the game was one of hope.
“They’ve done a helluva job this season,” Leach said of the turnaround. “You can’t take this game and base the season on just this.”
Clinton-Massie invoked the running clock on its first drive of the second half, converting one of three Monroe miscues into a 42-7 advantage.
Monroe answered, moving the ball deep into Falcon territory as Colin Wilson wrestled a Cheyne Carpenter pass from a Clinton-Massie defensive back at the Falcon 1. However, Carpenter was picked off in the end zone, setting up an 80-yard march for the final score of the night for the hosts.
“We hadn’t been down that deep at half before this year,” Leach said. “We didn’t think we were out of it, but we were playing a darn good football team. The players were kind of looking at each other like, ‘How do we make up 28 points?’ ”
The Hornets got behind right out of the gate.
Clinton-Massie scored on its first two possessions to take a 14-0 lead before the Hornets could even record a first down.
Monroe didn’t pick up a first down until the last play of the first quarter, and senior Jacob Vires got the Hornets on the board on the first play of the second quarter.
Vires took a short swing pass from Cheyne Carpenter, made the first two defenders miss, cut back across the field and out-ran the secondary 65 yards to trim the deficit to 14-7.
However, that would be as close as the Hornets would come.
“We got one back, but we were already down two,” Leach said. “We got down 14 early and that was something we couldn’t do. We knew we couldn’t score with them.”
Clinton-Massie ground out 19 first downs in the opening half behind 218 rushing yards on 36 carries to take a 35-7 lead at the break.
Monroe managed five first downs and 130 yards in offense and had a hard time breaking loose, closing the opening half with minus-9 yards on the ground.
Monroe forced Clinton-Massie to punt on its first drive following the Hornet score but turned the ball over on a fumble as Carpenter battled for extra yards near the first-down marker.
It was the only punt for the Falcons in the first half, who burned the final 1:47 off the clock with a nine play drive that ended with quarterback Hunter Frentress bulling in from the 1 as time expired.
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